Little River Inn.

On our little getaway we stayed at a charming hotel called Little River Inn. It's about a 10 minute drive up the road from Mendocino. The hotel has an awesome restaurant and bar and I think the bar is the only one around with an ocean view, very very pretty on a clear day and night.

I love the lobby/check-in area, so cute and charming.

I made Ryan sit for a picture, he wasn't thrilled but at least he smiled;)

They have lots of pretty flowers all over, since we didn't make it to the Botanical Gardens this will have to make do until next time.

Don't you just love the key to the room?!

The Little River Inn has a spa, driving range, and a 9 hole golf course on their property.
We waited until the afternoon to golf in hopes the sun would make an appearance and it did:)

Some cute little deer were hanging out by the 1st hole.

We tried to get a picture but the sun was so bright. This is as good as I could lighten us up. My photoshop skills are not all that great. Some little old man named Dale took our picture.And Ryan ended up playing with him the next day just by coincidence.

A view from the 8th hole {i think}.

We got lucky and both afternoons we were there the sun decided to come out for a bit. So the second day after our round of golf we hung out on the balcony to watch the sunset. Then we headed to the bar for dinner and we got to sit right by the door {the door was open} so we had an amazing view but I left the camera in the room:(

The view from our balcony.

A nice man from TN staying in the room next to us took our picture;) He and his wife were vacationing, they flew into San Francisco and were checking out Northern California.

Next time we want to try and go with our friends. We were suppose to go with them a couple months ago but baseball got in the way of those plans. So let's hope next time it works out and we all are able to go at the same time.

That little trip went by waaaaaayyyyyy too fast. It was a nice little break but I think I am already needing another one and it's only been a couple weeks. We had a great time and are so looking forward to seeing the Little River Inn again real soon.

Pacific Star Winery.

This will always be a place we come and visit when we are in this area. About 20 miles or so up the road from Mendocino there is an awesome winery with one amazing view. Pacific Star Winery is located on a cliff side and it's the only winery located on the coast of California. The Pacific Star Fault is a faultline that runs directly under the winery and is part of the San Andreas Fault system. This is a must see spot if your ever in the area.

 I thought this was cool picture.

There is a huge picnic area and it is also used for weddings.



On this day we were lucky enough to see a couple whales. The owner of the winery, Sally, told us they're a mom and a baby and said they have been hanging around for the past 3 months or so. Right as we spotted the whale Ryan ripped the camera from my hand and started snapping away. He was able to get some pretty good pictures considering the fog and clouds were rolling in making it hard to see. We traded Sally some pictures of the whale for a bottle of wine:) I think eventually she will post them on her website.

This was the baby whale, the mom was too far out to get a decent picture. They went pass us a couple times and then disappeared into the foggy waters. It was pretty cool.


This is such beautiful place to visit and a great place to do some wine tasting.

Mendocino.

Last fall was our first trip to Mendocino. We went on a recommendation from our good friends, so Ryan and I both knew we would love it......and we did!  The 4 hour long drive is well worth it.

Here are a few shots from the car.

 There are a couple vineyards along the way.

 The redwoods are always so pretty.



As Ryan's vacation week started getting closer I was thinking maybe we should go somewhere else like the Central Coast instead of the Northern Coast but in the end we chose Mendocino. There is just something about it that is so relaxing, laid back, and peaceful.....maybe that's because we left the boys at home with Grandma. We didn't have any screaming yelling children around and we got to sit down and eat a few nice relaxing meals. We love it there and can't wait to go back {hopefully next year}.

 Instead of trying to take a picture with the timer we had some random people take our picture who told us they had just come from Dick's....the only bar in Mendocino;)

 The sun did not shine until later in the afternoon:( So all the time we spent at the headlands was sunless.

 A shot from the headlands looking at the town.

Some cute little starfish.

 Ryan trying to freak me out. You can't tell but he was waaaayyyy down there.

Oh look....there he is again.

He was like really......another picture?!

 Don't you just love little towns like this?! So cute and charming.

 These little mushrooms are the one and only thing I wanted to get while we where there and I totally forgot. We were going to go back so we wouldn't have to carry them around town with us. I bought some last year and just love them. They are so cute. They are hand blown and they come in a variety of sizes from small to jumbo (these are the small ones) anyway totally bummed I didn't get to add any to my collection.

The first day we just walked around town and checked out the headlands then had an awesome dinner. {One thing I wish I would have done was take food pictures, the pork chops we had for dinner that night were off the hook yummy but so was everything else we had to eat...hehehe}.
I have lots more to share. So stay tuned and come back for more!