2008-09-04

It has already been a week since our trip to Mendocino. I wanted to do a video blog but decided to just write about it this time. Maybe our next trip will be more like a travel show.We started very late on Friday and reached Dennen’s victorian farm house a few minutes after midnight. The cottage sits on a 2 acre land overlooking the pacific and also served as a model for a series of paintings done by Thomas Kinkade. The innkeeper Jo complained that a lot of his fans trespass and give themselves a walking tour. The breakfast the next morning was a feast. There was quiche and fruit with home baked flat bread and the usual orange juice and coffee. Pramida vows that we are really going to make use of our breakfast nook now. We went to the village after breakfast and I was pleasantly surprised. All the buildings here are Victorian, It was like walking in Universal’s studio lot and perhaps thats the reason why a lot of films have been shot here.The latest being Jim Carrey’s ‘The Majestic’.The main street runs along the pacific and there is a path leading to the Portuguese beach where there is a lot of drift wood.There were happy dogs chasing the waves and a few people lounging on the beach. We checked out most of the galleries and Pramida was thrilled when she discovered that her favorite photographer Lisa Kristine had a gallery here. We spent close to an hour here then checked out the Mendocino art center up the road, where there were people sculpting and a few people playing music. The exhibits were interesting but I really liked the papier mache dogs. There is a theater right next door and there we bought tickets for Rabbit Hole– a Pulitzer prize winning play for Sunday’s matinee.Later went to the beach were the Big river meets the pacific and spent some time looking at the waves and taking pictures. Then drove to Fort Bragg. The town is straight out of Bonanza. Lunch was alright, we had local rock fish with french fries at the garden bar of Mendocino hotel. We left for our B&B soon after and I spent the rest of the evening working while Pramida listened to Def Leppard and I also think I heard her listen to Scroobius Pip and Dan le Sac. Her latest obsession. We went to eat at the Albion river inn for dinner and for the first time in her life Pramida finished an entire entr√©e by herself. She got Ahi tuna and I got Mediterranean strudels. The pan seared scallops was really well done and I think I know why most good restaurants make it a point to serve these.The wine was from a local vineyard. All in all a splendid experience. Sunday’s breakfast was pancakes and melons. The syrup smelled of wild flowers or probably it was my over active imagination. Sitting right by the window looking at the woods probably alters the effect food has on you. probably even artery clogging burgers would seem like wholesome food when you are in the woods. Pramida got a massage after breakfast and I got reflexology treatment. Willow, our masseuse, was a great listener and Pramida wants to make Willow her personal therapist. The rest of the day she felt like a load was lifted off of her shoulders. The Rabbit hole was such a great play. It is about loss and how people deal with loss. After Hari passed away, we tried hard to forget the gory incident. It is impossible to forget and the play put loss into perspective for us because it was so immediate and so intense. It was really cathartic. The pain never goes away, but you learn to deal with it. I wanted to get away…forget about it and here I was right in the middle of people who made it very real for me. Spent the rest of the evening just walking along the coast. Got some food from the local grocers and took it home to eat. Pramida went overboard with wines and bought half a dozen bottles and she threatened to buy more. We spent the evening eating, drinking, talking about Willow and the play. Pramida also spent the evening obsessively stoking the fire at the fireplace which drove me crazy. We started early on Monday because Jo suggested we stop at Navarro vineyards. We took the tour of the estate and saw farm animals and I saw a llama for the first time. I will probably get to see more of them when we go to South America next year. The first time I came across this glorious animal was in a TinTin comic. The llama was in an enclosure so it didn’t get a chance to spit at me. But I am so sure he was dying to. We ate a picnic lunch at the vineyards and Pramida bought another half a dozen bottles of wine. The drive to Navarro was beautiful with red wood tree canopies, rivers and the ocean. Our long week-end came to an end I am looking forward to our next trip in December. Don’t know where yet but will keep you updated. A review of Rabbit Hole by NYT– This is a different production