Van Damme State Park and the Fern Canyon Trail

The Mendocino coast is blessed with an abundance of spectacular scenery and natural beauty. Nowhere is this more evident than in Van Damme State Park located just south of Mendocino in the town of Little River. The history of this area is intimately tied to the rise and fall of the redwood lumbering industry in northern California.

From its early beginnings in the mid-1800s, Little River grew from a small milltown to a thriving community boasting a shipyard, a wharf, a lumber mill and several chutes for loading lumber into ships anchored off the coast. But a stand of timber, logged, does not last forever. Eventually, activity in the port disappeared; the school, which at one time had over 100 pupils, closed; and the weekly steamship service to the Bay area ended. Little River eventually reverted to its natural state and upon the demise of Charles Van Damme, the property now known as Van Damme State Park was acquired by the state park system in 1934. How lucky for visitors to Mendocino!

I had the chance to explore Van Damme with my daughter, Taylor, earlier this week. In addition to 70 campsites, the park features a lush trail system that meanders for 10 miles along the fern-carpeted banks of the Little River; and a pygmy forest of mature cypress and pine trees standing only 6 inches to 8 feet tall! Adventure-seekers can get a unique perspective of the coastline along Van Damme by joining a sea kayaking tour from a concession stand located in the parking lot on the west side of Highway 1.

First Signs of Spring

The first signs of spring are here. The daffodils and bulbs planted last year are starting to sprout by the hundreds. Driving into town, you can see lilys poking their heads up through the tall grasses and trees beginning to flower. The days are crisp and clear with a stiff breeze raising white caps out in the cove. And during the last few moonless nights, the stars have been spectacular. Last Friday, the northern lights made a rare appearance and were visible from the north coast all the way down to the Bay area.

2008 has been wet and windy so far. The year kicked off with a major storm on January 4th that saw winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour and 25-30' waves exploding in Smuggler's Cove like a series of cannons going off. For a southern Californian, the 8" of rain we received during the two day storm was the equivalent of about 4 years worth of rain in San Diego. Along with our guests, I stared out the windows of the great room transfixed by the maelstrom taking place outside. For two days, Mendocino was an island: Highway 1 was closed at Westport to the north and to the south just past the Glendeven Inn; Highway 20 was closed between Fort Bragg and Ukiah; and Highway 128 (the route through the redwoods and the Anderson Valley) was closed 2 miles in from the coast. Power to residences and businesses in the area was lost. For some, service took more than 2 weeks to restore. Since I have never lived in an area where water comes from wells and not from the Department of Water and Power, I didn't realize that a loss of power in Mendocino also means a loss of water! Apparently, you need electricity to pump that water up from the well. Fortunately, our inn has a backup generator tied into our propane tank. This provides us with more than a week of emergency power before needing a refill, so our guests had both power and water. Unfortunately, most of our staff was not so lucky. It's good to be living in the inn!

Taylor's First Abalone

One of the best abalone diving areas in California is Smuggler's Cove, located just across the street from the inn. Strictly regulated by the state, abalone divers can't use any scuba equipment and the maximum limit is 3 per day. Last fall, my daughter, Taylor, came up to visit. One of our guests went out diving and brought back his limit. He was kind enough to give one of them to us and our chef prepared it. It was the first seafood Taylor had ever eaten and she liked it. I hated to be the one to tell her that abalone was a rare treat and quite expensive in restaurants.

Life in Mendocino...

I thought I'd start a blog to keep our guests up to date on what's happening at the inn and in Mendocino; and to share my experiences as a first-time innkeeper with others that are thinking about choosing this career. I'm sure that as time goes by, what's posted on this blog may expand beyond this initial concept, but that's it for starters.

I started my search for an inn in 2006. Over a little more than a year, I looked at 29 different properties from the northeastern-most part of the U.S., all the way down to the southwestern corner. After 12 months, I had started to think I was pretty pathetic because I couldn't find one that felt right. But then I found Brewery Gulch up here in Mendocino and I realized that finding the right inn was like choosing a college. A number of places met the criteria I had listed, but none felt right. When I walked in the door at Brewery Gulch, I knew this was the place I had been searching for. I liked the location (on a bluff, surrounded by pine and fir, overlooking the ocean); I liked the architecture (a clean arts and crafts style lodge fashioned from eco-salvaged, old growth redwood); I liked the staff (an amazing general manager, a great chef, a dedicated maintenance guy, a great group of front desk staff and the nicest housekeepers); and I loved the community of Mendocino.

Moving from a city of 2,000,000 people to a town of 1,000 wasn't as challenging as I had imagined. Sure, the nearest Home Depot or Target is more than 2 hours away; but the ocean and the redwoods are just a stone's throw from my front door. I don't have to worry anymore if I need to run to the store at 5:00 that there will be gridlock traffic, or that a parking space in town will be hard to find. And it's nice to run into people you know every day everywhere you go. I guess the experience that best sums up what life in Mendocino is like took place at the DMV. I had applied for some new license plates for my car (ones with the name of the inn on them) and when they arrived, the DMV took the time to call me on my cell phone to tell me they had come in. I went in to pick them up and there was no line. Not only was there no line, but the clerk had me pull up a chair and chat for a while. I can't remember ever having an experience like that in any DMV office before.

Every morning, I wake up and realize how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful part of the country and to be working in such a rewarding field. I hope that through this blog, I can share some of my experiences with you.