Spring Break on the Mendocino Coast

I don't remember getting this much time off when I was a kid. In February we have ski week around the President's Day holiday, and in April we have Spring Break. Ski week for us is in Florida visiting the grandparents ... and Spring Break always puts us at a loss for what to do, since we can only take about two days off work, the kids are in Y Camp for the other three days. It needs to be a compact Holiday with minimal travel time (under four hours) and maximum fun. Last year we spent a few days in Monterey, and this year we headed to the Mendocino coast.

April is still considered off season on the beautiful coast. With the boys we opted to stay in Fort Bragg, more pedestrian than upscale Mendocino. Fort Bragg also is where you can catch the Skunk train, and close to a bunch of coastal parks.

If we could do it over again, we would have selected a different hotel. The rooms at the Holiday Inn Express are small, and it doesn't have balconies. So on our rainy first day (actually thunder, lightening, torrential rains and hale) we felt cooped up. With four of us, we should have sprung for a low end suite at a property with balconies. We'll keep that in mind on our next visit.

In fact after the boys acted up at dinner on our first night -- they were more uncontrollably silly than anything else, 5 year old Caleb turns to me and says in a very grown up voice, "Mom, of course we are acting silly. We haven't had any kid time, and we need an outlet."

Hmmm ... I wonder where he heard that before? Keeping that in mind we found plenty of free play activities for the boys. And the weather was fantastic the rest of the long weekend. Our itinerary included:

Friday - 10 am - 2 pm ride the Skunk Train; 2:30 pm visit the Botanical Gardens (there is an adventure trail for the kids which includes a fort), 4 pm visited a Light House -- did I mention we were feeling cooped up after Thursday's storms.
Saturday - Tide pools (we went to two separate beaches, at the first the tide pools were closed because of the baby seals) and Mendocino Headlands
Sunday - Travel home with a stop for a hike in the Redwoods.

The trip was amazing. The boys can't wait to go back! They loved it. Over the next few weeks I'll blog about our specific excursions. The Mendocino coast is definitely a great destination for both adults and children.