5th Anniversary Road Trip - Mendocino to Bay Point

Everyone says you have to do it, and you know what? They are right!

Driving Highway One is a fantastic experience that is not to be missed. We drove on Highway One from Leggett to Valley Ford and let me tell you, it is beautiful!

The position of One from Fort Bragg to Valley Ford is filled with twisty roads, and miles and miles of spectacular beach views. As you get closer to Bodega Bay there are plenty of places to jump out and get out on the beach. Highway One through here also offers pastoral views with sightings of deer, sheep and cows!

Driving One has left us hungry for more and we can't wait to tackle the portion from Valley Ford to Baja.

Tips:
Gas up in Fort Bragg or a bigger town for cheaper gas.
Pull off if too many people are following you.
Whatever you do, don't try and cross the double yellow lines!
Relax and enjoy the ride!

Mendocino Jams & Preserves is a cute, quiet little shop located at the very end of main street near the ocean. There are various types of jams, chutneys, mustards, preserves, dessert sauces and other condiments available.

A free tasting table is set up with little spoons so that you can try the various offerings. Everything is all natural. Lots of unique varieties that we haven't seen elsewhere. Jason found the mustard to be quite good. Megan found the chutneys to have a prevalent vinegar taste, but the jams were all good!

Products were a little on the expensive side, but well worth the price if you have the money. Prices for the jams were $11.50 for 16 oz, $5 for 9oz of mustard, chutneys were $16 for 16oz.

If you want some after you get home, they also ship nationwide.

Website: www.mendojams.com
Hours: 10am - 5pm

The Park is located 3 miles south of the city of Mendocino on Highway One. If you are looking for the Pygmy Forest like us though, you want to drive down the airport road. At the fork go to your left and there will be the entrance to the Pygmy Forest.

The Pygmy Forest is great! It's not quite what Megan expected, she thought the trees would be a lot shorter. But despite the trees being about 6 to 8 feet high, they are about 100 years old.

An elevated bridge (you are about a foot or so off the ground) takes you through the Pygmy Forest with stops along the way that point out how the forest came to be. It is wheelchair accessible and it's all flat, no hills at all.

There are no day use fees to visit the Pygmy Forest.

Phone: (707) 937-5804
Brochure for park: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/433/files/VanDamme.pdf

Bones Roadhouse has great appeal, from the great sign out front to the roadhouse decor inside, which does include license plates from all 50 states, just in case you were wondering. Everything is perfectly executed when it comes to the decor.

They feature BBQ, Brews & Blues with "Authentic Texas Style Wood Pit Meat". The BBQ is excellent! There are your typical pub appetizers (wings, potato skins, salad) and burgers (even a chicken and veggie one). Then there are the meats! Turkey, Memphis pulled pork, Texas beef brisket, New Mexico chop, Kielbasa, Steak and St. Louis style pork ribs. With your meal you get your choice of sides, choose from: beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, creole pasta salad and cornbread.

Megan had the cheeseburger a 1/2 pound of ground angus with secret sauce (thousand island dressing), shredded lettuce (would rather have had a leaf), tomato, chips (kettle chips that were a bit stale) and cornbread. The cornbread was great! It tasted like they used buttermilk, when I asked the waitress though, she just shrugged and said she didn't know. Jason had Texas Beef Brisket (awesome! tender, juicy, flavorful) with macaroni and cheese (lackluster, but okay), coleslaw (nothing to write home about) and cornbread (which was okay). The cheeseburger was $9.95 and the full order of Texas Beef Brisket was $15.95.

A kids and dessert menu were available. We passed on drinks since everything was single serving, except coffee where you got one refill. Soda was $1 for 12oz, $1.50 for 16 oz, Tea $1.75, Lemonade and Milk $2.25, Coffee and hot tea $1.50. They had about 10 beers and wine as well.

Would we go back? Maybe, but only after trying the other few restaurants in town to see if there wasn't something better. The meat and cornbread were the only reason we'd come back. The service was okay but not overly friendly.

Hours: 11:30am - 9pm daily.
Bikers are welcome!