From SF to Philo (Mendecino County)

We managed to drive out of SF without wiping out ourselves, pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, fire-hydrants or other cars.

Driving on the "other" side of the road is initially daunting. But then one gets used to being "wrong". Except for the propensity to always drift perilously close to the right hand verge (it's terrifying if you are a passenger!).

We decided to take the long and windy — literally — coastal Highway. This added an additional two hours to our journey (including a lunch stop for oysters, halibut and fish & chips at Tony's Fish Restaurant). The oysters here were right out of the estuary. Freshly shucked. And, to be honest, better value than what we'd pay in South Africa.

Going on from there we stopped off for a coffee at Sea Ranch which is a pretty extraordinary restaurant/lodging place. Really beautifully constructed from wood to fit into its landscape

Building from wood is the common way to build in the USA. It's cheap, quick and wood is around in abundance. When one drives through these parts one passes lumber mill after lumber mill.

We arrived at Mary Zeeble's place (Trev's introduction) around 5:00pm after stopping to buy some breakfast stuff and bread, cheese, salad for dinner. Mary is the owner of The Knotty Oak and other places in Philo. Mary graciously moved our of her one roomed mini-house to accommodate Karen and I.

This is a forested area and Mary's place looks onto the Hendy State Forest from the other side of the Navarro River. It is also right in the centre of the Anderson Valley wine region (more about this later).

It's always been a desire of Karen and mine to see a Giant Redwood tree. Hendy Forest is home to a couple of ancient Redwood Groves. So we headed there (after doing our washing in a coin-operated laundromat; $3,75 per load paid in 25c quarters).

These trees are simply awe inspiring. And is something that we are so happy to have experienced. It;s just such a pity that so many were cut down for lumber and the bark tannin. Still there are a large number that remain. And to see them in the flesh makes one feel very small.

Later that night we went of dinner with some real wine people including some heavy hitters from Wine Enthusiast magazine. And that's a story on its own.

Karen and I took a drive down to Mendocino town. It's about a 40 minute beautiful drive from Philo. The road is pretty windy and goes through beautiful old growth forests where we say, yes, redwoods right on the road.

The pacific coast in California is really beautiful. Especially with the rock formations in the sea but close to the land. They do make for drama!