Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

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California Days 35 and 36: On the California Coast

21 April 2023 • 345 km / 215 mi (map)

  • Added to Eric Scouten :: Travel on 23 April 2023
  • California 38

Continuing on from my month-long trip through the Southeastern US, I spent most of this week representing my team and project at Internet Identity Workshop. IIW is a fabulous torrent of information and connections. Having attended before and had that same experience then, I made plans to have this weekend away and to myself.

After the conference ended yesterday afternoon, I got my rental car and drove to the north end of the Bay Area. I had some nice views across the water to San Francisco, but mostly it was time to start decompressing.

Tiburon, California
Sam’s Anchor Cafe, Tiburon, California
Tiburon, California

Today’s weather was 👩🏼‍🍳 perfect: cool but sunny. And I had a very fun rental car, so of course I took the windy coastal highway north. I had driven most of this route before, but the aptly named Panoramic Highway was new to me:

A hillside view over green chaparral and shrubs toward the San Francisco Bay, with rolling green hills and a distant bridge visible under a wide blue sky streaked with wispy clouds.
Panoramic Highway, west of Mill Valley, California

Had to laugh and maybe cry a little at this sign. How many people (wrongly) followed their GPS down this private driveway?

Your GPS Is Wrong! · Panoramic Highway, west of Mill Valley, California
The weathered white clapboard side of an old building with a hand-lettered dark wooden sign that reads “Please do not block garage” in cursive, mounted beside a wooden door with a rusted metal hinge.
Please Do Not Block Garage · Tomales, California

Did I mention the lonely, windy roads?

A sweeping coastal view of green rolling hills along the California coast, with a winding narrow road threading through the terrain toward the blue Pacific Ocean in the distance under a mostly clear blue sky with wispy clouds. Shrubs and small trees fill the foreground.
Shoreline Highway, north of Jenner, California
Rolling green coastal hills covered in grass, scattered trees, and dense scrub under a bright blue sky with wispy cirrus clouds. A winding two-lane road snakes through the valley below, tracing the contours of the hillsides.
Shoreline Highway, north of Jenner, California

People who know me know that I typically demur when asked what is my favorite ___, including what is my favorite travel destination.

Let the evidence show that Mendocino clearly belongs on a short list of my favorite places because I keep coming back and that is where I am again this weekend. I first set foot in Mendocino more than thirty years ago. I’ve lost count, but I think I’m now on something like my 15th visit.

Were it not for the modern-day cars parked on its streets, you could think you’ve stepped back 100 or more years when you in this town. It’s quiet and laid-back. Signs at the edge of town refer to the Mendocino Historic Preservation District, and they take this seriously.

Here’s a view of the village from across the bay:

A calm cove viewed across the water under an overcast gray sky, with green shrubs in the foreground and low rocky bluffs beyond, topped by a coastal town of white houses and trees on the headland in the distance.
Brewery Gulch Road, south of Mendocino, California

I’m here to do a whole lot of nothing, which sounds like just my speed about now.

I’ve mostly hidden the parked cars behind trees or hills. You see what I mean about being well-preserved history?

A weathered white picket fence with a gap in the middle frames a grassy overgrown field, beyond which sits a dark red wood-sided house with a gray gabled roof and white-trimmed windows. Other homes, a tall dark tree, and trimmed hedges spread across the small coastal town under a partly cloudy blue sky.
Mendocino, California
A weathered dark wooden farmhouse with a steep gabled roof sits among wind-sculpted cypress trees on a grassy coastal bluff, with the flat gray Pacific Ocean and an overcast sky behind it. Tall grasses and yellow wildflowers grow in the foreground.
Mendocino, California
A weathered wooden barrier made of stacked, silvery driftwood planks stands beside a sandy dirt path winding through grassy coastal bluffs, with houses and a distant treeline visible under a broad partly cloudy sky in Mendocino, California.
Mendocino, California
A row of historic wooden buildings, including a yellow two-story storefront and a white commercial building, along with a wooden water tower, seen across a grassy hillside dotted with yellow wildflowers under a blue sky with soft clouds.
Mendocino, California
Ford House Visitor Center and Museum, Mendocino, California
An eroded coastal bluff with exposed sandy cliff faces in the foreground, topped by grassy headlands dotted with yellow wildflowers, leading back to the small town of Mendocino with its wooden houses, water towers, and clusters of trees under an overcast, cloudy evening sky.
Mendocino, California

Anyway, more in a few days as I continue to revisit this — dare I say it? favorite — place.

Mountain View to Mendocino, California · 345 km / 215 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

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