If your a fan of Lemon or Blueberry Skunk strains, then you're going to love the Mendocino Coast Skunk Train! No, it's not what you think. It's a mechanical engine, and not a large bong or bead infested vaporizer. Jerry Garcia's Casey Jones is not at the throttle high on cocaine, but, it is a redwood cruise from Ft. Bragg to Willits. Originally a logging railroad, today, it has a much more ecologically friendly mission...tourism!
It travels though magnificent stands of ancient Redwoods (the Wise Ones!) going into a maze of tunnels that would make Fellini proud, and over bridges along the Noyo River. Specialty train hoppers include a decorative, festive Christmas train, and during the warmer weather, there is a crab and wine train tour, featuring a very special chef's concoction of Crap Louie, paired perfectly with one of Mendocino's award winning "green" wines. During the summer season, all aboard for the BBQ express where you dine southern style under the canopy of the Pacific Coastal Redwoods. Even Elvis would say, "Thank you very much!"
"We Ride Tonight!" or you can ride anytime from any number of locations in Mendocino County. One is the Ricochet Ridge ranch in Fort Bragg, is dude friendly for lodging and riding, including sunset rides on the expansive beach as the sun sets below the horizon and the coastal fog begins to envelope and enshroud the coast in a blanket of tranquility. Strange for a dude ranch, but it also offers whale watching tours, kayaking for those not comfortable on anything with four legs and hooves. If a slower more Peruvian trek is more to your liking, then hook up with a llamo trek along the coast, where you will stop and rest and be treated to real gourmet catered meal in the open. Now, dammit..that's living!
Kicking your boots off in the bunkhouse or pitching a tent in any of the numerous coastal campgrounds, you'll find a cornucopia of lodging alternatives. If you happen to be a nauti-boy or nauti-girl with a taste for the salty dog seafaring life, then plan on a two or three day stay at the Pt. Arena Lighthouse in one of the lighthouse keepers quarters. Spacious, elegant, and a pirates delight, you'll warm up by the fireplace while staring out at the vast expanse of the Pacific panorama. If you haul your own vacation "home" with you there are plenty of RV and motorhome sites to hook up to on the grounds.
The Mendocino Coastal Region is also a fountain of flora at the Jughandle Creek Farm and Nature Center. The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens are 40 plus acres of Eco-wonders of the world. Along with the Jughandle Ecological Staircase Trail and pygmy pine forest you don't want to miss a trek through a fern covered canyon to the spectacular vista's at the oceans edge. At the education center itself is a multi bedroom Victorian farmhouse with shared bathrooms and kitchen, ala youth hostel, or you can unrole your sleeping bag and pitch a tent at the campground which has all the comforts of the camping home including a campfire pit and tabels or you can knotty pine it in one of the three cabins on the grounds. There are numerous other lodging options from Bed and Breakfasts to motels, and many, in true Northern California style are Pet Friendly.
There is also a Mantra of Green that permeates Mendocino's very soul. Ok, there is the keeping of the green leafy MMJ faith that is the equivilent of a religious experience in the Emerald Triangle, but the art of the vintner and the brewer is enveloped as well in a shroud of sustainability. In the case of one such brewery, Anderson Brewery, are the brewmeisters of the legendary Boonville Beer, where ecologically sane practices have become a way of their laid back corporate life.
They take sustainability seriously and the brewery took it upon themselves years ago to install a photovoltaic array of solar panels that generates up to 40 % of the companies electrical needs. They recycle to the point where an outsider might think it is an obsession, including it's organic waste and spent grains which are used by the local organic farmers for crop spray. It's also used for the growing of mushrooms and as cattle feed.
The brewery sits on 30 acres of sheer beauty and rather than an army of mechanical Toro lawnmowers and tractors, the brewery keeps a team of eight goats busy mowing a goodly portion of the property. Goats? Ok, Budweiser has it's Clysdales after all. But the most curious thing of all is the brewery language they have developed over the years. A strange patois that mixes a little Red Green with a little Northern California..in honor of it's prized beer, Boonville, the language is called Boontling!
Both Medocino and Ft. Bragg have a coffehouse and nightclub attitude with plenty to choose from as you go bar hopping to listen to a wide range of live music. Rock to reggae to blistering blues, Whether it's the peace and serenity of the redwoods or the comraderie of rock and roll nights, the Mendocino Coastal Region is not only ground zero for entertainment but the Mendocino Mantra can go from zero to zen in under ten seconds!
So enjoy the Mendocino experience, grab a Boonville Beer, settle back and get your Boontling on!