We’ve visited this wonderful Vegetarian Inn twice before and have always had a most amazing time. We revel in the atmosphere and fantasize about the idea of one day moving there. It’s our happy place! Each time in the past staying only 2 nights and yearning for at least one more.
So of course planning it over Memorial Day Weekend was the perfect timing to get that extra night in and not have my dear boyfriend Dave stress over his vacation days.
Then my mind started wandering… How perfect would it be if The Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco was having their annual Southern Comfort dinner on the Thursday before the holiday weekend started.. and then even further, will the SF Giants be playing at home if we were to go up early (I’m a big baseball fan)?
I could only dream of how perfect this would all be!
Well some months ago it appeared as though we were not going to make it up to Northern California for Memorial Day whatsoever. Something had come up.
A conflict of schedules and I was super bummed about this possible event ruining our trip.
And then slowly but surely that conflict seemed to have be taken out of the mix. Mendocino was back on, and I was singing from the rooftops!
I attempted to contact the Millennium on several occasions to find out the date of their delicious once a year dinner, and I never got a confirmed answer until sometime toward the end of April when I found out that the Southern Comfort Dinner was in fact going to be held on May 22nd!
I then confirmed that the Giants had a home game on the 23rd! Our reservations at the Inn are for the 23rd-26th. PERFECT!!!
I was jumping for joy with excitement!
It took some twisting of Dave’s arm to get him to take an extra vacation day, but he finally agreed!
Excitement built as the days past and we got closer to our date of departure. I had even purchased a “Southern Comfort” outfit to wear! I couldn’t wait!!
Now, I’m sure you are wondering why on earth I made the plans so tight on time (because that’s what I’d be wondering). Clearly because Dave had to work until 5pm and this was the best flight available for our difficult schedule.
We arrived at the airport in good time, made it through the security line without a hitch, and were waiting at the gate with time to spare. Then the dreaded announcement was made, our flight was running late and our new arrival time was at 8:35pm…NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I quickly got on the phone trying to reach a host a Millennium, crossing my fingers and my toes that 9pm wasn’t the last seating. Alas the host answered, I explain our grim situation and ask if they had a later seating. She brightened my spirit when she told me that 9:30pm is their last sitting, but that she couldn’t change our reservations because they are completely FULL! She did offer that we can show up and if they have the space that they will seat us as long as it is before the 9:30pm cut off. Hope is not lost!
Finally we begin to board! As I anxiously take my seat, Not because of the flight. But because the flight is leaving late and I have a very important date!
Up up and away, straight up into the clouds. I sat there and watched the flight tracker for the entire trip. As if that would make us get there any faster! It’s now 7:49pm and the flight tracker has us scheduled to arrive at 8:21pm. Dave is asleep in the seat next to me. The chatterbox girls sitting across from me are…well chatter-boxing.
I think we should make it. We’ll be cutting it close (like so many other things), but I think we can do it…unless the flight tracker has us landing at 8:21pm and not actually exiting the aircraft by that time!
Touchdown, we land and then without a moment to spare we have to hustle our buns to the rent-a-car agency. Dave is taking this mission very seriously, he does not want an unhappy girlfriend! He drives us into downtown San Francisco like a pro and we pull up to the Millennium at 9:10pm! Wow! I am impressed!
Friday morning, I woke up bright and fairly early, not at the crack of dawn or anything but with plenty of time to hit the business center and the gym before heading out to continue our eating fest at breakfast.
After a short but decent workout, we tidied up, checked out and left the building. Straight to Herbivore. Herbivore is our usual breakfast stop in SF, because it’s our favorite.
We arrived, chose “our” table. We’ve frequented this establishment so many times that I feel that we could call it “our” table.
Noticing that the server wasn’t one of the regulars and slightly aloof, we placed our orders and eagerly awaited our food! As we were served the server had mentioned that we got the last two orders of Savory Crepes - how could that be, they only opened less than an hour ago?! Regardless, breakfast was delish!
Next on my agenda was to shop at Rainbow grocery (my favorite health food store hands down), we needed some supplies for the weekend and some treats to bring back home. It was so difficult for me not to over shop and put everything that caught my eye into our basket - I must refrain!
Following our shopping visit was a trip to Alamo Square, where you’ll find some of the best views of the city and the famous Painted Ladies. We enjoyed our time at the park, people watching, taking lots of pictures, and fighting the wind (I didn’t have any hair ties), and my stupid sunglasses kept falling off of my face…how annoying!
And that you can also add time to your meter from an off site location once you have registered with this site! Coolness! It’s stuff like this that make me feel like we ARE living in the future. Is it time to beam me up Scotty?!
During our stroll along Union Street, I saw a very cool sign for a Juice Bar. I walked up and took a series of pictures, then realizing that this Juice Bar was just the tiniest place of business EVER! It’s literally the size of a closet!
Dave went for the immunity elixir, not because he felt that he needed it, but because it had a shot of Ginger in it, along with Garlic, Lemon, and Oregano Oil. He’s a sucker for Ginger. I on the other hand am NOT! Let the pictures explain the rest of the story here!
We decided to save a few bucks (more like $35-$50) by staying parked near the restaurant and to walk on over to the stadium. Plus the walk would be a good thing for our digestion.
It’s not even 24hrs and we are already eating way more than we do at home. It’s a foodie trip and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Almost game time, so over to AT&T park we strolled. It was going to be Dave’s first Giant’s game (I have been to so many that I lost track), but how can it be his first? I mean come on, he is from up here in these parts!
The Giants beat the Twins, and now it was time for our almost 4hr drive to Mendocino.
Being that I’m not doing the driving, I was getting strongly hypnotized by the road and my eye lids began to feel like heavy weights. I tried to stay awake and for the most part I put up a good fight. After about 2hrs of driving, we started to spot some animals! We saw 2 wild pigs, a fox, and 5 deer!
Finally arriving at the Stanford Inn at around 2am, we could finally now relax. Dave wasted no time at all, and was out like a light within a matter of minutes! I on the other hand wanted to unwind, and didn’t crawl into bed until after 4:30a! Gasp!
My lovely alarm went off a couple of hours later and that means it’s time to start a new day!
Breakfast, Photo Shoot, bike ride, with hopes of doing a canoe ride (too windy today and short on time), tea time, lunch and dinner of course! Told you we were going to be eating a lot!
The bike ride was just lovely, wildflowers lined the path, butterflies fluttering about, keeping a look out for Poison Ivy “leaves of three, let them be”, and of course watching out for the darn Stinging Nettles (we’ve been STUNG by these perky plants every other visit).
Riding for only a bit more than an hour, keeping the ride fairly short because Tea Time was awaiting us!
The second half of the afternoon and evening was just as wonderful as the first.
"For I shall not let this upset my day!" So with a quick adjustment of plans we were off to go walk around the town of Mendocino and see the Historic Ford House Museum which also houses the Visitor center and is location of a few trailheads leading out to the beach.
We took our time strolling town, taking plenty of pictures, and walking in and out of some of the cute little local shops.
Then a picnic lunch at The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, followed by an amazing walk through the most lovely botanical gardens that I have ever feasted my eyes upon! Nicknamed The Garden by the Sea, this place is gorgeous beyond words and catching it in the spring is such a lovely time to visit.
It was a wonderful experience and if I had the time to stay there longer I would have…but as we all know me I jam packed the day full of fun and we still had to go Horseback riding on the beach, check out Glass Beach and get back in time to do a photo shoot at magic hour and well as get ready for dinner! Whew!!
So off we went to go saddle up and take one of the ‘Top 25 trips of a lifetime’ - OUTSIDE MAGAZINE and go ride these horseys through the Ancient Redwoods Forest and then along Ten Mile Beach. While it was a very lovely ride and all; I think I had my expectations set too high and I imagined myself galloping into the shore, and splashing in the rolling waves as the sunset behind us. Ya know the stuff movies are made of!
Onward to Glass Beach at MacKerricher State Park, here we walked out to the coast and dropped in from the headlands, climbing down to sea level and finding a abundant amount of sea glass along with a number of other tourists all searching for the same gem like treasures sparkling in the sunlight!
Dinner was another lovely and relaxing meal, followed by dessert back in our suite to enjoy the fireplace and the crackling of the fire.
Monday oh Monday, you have finally arrived and it is time to have our last breakfast here, check out and begin our journey back to Southern California. We try once more to go on that canoe ride and the third time as usual worked like a charm!
Well, we were actually heading to Berkley to make our last Foodie stop at Cinnaholic - THE BEST cinnamon rolls hands down (as seen on Shark Tank).
Only to call ahead and find out that they were closed on Mondays - yikes - Cosette is gonna kill me!
This was the only thing she was looking forward to! She is NOT going to be happy!
I call her and gently reveal the bad news, and yup when I get back it was going to be “off with my head” as if I had any doing in the matter - doesn’t she realize that I couldn’t get my dreamed about Cinnamon roll either :(
-T