A day of wine and Rosa

The beach was socked in when we left this morning, but by the time we reached Mendocino, 10 miles down the coast, it was clear and sunny.  The Cabot Cove episodes of Murder, She Wrote were filmed here, so we wanted to check it out.  It is a pretty good size small town and quite interesting to see, and though we didn't recognize anything from the show, we would have liked to stay longer.  Once again, however, we found nowhere to park and never got out of the RV.

Just a few miles further south, the road turns inland, and almost immediately, we entered the Navarro River Redwoods State Park.  The sunlight streaming through the enormous trees was a stunning sight.  Though the road was narrow and winding and the speed limit low, the grades were much gentler than yesterday and the traffic was light, which made for easy driving and allowed us to savor the moment.  Words can't convey our delight, and without a place to pull off, there are no photos either, but we both agreed that this was the high point of our trip so far.

Beyond the redwoods, we emerged into Anderson Valley and wine country.  We both tried getting pictures of the vineyards, but the road was hardly wider than in the forest and I was only able to actually  pull off and stop once.  Fortunately for me, vineyards are so darn picturesque that even mediocre shots seem kind of cool.  This, according to the large sign on the entrance, is the Roederer Estate.

At the other end of the valley were more hills where the going was slow but the driving once again was relatively easy.  We reconnected with 101 at Cloverdale and another 30 minutes brought us to Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County Fair Grounds RV Park, tonight's home away from home.  It's just a gravel parking lot but inexpensive and with the best hook ups I've come across yet.

Day 84
Fort Bragg, CA to Santa Rosa, CA

Daily Mileage:  111.5
Total Mileage:  13,092.6