Mendocino has many options for families with children and pets. The beaches and forests are excellent family adventures although you might encounter restrictions for your pet - so please check if pets are allowed on a leash.
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Dog Friendly Lodging
We have a great selection of Mendocino Hotels that welcome you and you're pet. Although not every room is suitable for pets, so please let your innkeeper know that you want the "Pampered Pet" room!
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Handicap Accessible Lodging
Many of the Inns and Hotels offer handicap accessible lodging. Please be sure that the room you're interested in suits your special needs.
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Catch a Canoe & Bicycles too
Explore Big River, California's longest undeveloped estuary. The river is ranked a Class 1, gentle river, suitable for the novice. Because it is tidal, you can ride the incoming tide up the river canyon and the outgoing back to the rivers mouth. The experienced folks at Catch a Canoe & Bicycles Too!, can advise you when the best time/tide is for your adventure.
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Beautiful Beaches
Stroll along sandy beaches, explore tide pools teaming with sea creatures. Discover glass bottom beaches and ancient blow holes. Snuggle-up for a colorful cliff top sunset, while the shorebirds perform in the sky around you. You'll find magnificent trails and beaches along every inch of Mendocino's spectacular shoreline!
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Emerald Mini Golf
A fun yet challenging mix of miniature golf with holes around & through streams, fountains and a two sided water fall! Sure to delight people of all ages.They have a Snack Shack and Arcade and a great place for kid parties.
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Pt. Arena Lighthouse ~ Point Arena
Open for public tours, the museum is located in the Fog Signal Building, includes displays of historical equipment and pictures, Coast Guard and ship wreck artifacts and charts, geographical maps and information on the area, and examples of local plants, birds, and whales.
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SKUNK TRAIN ~ Travel through History
Moving at a leisurely pace (29 miles mph), the train pulls covered cars and open observation cars -- perfect for capturing photographs of it's scenic journey. Enjoy towering trees and wildlife, as you chug through tunnels, over bridges and past open meadows, along the "Redwood Route" as it has since 1885.
The Skunk Train was nicknamed because the old-timers said "You can smell 'em before you see 'em."
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Drive Thru Tree
Located 175 miles north of San Francisco at the junction of US 101 and Coast Highway 1, lies the tiny hamlet of Leggett known worldwide as the home of the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree.
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Ricochet Ridge Ranch
Horseback riding along deserted Ten Mile Beach, through Redwood forests or ranches overlooking the ocean. Adventure Vacations and daily trail rides for beginner through advanced riders, English or Western. "Outside Magazine" called us one of the "Top 25 Vacations of a Lifetime!"
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B Bryan Preserve
Their focus is on African Hoof Stock. Currently, you can view 2 endangered species of zebra and Greater Kudu, Roan and Sable Antelope in a natural environment, taking their dust baths and watching the stallion herd his mares. Coming soon: Giraffe, Black Wildebeest, Sprinkbok and Gerenuk.
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Pt. Cabrillo Lighthouse
Join our knowledgeable docents for a leisurely stroll through the meadows and along the windswept bluffs of the 300 acre Point Cabrillo Preserve. You'll learn a little coastal ecology and some Mendocino history including the story of the Frolic, the 1850 shipwreck that changed the north coast forever.
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Fern Canyon in Van Damme
These 1,831 acres of beach and forest feature a lush Fern Canyon scenic trail that takes you to the Pygmy Forest where mature cone-bearing cypress and pine trees stand six inches to eight feet tall
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Pygmy Forest in Van Damme
Because of poor soil characteristics, and a hardpan that precludes penetration by roots or water, trees on this site are dwarfed. The same species in the surrounding forest off the pygmy soils, attain full height.
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Moosse Cafe
Enjoy a delicious dinner prepared with the finest organic ingredients and feel nurtured and revitalized by delicious dishes that constantly whisper "Mendocino", with a changing parade of fresh seafood and produce elegantly prepared. Be sure to save room for dessert.
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Botanical Gardens
Located on 47 Ocean Front acres, this magnificent landscape includes canyons, wetlands, coastal bluffs, a closed-cone pine forest and a varied array of floral and plant collections.
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Big River Beach
Dogs Must be on Leash. Where the Pacific ocean meets the Big River to form Mendocino Bay. A picturesque path that runs atop the southern bluffs (if you walk EAST), will take you to the wooden staircase that leads down to this sandy beach. Drive South out of Village and take first left before bridge to drive to sand.
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MacKerricher State Park
Popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians and bicyclists. This park is best known for all the seals that live in this beautiful and varied habitat of sandy beaches, ocean bluffs, sand dunes and tide pools to forests and wetlands.
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McDog Off Leash Beach
Located under the bridge at Noyo Harbor in Fort bragg is a great off leash beach for dogs to romp and play. Mcdog (Mendocino Coast Dog Owners Group) are working on a fenced park in Fort Bragg.
Great fun, particularly if you are a dog!
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Russian Gulch State Park
Perfect for exploring and hiking, this park features 1,162 acres with 7,630 feet of ocean frontage, with rugged headlands, beaches, tide pools and the Devil's Punch Bowl sea cave on one side and on the other side you'll find the heavily forested Russian Gulch Creek Canyon and the 36-foot high waterfall. On leash at all times.
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Caspar Beach
The long shallow beach is perfect for kids and dogs are OK, but must be on a leash at all times.! Dive for abalone, fish to your heart's content or hit the water for a little surfing, boogie-boarding, kayaking, snorkeling or swimming. Sunbathe on our sandy shores, or comb the Beach for shells.
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