Samuel
Johnson In Mendocino
It's
a pity Samuel Johnson, the 18th century English gadfly essayist,
philosopher and peptic traveler, didn't journey the highways of
Mendocino County, up its jagged lovely coast and inner heartland
that is so kind to grapes. He would have stayed at inns, of course,
along his way. A guest of the celebrated and sunnily dispositioned
Mendocino tradition of inn keeping. Arriving on horseback, with
brimming saddle bags his only luggage, Johnson would have certainly
embraced his inn hosts with bear hugs, cerebral wit and an awesome
hunger for excellent food and wine.
After
staying at the lodges, bed and breakfasts and inns of Mendocino
County, no doubt his irascible opinion of inns would have changed
from this nugget of traveler's lament he wrote: "He longs for the
time of dinner that he may eat and rest. The inn is crowded, his
orders are neglected, and nothing remains but that he devour in
haste what the cook has spoiled, and drive on in quest of better
entertainment. He finds at night a more commodious house, but the
best is always worse than he expected."
And
so this Johnsonian bit of pique would have quickly died out in the
presence of the fabulous inns that mushroomed out of the mid-19th
century Mendocino soil. Mendocino's inns are novels in progress:
some came out of Civil War era barber shops, others from clipper
ship captains' hunger for sweet land and others built literally
from sunken, perfectly preserved redwood logs in the muck of the
Big River. A mere 100 miles of pleasant driving from San Francisco,
Mendocino offers today's travelers exquisitely crafted timber-and-brass
inns that are charmingly petite to grand geometry of surprising
design. Mendocino has that almost perfect confluence of Tuscany
sun, bucolic hills and winding roads, fecund soil smelling of loam,
and that lithe stretch of Pacific rocky coast. For romantic couples,
families looking for intimate get-away time, and inn keepers this
county is a dream of retreat and epicurean delight.
Alongside
of the small, but telling, touches that inn keepers dovetail in
to their hosting, a sea change of community purpose has carried
many of Mendocino's inns into new territory. Catering to a clientele
that regards organic produce and free-range meat and sustainable
sea catch as de rigueur, many of the larger lodges, inns and smaller
B&B's have made organic and free-range a featured part of their
restaurant cuisine. Since many inn's owners also don the chef's
hat this marriage of natural food and intimate guest experience
leads to not only memorable lunches and dinners but great attable
conversation as the inn's chefs make the rounds of the guests. Organic
recipes may be exchanged, tales of the kitchen recounted, philosophical
musings dished out along with organic bean coffee and vanilla bean
ice cream crafted from milk that is free range. Guests from the
Bay Area and other national or world locales can now wander down
trails cutting into the great cliffs hanging over the Pacific packing
picnic baskets stuffed with gourmet fare that largely comes from
CSA (community sponsored agriculture) or often from the inn's own
gardens. Many inns are receiving their organic certification. Breakfasting
after sleeping in luxurious, artisan beds is one of the great treats
of inn life. Several inns now feature splendid organic breakfasts
with free-range eggs and bacon/sausage, earthy toasts from fresh
whole grain breads and sugary tart jams and jellies from organic
farms.
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