Day 3, Arcata to Mendocino. Awoke in our Motel 6 in the outskirts of Arcata, drove to Wildflower Cafe for a breakfast of cashew French toast and "Gregos" rancheros. We drove to the main square, Arcata Plaza, and walked around, looking in stores-- Daisy Dry Goods was my favorite with the most amazing vintage button collection and an old celluloid necklace on which I splurged. We also kept up our streak by going to the co-op (huge, amazing) and getting kombucha. Ate at a bagel place nearby, which had smoky tofu spread and a Thai bagel-- peanutbutter, jalepeno jelly, carrots, cucumbers, sprouts. Holy yum. I got both but saved half for later.
We drove to Eureka, which is supposedly bigger than Arcata, but ew. We went into a couple of antique stores, bead stores, and walked to the boardwalk-- most boring, ever. We jetted out of that town.
Since we were passing by, drove the extra 10 miles off 101 to Ferndale, billed as some cute preserved Victorian town. It was, but we only got out of the car for a few seconds to gawk at the cemetery on the hill at the far edge of town.
Drove the Avenue of the Giants through the redwoods, which was thrilling. We stopped a few times to gape at trees, and at the Eternal Tree Cafe-- wanted to check out the gift shop and get coffee inside a tree. It wasn't exactly what we thought. Also drove through the Drive-Thru Tree, which was fun. Stopped at One Log House for coffee and to use their wireless to book a hotel for the night. That came back to bite us.
Drove way out on super windy, super steep roads to Shore Cove, the only town on the Lost Coast, to watch the sunset on a black sand beach. Sadly the sun was obscured by thick cloud banks offshore, but what an experience. The smell from the brakes when we stopped at the beach parking lot... whoooo! And I swear, the car wasn't exactly stopping all the way by then, either. We ate the other half of the bagels on the beach for dinner.
The drive to Mendocino was insane. Windy, steep, and foggy beyond belief. Often we could only go 15mph. On one deserted mountain road, I swear we saw a small orange kitten leap downhill across the road. Sara thought it was a mountain lion cub, but I think it was too small. At one point I looked over at Sara and through her window saw a deer leap-climbing the hillside in the glare from the headlights. Also saw either a huge fox or a coyote, and another deer or two.
Well we made it to Mendocino, but couldn't find our hotel. After a back and forth, we got phone signal in the downtown area and looked up the exact address. Went back and forth again, since the name of the place was slightly different... And it said it was full, and it was closed. There was no night bell and despite the note on the door they hadn't left keys out for us. We went back into town and called the original place I tried to book (Orbitz had messed that up back at the One Log House). We got into our room there around 2am. Ugh.