Mendocino Madness!
Had v weird, work-related dreams last night - very odd, very vivid and linked to the market development activities i'm leading for Fibromyalgia. Crikey. Think these few days off have come not a moment too soon! Woke up reasonably early cos room was roasting, so got up, had a freebie coffee in the lobby bar and agonised over how best to spend the day!! There is just soo much to do here - it would take weeks to do it all justice! Went for brekkie at a little coffee house and bakery, then a wander round town (none of the shops were open til half ten!) and discovered this fantastic gallery right next to the hotel, absolutely stuffed full of amazing stuff. Lots of beautiful wooden treasures plus these amazing cat sculptures made of wire. Ummed and aahed for a bit, but couldnt decide, so figured i'd mull it over and see how i felt by the end of the day! So, back to then planning the rest of my day and after fretting awhile and making several different itineraries in my head, i decided just to jump in the car and see where the day would lead me!
So, firstly led me to the Russian Gulch State Park - according to the guide book, there is a very cool blow hole there - buggered if i could find it!! But was still pretty spectacular with the beach plus this huge roadbridge spanning across the gulch (i remembered the white knuckle drive acroos it the previous day!). Got my feet soggy tramping across the beach in search of the perfect picture but it felt like an adventure all the same!


Then back in the car ready for the next place - ended up driving into Fort Bragg and, after a brief peek at finding myself heading through to Noyo Harbour. Went and had lunch at Captain Flint's overlooking the harbour - very yummy fish sandwich, chips and coleslaw! After lunch, had a quick wander around Fort Bragg and visited the tattoo museum. Was thinking of getting a tattoo, but bottled out (again!). Is only a matter of time, though! :-) Then, decided to visit Glass Beach where - as the name would suggest - is full of multicoloured glass fragments, worn smooth by the sea and time. You're not supposed to collect the glass but, seeing as everyone else was, i thought "bugger it" and ended up collecting some beautiful fragments of green and white glass. I'll figure out what to do with them when i get home!


By this stage, it was 4pm, so time to hightail it back to Mendocino to make it back to the gallery before it closed at 5pm. Kept thinking about my little wire cat, so i figure i probably really wanted it and so should go claim it for my own. Got very very tempted also by this beautiful salad bowl - a snip at a mere $410!! Fortunately a quick phone call to Rachel brought me to my senses, so i ended up just buying the cat and an equivalent wire mouse - a snip at a mere $550!! I did feel guilty about leaving the other wire cat behind - i bought the Dylan one but left Izzie behind!! If i can find somewhere to put him, i'm sure i'll be giving the gallery a call once i get home to ask them to send him along too!

So now sitting in the beautiful lobby bar of the Mendocino hotel writing this, and supping a glass of chilled Handley Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2005. Despite my moods going up and down more than i would like, at the moment, life feels pretty good. And, seeing as i'm only on my first glass of wine, i dont think its the drink talking (although the glasses here are noticeably bigger than the ones you get back in NYC!). Am going to check out another place for dinner tonight (called the MacHouse!) and then i'm off horse riding tomorrow, so am very much looking forward to that!