We got out of Crescent City pretty quickly in the morning, but not until we had a nice breakfast at the recommended Good Harvest Cafe. Good healthy breakfast and nice service.

One cool thing about Crescent City is that it’s the gateway to Redwood Country. It’s also the start of a weird rule re: daytime headlights in really clear, sunny stretches. Couldn’t figure that one out.

The Redwood Coast is definitely something to see. Take the short detour off the 101 to get to the Avenue of the Giants after you pass through Eureka. They cater to auto tours so you’ll get all the information you need.

We also had a long walk at Agate Beach - really pretty and good for our butts after sitting so long.

We needed to get from the 101 to route 1 to get to Mendocino for the night, so we took the road between Leggett and Fort Bragg. Wow. That’s all I can say. A 20-mile per hour winding route taking you through a mountain pass. Thank goddess there was no one behind us. It was wild, but it got us back to the breathtaking views on the coast (eventually).

We were booked into the Russian Gulch Campground in Mendocino for the night, but the sites they had left for us to pick from were pretty much just dusty parking lots - not that appealing.

Instead we decided to drive the small town and check out one of their many inns. We lucked out with the Sweetwater Spa and Inn having one of their water towers available which gave us each a floor to ourselves, as well as an amazing rooftop patio. There is a spa and restaurant attached to the property but we just took a look and didn’t use them.

Dinner was at the Mendocino Cafe where we had a huge meal, some nice wine and enjoyed great service. Even though Mendocino is a tourist town, we didn’t feel they were ready for the cleavage my shirt provided. Some women seemed a bit offended. It was just a tshirt!

After dinner we tracked down the liquor store and took a couple bottles of wine back to our water tower rooftop for a game of scrabble as the sun set. The view was cool, but the climb was treacherous so we were careful about drunk we got. We still managed to lose a scrabble piece!