For most who live in Northern California, when Mendocino Village comes to mind, a soothing wave of relaxation takes over.
The coastal town in the county of the same name is known for its rugged beauty. Sunsets come before starry nights, unless a thick blanket of clouds covers the night. Either way, it’s kind of magical. If you allow it, time seemingly moves backward to a simpler time when you visit Mendocino.
This story covers plenty of what we already know about Mendocino coast beauty. But there’s more to this story, namely The Stanford Inn By The Sea (44850 Comptche Ukiah Road, Mendocino), a historic farm and eco-resort adjacent to Mendocino Village, and a weekend in March that I spent there with my family: wife Holly, daughter Talia and Moxie our dog. A wine tasting stop in Anderson Valley on the way and a fish stop on Fort Bragg’s Noyo Harber completes this highly recommended getaway.
Getting there
The scenic route from Napa to Mendocino takes you through four wine valleys: Napa, Knights, Alexander and Anderson. Tack on a bucolic section of Highway 101, pass over the Yorkville Highlands and Navarro River Redwoods State Park, and you have one of the prettiest three-hour drives you can imagine — all before your first sight of The Pacific.
Suggested stops along the way include Jumbo’s Win Win, a roadside spot in Philo that’s created a Bay Area culinary buzz for its smashburgers and so much more, all made from scratch. And for wine tasting, there is Lula Cellars (2800 Guntly Road), also in Philo.
At Lula, the wines are very good, the laid-back staff loves wine and talking about it, and tasting outside next to the estate vineyard is recommended. Dogs are very welcome as is bringing your own picnic. Start with the $15 tasting, then buy a bottle to drink and stay a little longer than you had planned.
If you’re fortunate, Ernest Rubio Miranda will be there to pour and explain the wines with his wine-geeky inspiration. “Taste this Pinot Noir from here, ‘The Deep End’; now taste this Pinot Noir from up the road, where it’s warmer. Taste different, don’t they?” he asks. They do.
Stanford Inn by the Sea
Lying across the Big River from Mendocino Village on Highway 1, sloped down toward the Pacific like an amphitheater, is Stanford Inn by the Sea. In its 46-year history it has evolved from a bare-bones motel to a wellness resort that celebrates the precious resources of Mother Earth. It’s called a wellness resort and eco-resort because we relate to the terms, but The Stanford Inn is much more. As existential retreat is more appropriate because, beyond the yoga and spa options, there is an implied invitation to check into our meditative mind and consider the effect our choices make on the planet.
It’s an opportunity to feel good, or better, about our place on Earth. It’s about being alive.
Jim and Joan Stanford
Jim and Joan Stanford purchased the motel and property that now bears their name in 1980. Jim recalls the beginning.
“The land was very special — it drew us here,” he said. “We saw it and could see what we wanted to do with it…we had a vision.”
That vision started truly taking shape in the mid-1980s, when the décor moved to a country lodge style, rooms were added (for a total of 41 rooms and suites now), and fireplaces in every room that Jim installed himself. “That’s when I needed to hire staff,” he remembers.
And that’s when the concept slowly transformed from cutesy bed and breakfast to wellness resort. Jim noted: “We must have been the first bed and breakfast anywhere to have a massage therapist. Next year was yoga. We had just built the pool and a local came by and said, ‘I’d like to lead yoga around the pool,’ and so we did. That was 1991, and it just kept growing.”
All of which circles back to the vision in 1980. It manifests itself in many ways 46 years later. Summed up, it is Jim and Joan’s vision of making a space for people to make personal changes that connect and blossom to make real-world changes.
“What we want to do is help change the world,” Jim explains. “Our philosophy is each one of us is the center of consciousness for the universe, and particularly this planet, and we have to make changes.”
In Joan’s words, “We want our guests to experience what we experience: appreciation for our connection to nature.”
Creating space to make change at Stanford Inn
The spaces created to make change at Stanford Inn run from the typical resort activities to inspirations cultivated over time by Jim and Joan. On the traditional side are yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, tai chi, massage, spa and the aquatic center with a saltwater pool, dry sauna and hot tub. Peel away an onion layer or two and discover cooking and garden
ing classes, nutrition and healthy living classes, and mushroom learning hikes. Go shallow or go deep on the classes and experiences — it’s up to you. Most people dig deeper than expected.
“We want people to experience something that makes them feel more alive,” Joan explains. “Everyone wants to feel more alive! Hopefully being here allows that openness, and hopefully what we offer goes into that open space.” All classes are also available to non-guests of the inn with the exception of the aquatic center.
For this writer, the best experience is simply roaming around the property. With so few locked gates and keep-out signs, guests are quietly encouraged to roam about.
Walk across the dewy lawn to breakfast in the morning, then meander along the paths down to visit the rescue llamas, donkeys and horses. From there, look back toward the inn and find an entrance to some of the most meaningful gardens you’ll ever visit. Walk through, breathe in, and feel connected to Earth.
The 4 ½ acres of gardens spread out on the hillside below the inn and are the main supplier of the inn’s vegan restaurant, Ravens. This is where Chinese immigrants grew vegetables for the locals and lumber camps in the mid- and late 1800s. The Stanfords resurrected those gardens, improving them with raised beds and implementing certified organic farming. You’d hardly know it from the serenity, but in this dirt is the link to Jim Stanford’s actions for world change. It is a classroom for sustainable mini-farming.
“We teach ‘grow biointensive’ farming practices in our research garden. We train farmers who go home and train others, so there are hundreds of thousands trained in the farming practices we teach here,” Jim explains. “Teaching farmers how to grow food sustainably and feed their own communities is a way to adapt to climate change.” A two-hour Biointensive Gardening class is offered by reservation.
A day on the Mendocino coast
The family rises early-ish at The Stanford Inn. We walk down toward the Pacific to the animal sanctuary, say good morning to the donkeys, and roam the gardens before heading to breakfast at Ravens, where Moxie is welcome to hang out at our feet.
Devotees come to Mendocino solely for the gourmet plant-based dining at Ravens for breakfast, dinner, afternoon tea and takeout lunch. We have the savory breakfast crêpe, Ravens pancakes and citrus granola — all delicious and filling. (Dinner the night before included maple-tamari glazed tofu, strawberry shortcake, and to start, a spectacular stuffed mushroom amuse-bouche.) Well-fueled and ready for the day, we walk down to Big River.
The Stanford Inn’s Catch a Canoe & Bicycles Too sets us up for a paddle up the Big River Estuary. Life vests for all including Moxie (supplied from home), brief instructions, and away we go.
Harbor seals poke their heads up in the distance and great blue herons glide above, looking for a meal on this beautiful day. I note the bike and foot path parallel to the river for our next visit. We paddle up the canyon for almost an hour before turning around. The ocean breeze faces us now, so our rowing requires more purpose. We disembark where we began, near the mouth of the Big River.
Next we drive over the bridge to Mendocino where the Whale Festival is well underway. Cafés, shops and streets are bustling with Bay Area day trippers. A group of San Franciscans walk along Main Street, arms occupied with shopping bags and their pet puggle. They’re having a fine time.
“I came last year, and this year I brought some friends,” Jonny Marshall tells me. “The drive isn’t too bad, and when we get here it feels so different, really magical!”
Everyone appears genuinely happy to be here, and the shopkeepers are good hosts. A favorite stop for us is Rule 62, a gifty-type shop celebrating their grand opening today. I buy a shaving brush and soap.
Checking out, I ask what Rule 62 is. “Don’t take yourself too seriously,” I’m told. Later I learn this is an AA mantra. Good to know.
We have our hearts set on one of the fish shacks in Fort Bragg’s Noyo Harbor, so we make the drive 10 miles north. Noyo Fish Company is buzzing with a fast-moving line of customers, and there’s room among their picnic tables along the dock. The fried pickles, Baja fish tacos and fish and chips hit the spot. Time to return to the mellow vibe of Mendocino.
We arrive at The Stanford Inn in time for a happy hour cocktail. They make a good Manhattan. While the ladies enjoy the aquatic center, Moxie and I head down to Big River Beach to watch the sunset. Families play around campfires, and tykes play in the sand by the river as parents look on. A man has hauled an 800-pound driftwood burl to his truck and negotiates its loading into the back.
The sun is so close to setting, you can monitor the descent. Some watch it disappear, some carry on, and either way it’s a moment shared. We walk along the river’s edge to its mouth and back. Twilight is fast turning to night.
Back at the inn, the ladies, muscles relaxed from their swim, sauna and hot tub, are cozied up in the room. A light snack, glass of wine for the parents, and a game of cards as fire crackles in the fireplace. A little later I step out to see my buddies Orion the Hunter and Big Dipper in the amazingly clear night sky.
The art of play
Downstairs from the lobby, bookstore (yes, a wonderful bookstore) and Ravens restaurant is Joan Stanford’s art studio. Along with the gardens, this space is the nexus of the Stanford’s purpose.
The room is covered floor to ceiling with paintings, art pieces, and the supplies and areas needed to make more. While it is unquestionably Joan’s space, it is certainly a welcoming one for all who enter.
Joan, a registered art therapist, deftly immerses her students in art, using thought and writing to introduce the program. From there other mediums are practiced and explored — all with the goal of “moving you past self-judgment and into a truly creative space.” In just a half hour introduction to Joan’s class I felt the connection between art and self. Joan’s art experiences are offered as two-hour Creative Playshops by reservation, or on a four-day Creative Journey Retreat held three times a year.
Going home
During breakfast on getaway day I meet a lovely couple also preparing to head to Berkeley. It’s another beautiful morning.
“We’ve been coming to The Stanford Inn for 25 years — once a year when we can,” the lady tells me. The two have noticed the inn’s small, steady changes that harness the energies of the property. She continues: “This is very much our happy place — we can relax here unlike any other place. There’s something special about here I can’t put into words. … Honestly, I don’t really want to.”
Heading home, we make a quick stop at Van Damme State Park, where a diving class run by Cal Poly Humboldt is getting started. The cold March winds are kicking up — there’s weather coming in just as we depart.
Our next stop is Healdsburg, which is humming with visitors enjoying the shops, restaurants and tasting rooms. Healdsburg is no longer on the rise — it has risen. From there it’s an hour-plus to Napa which we are lucky to call home, and luckier still to have Mendocino at our fingertips for our next visit.
This story is the result of a family weekend getaway to Mendocino Village on the Pacific coast. We four enjoyed nature’s beauty and local hospitality over two days of perfect weather in March. Gratitude to The Stanford Inn in Mendocino for complimentary accommodations and meals, and Lula Wines in Philo for complimentary wine tastings.
