The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
My Trip to California, Post 7: Mendocino Botanical Gardens and North Trail out of Russian Gulch
It looks like I might finally have time to go back and finish the series about my California trip at the end of August. Laura had picked me up from the airport in San Francisco and we went to spend a few days on the coast in Fort Bragg, just north of Mendocino.
One of the must-do activities on my list was the Mendocino Botanical Gardens. Here is Laura, looking at all the dahlias.
In addition to all the wonderful plants, this exceptional botanical garden has a beautiful ocean bluff walk. It’s one of my favorite botanical gardens. Every garden is special, but they don’t all have stunning ocean views.
Here’s some more photos in the garden.
The huge leaves of this plant made me feel like some sort of little critter.
John and I used to go to Mendocino and Fort Bragg regularly when we lived in California from 2012-2016, so I had my list of shops and activities I wanted to do.
For example, quite near the botanical gardens is an African import store where we always stopped. They have such interesting things! Years ago Laura had bought Alex a handmade ceramic coffee mug there, which he used every day until one day he accidentally broke it. We were very excited to find an identical mug to replace his broken one, all these years later.
We barely had enough time to do my favorite hike in the late afternoon on our last day. When we got to Russian Gulch, the ranger impressed upon us several times that the first section of the hike was steep and difficult. Luckily I knew better and we didn’t worry about it. It wasn’t difficult at all, but I guess they must get a lot of tourists who are unused to hiking. The park is right off the coastal highway next to Mendocino. My favorite trail in that area is the North trail, but there are several nice ones.
The coast was wonderful! Next we headed back to the Bay Area for more adventures.
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