A few months ago I received and invitation from Travelzoo to experience The North Cliff Hotel in Ft Bragg for the great price of $199 for two nights stay, dinner certificate and champagne at the Cliff House Restaurant and some tickets to the Botanical Gardens in Ft Bragg. I really had never considered ever doing some nights in Ft Bragg other than maybe in the trailer.. Not sure why I never thought of it before, but the invitation sounded like a wonderful idea.
We were so impressed by the lovely view, the clean rooms, tastefully decorated, quite and serene. We could hear the fog horns in the night as well as the buoy bell on occasion because we left our sliding glass door open just a little overnight. We were situated on the 2nd floor with such a fabulous view of the Noyo Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. We watched the fishing boats coming in and going out of the harbor. There were seals in the harbor, there were whales breaching and spouting that we could see in the distance. The weather was over all pretty nice! Considering I think we were lucky to be there between storms.
Our first day we arrived we got to the hotel about 2:30 had some snacks and then took a walk out the break water from the harbor to the sea. It was cool, cloudy and breezy and the tide was turning to come in. There were some fisherman along the breakwater fishing, catching some nice fish for their dinners I am sure. After that walk we were still full from our snacks so we decided we should take another walk so we could think about having dinner about 7pm at the Cliff House restaurant right across the way (across the bridge to the right) located right on the edge of the harbor. I am not sure but I think we walked about 3 or 4 miles, so we could walk off those snacks! We walked the long way down to Noyo Harbor. Got some great shots of the harbor, some of the fishing boats and restaurant's!
We arrived to the Cliff House Restaurant about 7pm that evening as the sun was just setting over the ocean. We were seated in an elevated booth over looking the arm of the harbor into the Pacific. Lovely view. We were admiring a appetizer a gentleman had in the next booth over so we asked him what it was, it looked delicious!!! uumm.. obviously our appetite had returned. The lovely appetizer was a “Crab Martini”, uummm.. 
Of course we Ev and I shared one with our cocktails. BTW great Vodka Martini and Roy Roy..
Ev ordered a Clam Linguini and I had the Delmonico Steak (16oz) with portabella mushrooms. Both dinners were prepared perfectly, presented well and delicious! The service was very good too. The girls, Megan and Debbie were so sweet and attentive. Great evening..
Thursday we woke to a beautiful sunny, blue skies day!! The ocean was gorgeous!!!
Now to plan for the day.. We had a light breakfast in the room. The hotel offered a continental breakfast.
We decided to take a walk over the bridge down to “Chicken Point” across the way from us, about 2 miles one way. As we were leaving our friends Jim & Shirley called and asked we wanted company? We said “OF COURSE”! They were already on their way, so they would be in Ft Bragg about 1130am.. It was only 930am, so we had plenty of time to do our walk and then get ready for the day.
Jim & Shirley arrived about 1130am, we popped a bottle of champagne and toasted away! Jim had a brandy (his fav). We then headed over to Silvers at the Wharf for lunch. Ev and I shared a uumm delicious crab melt with a bowl of clam chowder, while Jim & Shirley both had something different. Shirley had a Shrimp Louis and Jim had steamer clams. We all enjoyed our lunch and we ready to move on.. We all decided we wanted to drive down to Mendocino and visit “Dicks Place” and have a couple of cocktails.. after a couple we were all plenty silly enough by now and decided we should do some site seeing, walking of course. We visited a couple little shops, walked through a old lovely hotel (not sure of the name) and then we walked along the cliffs above the ocean. It was now getting late and very cool with that strong breeze. It was time to part ways. Jim & Shirley were going to drive home and we were headed back to the hotel.
We got back to the hotel and decided we needed to take another walk over to “Chicken Point”.. What a beautiful day!! We enjoyed a spectacular sunset over the Pacific.
Got back to our room, had some snacks kicked back and before you knew it, we were out like lights!!
Friday we slept in a bit..then took a nice walk over to “Chicken Point” again.. Got the blood going. After our invigorating walk, we were ready for the day! We got showered, packed up and headed out. First stop, “Eggheads” . BEST CRAB OMELETS EVER!! Guess I don’t need to say anything else! My mouth is watering as I write this, so better not stay on this subject long! It’s a 2 hours drive to Ft Bragg and they are now closed for the day..
Next we went to the Botanical Gardens.. Due to it being early spring, not much was in bloom. However the “roddies” were highly in bloom and breathtakingly beautiful! Thank God there was the roddies and the gorgeous coast line to enjoy. I am not sure that there is anything more beautiful in the world than our California Coast Line..especially on a sunny day. We looly gaged around the gardens for awhile enjoying nature at its finest..
Got home about 5pm..
Enjoy the pics!!
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