Mendocino Botanical Gardens

When I was a child, I loved family trips to the Arboretum in Arcadia, close to our home in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendora.  We also spent time at other arboretums and botanical gardens in the area; it was something my mother loved.  When I mentioned to my father that Brett and I were going to Mendocino for our anniversary, he asked if we had been to the botanical gardens there on one of our previous trips.  We had not.  He highly recommended it; adding that my mother had particularly enjoyed it there.   So, of course, we had to go.

From the road, the botanical garden looks small -- not any larger than a garden nursery.  But, the gardens fan out from the road becoming wide and stretching half a mile to the edge of the bluffs.

There were beds of perennials for me to admire; and statues for Brett to enjoy

We walked through a forest of pines, across a multitude of bridges, and through beautiful gates.  Wouldn't a gate like this be beautiful in my garden?  Brett asked me to take pictures of its construction so he can talk to our artist friend, Tom, about building one for us.

The view from the bluff was beautiful and we could see homes perched along the coast.  Talk about a view!

One had a stairway to ... no where.  Seriously, it just ends halfway down the bluff and hovers above the rocks.  You could not get a boat, or a kayak in there safely -- and even if you did, there is no way to reach the stairs.  We were there at high tide and the gap was still to large.

After our visit at the gardens, we headed to the harbor for fish and chips.

We spent the remainder of our stay exploring more beaches, bluffs and driving further north, along the coast.  We ate and ate, and then ate some more.  Mendocino has wonderful restaurants.  We even managed to do a little Christmas shopping in the village.  As we drove home Sunday afternoon, we agreed that the trip was a complete success and one of our very favorite anniversaries.