Mendocino: If You’ve Ever Wanted to Disappear Into a Postcard

The Mendocino guide that I send to my friends when they visit

It’s almost impossible to sit here and put into words the magic and refuge that is Mendocino. Many who have followed me for a long time know that my deepest heart place in the world is Scotland, which I visited for the very first time in 2017, under the full moon on New Year's Eve. Nobody should ever visit the West Highlands of Scotland for the first time—it’s nearly impossible to leave. I spent 2019 traveling to every nook and cranny of Scotland to make sure I didn’t love anything more than the West Highlands. I then traveled the entire south coast of Ireland to double-check. And then visited the north Cornwall coast of England to triple check. And though nothing compares to the West Highlands for me, the Cornwall coast took my breath away—the cliffs, mainly. If you’ve ever watched Poldark, you get the gist.

My partner, Max, refused to spend half the year in Scotland with me—mostly because he has a big aversion to flying. Then, of course, he did the sneakiest, smartest thing and allowed me to get donkeys, which tend to live 20–50 years. And how would I get donkeys to Scotland half the year each year? Well, the rest is history.

So, I’m waiting to get my little stone cottage farm in the West Highlands of Scotland until I’m an empty nester (from both children and donkeys), where I’ll spend my solo heirloom part of the year.

I’m very, very sensitive to heat due to Addison’s disease. Nothing kills my adrenals faster than having to work hard to cool me down in weather over 75 degrees. Come August through November, L.A. feels really debilitating to me. I coined the term “autumning,” and I was still in search of my autumn refuge from the Indian summer and fire season of SoCal.

Once Scotland was on the backburner, I set my sights on New England. I almost bought this place (which, quite frankly, will always be the one that got away), and I endlessly sent Zillow listings to my friends in Maine. Yet again, Max was averse to somewhere he’d have to fly (and commute) to half the year.

While I was pregnant with Teddy, we took a road trip to the PNW, as we did every summer to visit Max’s family. I will never forget driving into Mendocino the very first night. It was foggy (my love language), foghorns sounded from the sea, widow’s peaks faced the ocean, cattle grazed on sea-top pastures. We pulled into the tiny little town of Elk, CA. We awoke to the waves crashing against the huge cliffs, with rolling green pastureland scattered with the last wildflowers of the season. We drove past one Victorian home after another into Mendocino Village, which is a fully intact Victorian town. As someone who was raised in a Gold Rush-era Victorian town in the foothills of Yosemite—and as a massive Victorian enthusiast—my jaw dropped. In my tiny little hometown, you have a few houses and buildings that are still intact. This was a fully pristine Victorian town surrounded by headlands and large cliffs that drop into the sea.

Mendocino is as if Practical Magic (which was originally going to be filmed in Mendocino) had a baby with Poldark and Anne with an E. It’s raw, and due to its remoteness, it’s still so very wild. Our community is so inspiring there. They collect their own sea salt, milk their own goats, catch their own crabs, forage their own mushrooms, uni, and herbs, and make the wildest and tastiest things out of huckleberries. And if you can pull people out of their cozy little forest sanctuaries, then you’re sure to have the best beach bonfire gathering of your life. All the while, the redwoods hug you, the ravens track you, and the fairies are curious about you. You’ve never seen a bluer sky, and you’ve never jumped into a riper cold plunge. Come as you are—no pretense—and let the rugged sea lull you to sleep while the seals sing their tune and the foghorn and lighthouse transport you to a time that no longer exists in most other places.

Here is my Mendocino guide that I share with every friend who comes to visit us!