The 128 is a gorgeous drive although slow  — good at the start of a day, it would’ve been bad at the end, and we were very glad we’d decided to spend the weekend in Sebastopol as opposed to driving straight up from LA to Mendocino.

We stopped at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company and shared a sampler over a picnic lunch (meatloaf sandwiches, chips, strawberries) — we were fully prepared to splurge on a hot lunch but the brewery didn’t serve food.

We also stopped at Husch (recommended by Mr Talty) and Roederer.  We bought some wine at Husch — tasty & inexpensive.

We continued the drive through coastal redwoods (dark!  mysterious!) and then reached the coast!  Oh, I’d missed the ocean.   It was a gorgeous sunny day and the water was just beautiful.  We reached the Glendeven Inn early so drove on to Mendocino to explore, have some coffee, and check out the Mendocino Yarn Shop (a very nice LYS, I bought some roving).

We enjoyed wine hour at the Inn then just ate leftovers for dinner.

The next day, Tuesday,  was cloudy and rainy.  Before breakfast we ran from the Inn down to the beach then into Van Damme State Park.  I took a break to beach comb, finding pretty bits of sea-polished abalone shells — I’m such a magpie, attracted by pretty shiny detritus.

We had a beach horseback ride scheduled for 2pm just north of Fort Bragg, so decided to explore that direction.

We stopped at a beach to explore a bit:

We visited Pacific Star Winery, which is located on a newly discovered fault.

We also visited the Tattoo Museum at Triangle Tattoo (sorry, no pics allowed, so we didn’t take any.)

After that, we still had a little bit of time, so we visited a succulent nursery on the way back towards the stables.  We bought a couple plants included an Agave.

Then……despite the on & off rain…..on to Ricochet Ranch for our beach ride!

My horse was Zaed.  She was a brat (your basic feisty mare) and spooked and bolted (she didn’t like seeing another horse, a pretty Arab, have to walk over some rocks — go figure)  (which was probably the most exciting part of the the ride, the bolting, not watching the other horse) but was a lot of fun.  Dave was on JB, who was pretty mellow but who did take advantage of Dave by stopping and eating some grass.

By the end of the ride it was pouring rain, and we got soaked and cold, but it was still fun.

We treated ourselves to dinner out that evening at the Little River Inn (sitting in the bar so we could catch a glimpse of the sunset).  I was tired:

but check it out — I’m wearing two handknits, my Orsino Gathered Pullover and my Lady Eleanor!