Matthew's web log

After checking the weather forecast, we saw that the weather was predicted to be sunny along the California coast. This is unusual in the summer so we adjusted our plans to spend our first night in Mendocino rather than an inland location. I checked for hotel availability during the day and wrote down the name of one that had one. We didn’t book anything since we didn’t know how the fickle Bay Area traffic would be impact how far we would be able to get.

We had moderate slowdowns through the wine country but found a pizza place in Santa Rosa. While it doesn’t rank on my pizza poll, it was adequate to eliminate the grumpiness factor from both of us being hungry. We called the hotel to enquire about availability which they fortunately still had. The hotel receptionist thought we would be in Mendocino in about four hours while by our reckoning it would be only two. We agreed we’d call again when we got closer.

The drive to the coast is windy, but manageable. Unbeknownst to me, but, to paraphrase, Spaceballs, knownst to L’, there is little to no cell phone reception in Mendocino (Note:  Spaceballs is one of L’’s favorite movies). We just drove to the lodging establishment instead and mentioned to the receptionist that we had called earlier. Surprised that we did in fact make it, she informed us that the room was still available (and for a phenomenal price given Mendocino’s normal prices). With keys in hand we were on our way.

At the entrance to the room, L’ tried the key to no avail. Puzzled, I also tried to open the door without success. We returned to the receptionist who accompanied us to the room to try and open it. After a few seconds, someone from inside the room yells for us to go away since they are in the room. Back at the hotel office, the receptionist figures out someone was in the room but it wasn’t properly listed as occupied. At this point, she upgrades us to a bigger room with a fireplace and fortunately the key works this time. So in the end, it all worked out. The remaining bonus was that the hotel was the scene for the filming of “Murder She Wrote”.

View all the trip photos here:

http://www.sanjoseabrams.com/photos/OregonAugust2010/