Suzanne Hamlin reports on 36 hours in Mendocino, one of my favorite places on the northern California coast.
The last part of the drive to Mendocino is an exhilarating hairpin-turn coastal road through what remains of the ancient redwood forest, where huge evergreen trees obliterate the sky before opening suddenly onto a five-mile stretch of ocean road that leads directly into the village. The temperature hovers between 50 and 60 degrees year-round; sunny days are glorious; stormy days, memorably dramatic.