Hiking Montgomery Woods State Natural Preserve

After our usual delicious breakfast at the Little River Inn in Mendocino, we drove to Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve near Ukiah.

The drive from Mendocino to Montgomery Woods took over an hour over a twisty 2-lane road with many potholes.

When we arrived, we found a relatively small parking lot but found a place to park our Sienna minivan.

Montgomery Woods is known to have some of California's tallest redwoods, and we enjoyed hiking up and down the hilly circular trail.

The trees can get quite enormous and tall. However, we were bothered by all of the mosquitoes.

The redwoods need fire to reproduce, and there was ample evidence of fires at Montgomery Woods.

Alex found a few minor bugs that walk on water - i.e., "Jesus Bugs." They were too small to photograph.

The hike was not very long - there were no maps, and my cellphone (AT&T) did not work. We hope the trail was well marked (and it was), so we made it back in just over an hour.

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Fort Bragg and Mendocino

The drive from San Jose to Mendocino was tedious, with multiple accidents on US-101. We started our drive at 10:00 am but arrived at Little River Inn, near Mendocino, at 2:15 pm.

After checking in, we headed for Mendocino, hoping to find a restaurant open for lunch.

After looking at a few places downtown, we settled on Mendo Burgers - a small, family-style shack. Alex had a giant John Ford Ranch burger, while I ordered a Homemade Crab Cake bun with large fries (I initially wanted Fish & Chips, but they were out). The fries were very thick but tasty.

After lunch, we decided to meet our friends, who were eating lunch at Fort Bragg. They waited for us by the Cowlick's Ice Cream Shop on 250 N Main Street. Since our friends really liked it, Alex and I decided to get our own taste. I ordered one scoop of the Black Forest & one scoop of Pralines & Cream. Alex ordered the Mushroom and Vanilla. The Mushroom flavor was very weird tasting.

After our quick dessert, we headed for Fort Bragg's Glass Beach.

We did not see much glass in the sand (or missed the proper spot).

After some time there, we headed for another nearby state park - MacKerricher State Park. There, we explored the beach, looked for seals and birds, and let our friend's dog chase the incoming waves on the beach.

I filmed a short video clip of Maya charging around:

The waves crashed violently on the beach, and Maya never tired of chasing them around.

We did manage to spot a few seals playing in the surf, but we were far away.

We spent a few hours on the beach and stopped by for dinner at the nearby North Coast Brewing Company's Taproom restaurant. There was a 40-minute wait, but we waited patiently and sat down around 8:00pm.

Alex ordered a Margherita pizza that was way too large for him, and he ate only half of it.
I ordered the "Red Seal Ale" - an American Amber Ale with a nice thick foam (due to extra nitrogen pumped into it). It was a delicious, sweet beer. I decided to eat light and ordered a cup of Clam Chowder and a Walnut with Blue Cheese salad. We finished around 10:00pm and headed straight for our Little River Inn.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

After a delicious breakfast in our Little River Inn, we headed for the Catch a Canoe rental shop on Big River.

We had rented outrigger canoes (courtesy of Polynesia!) there and wanted to rent them again with our friends. Since this was Memorial Day weekend, the shop was bustling, but we secured two outrigger canoes at around 11:00am. We settled on a three-seater outrigger, while our friends (with their dog) decided on a shorter two-seater.

We had a fantastic time canoeing down the Big River with our friends.

We saw a few seals sunbathing on the shore.

I filmed a short video of our brief canoeing adventure:

After canoeing, we decided to head to Mendocino for lunch. We stopped by the Mendocino Cafe, where we sat outside, enjoying the beautiful day.

For dessert, we shared a delicious chocolate mousse.

After lunch, we explored downtown Mendocino and headed for Point Mendocino, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

We hiked around Point Mendocino, exploring all the nooks and crannies and overlooking sinkholes and small beach inlets.

The rugged coastline is something to marvel at and explore.

We stayed on at Point Mendocino until the beautiful sunset.

The sunset was really magnificent.

After sunset, we stopped by for a light dinner at our Little River Inn.

We had a grand time in Mendocino and decided to visit the nearby Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve the next day.

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Spring Concert at Dartmouth Middle School

Today, we attended a performance of Dartmouth Middle School's Spring Concert - the second concert in 2016. Alex played trumpet in the Jazz and Concert bands, and we were eager to observe his performance.

The Jazz Band opened the concert with "On Green Dolphin Street" and continued with "Rock this Town." Alex played the trumpet and sounded good.

The Beginning Band took over next with three pieces: "Mythos," "Shenandoah," and "Anthem of Liberty." The band sounded better than in the fall of 2015 (8 months of practice has made a difference).

The Choir, which had over 100+ student singers, took over next with "Build Me Up, Buttercup," "Closer to the Flame," and "Wait and See" (a song written by Sam Neipp).

The Concert Band continued (where Alex plays 4th trumpet) with "Haunted Carousel" - a musical piece that contains a strange instrument. The band continued with "Heartland" and "Afterburn" - energetic pieces.

The Symphonic Band took over with "I am the Doctor" and then "Copper Meadows." The next piece - "Appalachian Spring" - written by Aaron Copeland was long.

The Symphonic Band and Choir played and sang John William's famous "Call of the Champions" from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City for the final piece. The song mainly contains the Latin words "Citius! Altius! Fortius!" or Faster! Higher! Stronger! in English.


The Spring Concert Program

Jazz Band

1. "On Green Dolphin Street" arranged by Rick Stitzel
2. "Rock this Town" arranged by Rick Stitzel

Beginning Band

1. "Mythos" by Chris M. Bernotas
2. "Shenandoah" by Robert Sheldon
3. "Anthem of Liberty" by Steve Hodges

Choir

1. "Build Me Up, Buttercup," arranged by Mac Huff
2. "Closer to the Flame" by Boersma and Lantz III
3. "Wait and See" by Samuel D. Neipp

Concert Band

1. "Haunted Carousel" by Erika Svanoe
2. "Heartland" by Steve Hodges
3. "Afterburn" by Randall Standridge

Symphonic Band

1. "I am the Doctor" arranged by Jeff Buckley
2. "Copper Meadows" by David Gorham
3. "Appalachian Spring" by Aaron Copeland and arranged by Robert Longfield
4. "Call of the Champions" by John Williams and arranged by Jay Bocook

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