Once we arrived in Mendocino - we had 30 mins to enjoy the local beach before our accomodation was ready. So California.
Our reason for going to Mendocino was that it was Mom's favorite town in California and she had requested her ashes be scattered among the redwoods, of which there are many great groves in this beautiful area.
As soon as we saw our accommodation, I had to reluctantly admit to Maryanne that she had redeemed herself after that dodgy Tahoe place. It was big and airy, with a giant kitchen, a wood stove and even a hot tub. Darren showed up a bit late. He swore it was traffic and not that he forgot Mom (he hadn't).
The next day, Maryanne stayed behind cooking while Darren and I went off to the redwoods. I thought this part would be straightforward, but then I suddenly felt the pressure of trying to find the very best spot in the forest for Mom. Darren and I walked and walked and walked, just in case the next place would be better than what we had seen already. When we finally found a sunny spot that we both really liked, Darren made the brilliant suggestion that we could divide Mom's ashes between multiple sites within the grove. That took a lot of the pressure off of finding the One Perfect Place.
Darren and Kyle scatterd Mom among the the majesty of the redwood trees, where she "will take comfort in knowning her body will become part of something that so easily trancends the troubles of the world", and she "will surely rest in peace and comfort there"
After returning, we picked up Maryanne and then had a walk around Mendocino while talking about Mom and how much she loved it here. We then shared a delicious dinner at the house, Thanks to Maryanne's day-long effort.
Some time to relax in Mendocino itself - where we could all reflect on the amazing Carla's influence in each of our lives
Darren's plans were cut short and he had to run off to work the next day, so Maryanne and I stayed back to have a short hike along the paths behind the house. It's so beautiful and peaceful around here. As it always does, our hike quickly expanded to every trail we could manage, logging just under ten miles by the time we had finally climbed the last hill to the house. The hot tub was the perfect remedy for that.
Our AirBnB had a private gate right onto the Russian Gulch State Park
On route to visit Darren - we swung by various beautiful viewpoints, but a 'Must see' for one of us was Kyle's favourite resaurant: "Juan's Place" in Berkeley (near San Francisco). Eventually we reached Darren at his workplace (where he builds and repairs some very fancy guitars).
Darren has created quite the oasis around his forest home - and is frequented by visiting birds and other wildlife, what he can't find in his own garden, is easily found in nearby state parks
We managed a side trip to Monterey, where we enjoyed a historical tour and learned, that among other key historic moments for California, the State Constitution was written before it could become a USA state back in 1849. We also enjoyed some great Chowder on Fishermans Wharf)
We then joined Darren at his cabin near Santa Cruz for the rest of the weekend. It was nice to be able to spend some proper time with him after being gone so long. We ate out, went for walks in the forest, spent a day in Monterey, hung out in the garden and took a tour of his shop. We finished the visit with a Dark Tower rematch - poor Darren has been smarting since his defeat seven years ago. Dark Tower is an 1981 board game with some electronic randomness to it, here it is described as "An epic fantasy quest to recover an ancient magic scepter from a tyrant king in his Dark Tower, brought to life in electronic form". This time, Darren snuck in a brilliant victory before either Maryanne or I realized he was that far ahead of us. I would normally have been more upset about it, but he really did outfox us, so I can only give him credit where it's due. Enjoy it while you can, brother!
The game 'Dark Tower' has a long history among the family (none of us thought to snap a picture for this particular challenge)
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