Mendocino and Fort Bragg

Last weekend, Robert and I headed up the coast to visit Mendocino and Fort Bragg. It felt very spontaneous, as we decided to do and went two weeks later, which probably says more about my life and my definition of spontaneity than anything else. It wasn't just a getaway, I was part of an invitational portfolio for Lost Coast Culture Machine, which I'll write more about later. Meanwhile, here's the post on making that print.

We treated ourselves to a stay in a cute little bed and breakfast - which was basically across the street and down a short path from the cove above. Below is another part of the cove.

The village of Mendocino is on a peninsula, surrounded by the Mendocino Headlands. I took a few walks around parts of it.

I can't get over my fascination with arch rocks. Geology and negative space just enthrall me.

In "downtown" Mendocino, I was intrigued by the architecture - I'm not sure they are still in use, but several buildings seem to have their own water towers or window's walks of a sort.

I also headed up to MacKerricher State Park, which has one of the few beaches that you can walk on. Most of the Mendocino Coast is dramatic cliffs overlooking the ocean. At McKerricher, there's a seal colony, and they were whelping.

By and far my favorite thing was shown to us by Anne and Ditmar of LCCM. It was a capacious tidepool north of the city of Fort Bragg.

Viewing the waters of the North Coast was the first time I ever fully recognized the ocean as a complex living entity. Intellectually, this was something I recognized, but it was never something I felt down to the core of my being like I did on the shores of Mendocino County. The waters are so full of life there, it feels like one living thing. Its almost as if the tide is its breathing.

As we reached the tidepool above, the tide started coming in, bringing new water. Anemones, urchins,mussels, seaweed, and other things I didn't recognize woke up and started feeding.

Click on pictures for larger views.