Day 20: Clothing Optional- Welcome to Northern California

Mile: 3515: Leave Eureka

We are happy to leave Eureka since there wasn't much there. We are on our way to Mendocino California. Since the trip is not about the destination but about the journey, we are taking the scenic route through Avenue of the Giants- that's right- more redwoods.

Before we get going, James needed to wash the car. We are trying to get some bug free photos through the windshield

With a clean car and a full cup of coffee, we head out to see more redwoods. Really, really big ones.

Humboldt State Park is home to Avenue of the Giants

Some details on redwoods

We actually drove through one of the redwoods. This is not our car, but we are driving through next. 

Here is James driving through the tree in the 4runner. How is that for scale?

They turned this redwood into a little tree house. Not big enough for James, but I fit!

Back on the road... we go off the 101 and drive on tiny, but scenic route 1. It is a tiny and winding road.

It was a long drive through a lot of trees until we hit the coast again...

Lots of misty fog. It was beautiful, but cold

No whales

We are starting to get hungry and we haven't seen civilization for a while. Finally, we happen upon Fort Bragg. I check my trusty Yelp app, and we head to a small sandwich shop in town.

It was a nice sandwich, but not the best I ever had. We start to wonder if the proprietor is high. He is entertaining us through our meal. Another customer came in and asked for chicken soup. He replied that he ate the last of it himself about an hour ago (fyi- the current time is 1pm??). Yes, definitely high. 

After filling up on sandwiches, we took a trip to the Fort Bragg harbor (a recommendation from our sandwich maker).

Cute harbor. Nice mix of fishing, recreation and industry

On to Mendocino, CA. It looks like a cute town as we drive in. The town is serviced only by well water, so Mendocino is filled with these little water towers.

Nice architecture

We get to our inn. When we booked, James and I had to make a compromise. I wanted to stay in a regular room, James wanted to stay in one of these water towers (they have rooms on top). The only problem is that the tower with the private bath is twice the price. We compromised on this tower (same price as the room) with a shared bath. Please note, the bath is shared with the spa downstairs... once the spa closes, the bath and spa facilities are privately ours. First of all, Mendocino is a small town. We thought- how many people could possibly be using the spa? I was picturing a spa like Bliss in downtown New York. I've never been to a spa like this....

This little water tower on the right is our room. 

We meet the woman at the front desk who takes us on a tour of the spa before we even get to our room. We walk through the door she says "Here is your bathroom.  Be careful when you open the door BECAUSE THIS AREA IS UNISEX CLOTHING OPTIONAL WHILE THE SPA IS OPEN."

??!?!!? There are no mens or womens locker rooms. It is a shared space for both genders... and us.  Call us conservative, but this is a bit outside of our comfort zones.

Then we get to the actual facilities. This is the only toilet we (plus all of the spa guests) have access to.

Please note the louvered door.

This is the spa shower

I think you could hear both James and I breathing. We were in shock.

Then she sent us up to our room.

This is the art. What have we gotten ourselves into?

Even the cactus was perverted. 

We could not use the facilities while people were there. It was too much. Did I mention that the spa was packed? With naked people? Where did they all come from? Why was this nudity not mentioned on the website? We made our way to another local hotel. We needed to imbibe, regroup, and use the facilities.

James zoning out- focusing on yesterday's blog

Our oasis- Mendocino Hotel

Where we spent 3 hours

We took a nice walk to check out the harbor

Is this black cat a bad sign

It started following James.

We stopped back at our hotel to change. It was getting cold. No big deal right--we'll walk through the office then up the stairs to our room.  No reason we should see MULTIPLE FULL FRONTAL NAKED DUDES (sorry ladies, no pics of this one).  We nearly run into stuff averting our gaze as we hustle to the room.

Dinner was pretty good, despite our shell-shock.

Patterson's Pub

French Dip

Burger

Awesome moose with sombrero. I prefer this decor to our hotel

We make one last bar stop trying to wait out the spa closing... 9pm.

Distraught James

Finally, it's 9:15 and we head back to our hotel. Why, why are there still naked men in the spa? And why are they chatting up James about where he went to school? Thank God for alcohol.

Tomorrow: San Francisco... we are staying with friends. I checked and they have a clothing required policy. Phew!