The Goldbergs are contemplating a mini-vacation from our vacation, perhaps driving down to Northern California (stopping with relatives in Oregon). Personally, I’d love to go to San Francisco, Sonoma and all that but that looks to be too ambitious. Mendocino looks more doable, but we know very little about it. Any suggestions welcome for hotels (parameters: needs to be only a few days drive at most from Seattle, we’ve already visited Victoria, can’t be too high-end since we’ll have a four year-old (though probably not Coz) and can’t be too low-end because my wife has standards that preclude words like “Super” and “Motel” in the title), scenic spots, restaurants (see hotel parameters) etc. We like the idea of driving along the coast — for the weather and the view — but our understanding is that travel times expand on the serpentine. Anyway, please send any suggestions to JonahResearch-at-aol.com

Update: Lots of great stuff coming in, thanks. I do like this one in particular because it’d never appear in Fodor’s:

Jonah–
Don’t do Mendocino–Weird, witch-like people. Shuts down eerily like a 1970′s Salem witch movie. Try Fort Bragg–www.fortbragg.org has some hotel info. Still lots of crystals and things, but, hey–it’s Northern California.