Mendocino to Klamath -- a very curvy drive!

We awoke to more fog in Mendocino.  We drove to the coast road on our way out of town and discovered that Mendocino is a very charming town.  The views were impressive and would have been spectacular without the fog.

We took a steep trail down to the beach.  It was beautiful and quite different from our Atlantic Ocean beaches.

We headed to Fort Bragg, CA to find a good spot for lunch.  The Noyo Harbor area was recommended, so we ate at a Mayan fusion restaurant.  We expected to eat seafood, but couldn't pass up this restaurant.  It was delicious.  

Back in the car, the fog finally lifted and we had some amazing views of the Northern California coastline.  It was quite windy, as you can see.

The highway became extremely steep and curvy for about 60 miles as we alternated between mountainous coastline and forests.  As we approached The Avenue of the Giants, a 20 mile stretch of redwood forest, Hadley's stomach finally got the best of her.  Luckily, the redwood forest grove was a great place to pull over.  Dan and the kids could explore the giant trees while I cleaned up Hadley (and the car) with wet wipes.  "Giant" may be an understatement for the trees...

Hadley made a full recovery, so we jumped back in the car to head to Klamath and our hotel for the evening.  I read a chapter of  Harry Potter aloud to the kids to help pass the time.  We had planned to stop in Eureka, CA to explore a bit and have dinner.  Unfortunately, we discovered that they were having a street festival and several of the main streets were closed.  We decided not to expose ourselves to that chaos and seek dinner elsewhere.  "Elsewhere" resulted in McDonalds in Arcata.  (Boo!)  I think it helped settle the kids' stomachs, though. We finally made it to our hotel as the fog resettled for the evening.