USA Travel: Mendocino & Fort Bragg, California in Two Days, One Night – Activity Recommendations
engagedabroad
Reading Time: 7minutes
This is a list of activity recommendations for two days, one night in Mendocino, California, USA. It includes time in Fort Bragg.
If you are already visiting San Francisco, you may consider adding a couple of extra days to your plans so you can cover coastal California, including Mendocino.
Logistics
Mendocino, California
Travel to Mendocino from San Francisco, California, a 3 hour drive.
Mendocino is a coastal town well-known for its cliffside views. If you are pressed for time, it is possible to drive to Mendocino and back to San Francisco in the same day. We caution that it will be a long day.
After a gorgeous drive from San Francisco that brings you alongside the coast and through old growth redwood tree forests, find yourself in Mendocino. Many of the popular hotels downtown or the surrounds are situated right on cliffs, giving you breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. Take in the salty air as you settle in to your accommodation.
Mendocino is a reprieve from modern life’s complications. Between its one block downtown and natural sights and sounds, this cliffside town and broader county requires one to slow down to take in its inherent beauty.
The town reminds us of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s poem, A callarse from Full Woman, Fleshy Apple, Hot Moon. Below is an English translation by Stephen Mitchell.
A callarse (Keeping Quiet)
Now we will all count to twelve and we will all keep still.
This one time upon the earth, let’s not speak any language, let’s stop for one second, and not move our arms so much.
It would be a delicious moment, without hurry, without locomotives, all of us would be together in a sudden uneasiness.
The fisherman in the cold sea would do no harm to the whales and the peasant gathering salt would look at his torn hands.
Those who prepare green wars, wars of gas, wars of fire, victories without survivors, would put on clean clothing and would walk alongside their brothers in the shade, without doing a thing.
What I want shouldn’t be confused with final inactivity: life alone is what matters, I want nothing to do with death.
If we weren’t unanimous about keeping our lives so much in motion, if we could perhaps do nothing for once, perhaps a great silence would interrupt this sadness, this never understanding ourselves and threatening ourselves with death, perhaps the earth is teaching us when everything seems to be dead and everything is alive.
Now I will count to twelve and you keep quiet and I’ll go.
Once you’ve enjoyed some quiet moments, we recommend a walk along the cliffs to downtown.
Once in downtown Mendocino, enjoy the slowed down atmosphere, tasty eats and the welcoming locals.
Pick up any needed libations, snacks or other provisions at the natural food store, Corners of the Mouth, before tucking in for the night.
Day 2: Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens & Fort Bragg
Enjoy a mid-morning breakfast in Mendocino. Travel by private car to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.
The gardens cover 47 acres alongside the Pacific Ocean.
Depart south to San Francisco (a 3 hour, 15 minute drive) or east towards wine country. Mendocino itself offers many wineries, and we plan to cover our recommendations in a separate post.
