Category Archive: drives
April 15, 2008 at 4:01 pm
by dff
· Filed under general, events, drives
Here’s a fun thing happening tomorrow soon. If you’re into classic and exotic cars, a bunch of them will be around town in Mendocino and the area on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.
APRIL 16, 2008
18th Annual 4-Day California Mille 1000-Mile Back Roads Tour to the Mendocino Hotel
The California Mille (MILL-ay) salutes Italy’s famed Mille Miglia (thousand mile) race that ran from Brescia to Rome to Brescia from 1927-1957. Cars that could have qualified for the original event are eligible to apply for entry in the California Mille to Mendocino.
This year’s cars will include some l5 Jaguars, 11 Alfa Romeos, 9 Mercedes-Benz as well as such rarely seen and exotic makes as Talbot-Lago, Nash Healey, Allard, Aceca-Bristol, Hudson Hornet, Kurtis, Cisitalia, Cunningham, and Delahaye. Participants are expected from l5 U.S. states and six nations: Australia, Colombia, Switzerland, the U.K., Canada and the U.S. Three 2008 Mille entries completed last year’s Peking-to-Paris marathon.. The 1000-mile route will take the Mille west on California Street, into the Presidio, and across the Golden Gate Bridge, then northeast to the wine country. A number of the guests are staying at the historic Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites and the Hill House Inn where special food and beverage offerings will be made available to the race participants as well as other guests, visitors and locals who wish to enjoy this spectacular car collection. On Day 3, the 180 Mille guests will assemble at the Mendocino Hotel for a gourmet dinner and then return to the San Francisco area.
The California Mille, a not-for-profit event presented by Amici americani della Mille Miglia, is one of series of motoring tours under the direction of Martin Swig. The Mille is sponsored by San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel, Blancpain Watches, the Lodi Wine Growers, British Motors Jaguar, KSFO 560 AM Radio, Symbolic Motor Car Company, the Nob Hill Gazette and UBS Switzerland.
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December 24, 2007 at 4:35 pm
by dff
· Filed under general, hikes, walks, birding, parks, drives
A couple of days ago, I went down to Point Arena with Bruce because I heard that the tundra swans had returned to their local resting spot during migration. When we got down to the Garcia River, I was hoping I would see dozens of swans as I had in the past. On the south side of the river, there’s a huge green wetland that the tundra swans love. On Friday, though, there was only a single swan. Bruce thought he saw some off in the distance on the north side of the river, so we decided to return after visiting the Stornetta Preserve to see the waterfall after recent rains. It’s an easy mile-long walk out to the waterfall.
There was certainly more water coming off the waterfall than in the summer, but the real story was the ocean. The waves were at times quite large — large enough for the spray to obscure the waterfall! Unlike the last time we went down there, it was a sunny day, and we could see the Point Arena Lighthouse in the distance to the north.
After we headed back to the Garcia River wetlands, we went off on a side road on the north side of the river — but just around the bend, it was marked as Private Property. A man came along in a pickup as we were starting to turn around, and we asked if we could go in and take some pictures of the swans. He said it wasn’t his land, so we couldn’t get out there. But he urged us to follow him, and he took off. A couple of miles up the highway, he turned off on a dirt road towards the ocean. In a short while, we were entering the Clover Dairy — not only the sole dairy in the county, it’s also the only organic dairy in the county. He told us to join him in his truck, and he took us out a short distance to where the swans were hanging out in the fields. He introduced himself as Walt Stornetta, the owner of the dairy. He has about 400 cows on 550 acres of land. Each cow produces on average 67 pounds of milk — about 8 gallons a day. I felt really lucky to run into him like we did, and that he was so generous with his time.
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November 20, 2007 at 1:30 pm
by dff
· Filed under general, walks, drives, gardens
Back in October, I had the chance to go shoot the fall foliage at Goldeneye Vineyards near Philo in the Anderson Valley. There had been showers the day before, and more were predicted for that day. As it turns out, though, there was no rain. There were lots of clouds moving through quickly, though, making wonderful patterns of light on the grape vines. I’ve now added a more extensive gallery of photos from that day, and we’re now working to expand the photo galleries to show more images of the Mendocino Coast. You can currently find these galleries:
Gallery 1: favorite images from DFF
Gallery 2: flower pictures by DFF, mostly from Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
Gallery 3: pictures of the Point Cabrillo Light Station and area by Bruce
Gallery 4: Goldeneye Fall Foliage by DFF
We hope you enjoy the pictures!
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October 19, 2007 at 12:44 am
by dff
· Filed under general, walks, picnics, drives
If you’re driving on Highway 128 through the Anderson Valley on your way to or from Mendocino this weekend, plan on taking some time to stop at some of the many tasting rooms to enjoy the fall foliage in the vineyards. Bob Nye, Operations Manager at Goldeneye Winery, called me the other day to remind me about coming down to see the fall colors on the grapevines, so I made it down on Wednesday. Although the weather guys had predicted showers that day, it turned into a warm day with clouds racing through — perfect for walking through the vineyard. I’ve always admired the colors on the vine-covered hills, but this is the first time I’ve had the chance to walk through the middle of it.
As you can see, the colors ranged from green to yellow to orange to deep red from one plant to the next, making for swaths of color below the hill. You can still find the occasional bunch of grapes that was missed in the picking. These were pinot noir grapes, and while the resulting pinot is excellent, they weren’t particularly tasty in the raw. I love the deep almost-indigo blue in contrast to the wild yellows and reds around the grapes.
The Goldeneye tasting room is a charming building nestled between several restored apple-drying sheds. They host group events on the patio outside, with its barbecue grill and Dutch oven and fabulous view. Out in the middle of the vineyard on a manicured path, they’ve placed a pavilion with picnic tables. What a spectacular place to enjoy a picnic or some cheese with a fine wine!
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April 18, 2007 at 10:49 am
by dff
· Filed under general, walks, parks, drives
From now until the middle of May, visitors to MacKerricher State Park will find a barrier cable and signs east of the harbor seal rookery. Seals give birth on an open beach, and the newborn pups are extremely sensitive to intrusions — especially by dogs. It’s fine to observe the seals from the bluffs overlooking the beach, but don’t bring your dog. This is a great time to see the harbor seals. As the pups get a little older, you can watch the mothers coax the pups into the water for their first swimming lessons.
During pupping season, the males hang out elsewhere in the area. Last Sunday, we drove north along the coast north of MacKerricher and Ten Mile Beach. We stopped at the vista point at mile marker 74.09 on Highway One. This is a lovely spot with some wetlands areas on the headlands, leading down to the ocean. We saw a number of harbor seals down on the rocks, and we’re guessing they were males.
This was also the driving trip where I discovered that Peet, my 9-month-old puppy, gets car sick. After he threw up twice in 25 miles, we headed back home — where Peet moped around the rest of the day. Gonna have to toughen that puppy up! 
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