PROGRAM REGISTRATION: After you have your room assignment, come over to the Road Scholar table to register with the program staff and pick up your arrival packet which we'll review during our orientation session.

Join us for a wine/cider reception in the hotel meeting room before dinner.

Dinner: Dinner at hotel

Menus are contracted for the program and are designed to offer balanced, healthy meals for the participants. In addition to the regular Road Scholar meal plan, this program offers a vegetarian meal option. Unfortunately, there are no other special meal options. Participants with special dietary needs should be prepared to avoid certain foods or supplement the regular menu as needed.

Evening: ORIENTATION: We'll have an overview of the program ahead and review the up-to-date schedule, responsibilities, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, any other administrative issues, and answer your questions. Please be aware that local circumstances may require adjusting program elements. In the event of changes, we will notify you as quickly as possible. We appreciate your understanding.

CROSSING POINTS: Participants introduce themselves to the rest of the group.

Enjoy the remainder of the evening getting to know your fellow participants and discovering what you share beyond a love of lifelong learning.

Lodging: Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites

Meals Included: Dinner

WALKING FIELD TRIP: Kelley House Museum.

Located 1 block from hotel, Kelley House is a historic home built in 1861 which offers exhibits on the cultural heritage of the Mendocino Coast. Docents interpret Mendocino's logging and shipping industries and the unique Victorian architecture for which the town is recognized as a National Historic Preservation District.

Lunch: Lunch at the hotel

Afternoon: WALKING FIELD TRIP: We join a museum docent for a walk on the Mendocino Headlands, the grassy area that wraps around the town and offers walking trails and beautiful views of the ocean. During their migration, whales are often seen from the Headlands. The Headlands, now property of the State Parks system, is an area that has been protected from development since Mendocino was granted Historic Preservation status by the State of California.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel

Evening: CLASS: Mendocino's Chinese History is presented by a local college instructor who talks about her family's history and the foundation of one of the original Chinese temples in California---the Temple of Kwan Tai.

Lodging: Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Jerome B. Ford, superintendent of the town's first sawmill and one of the founders of Mendocino, had the Ford House built for his bride, Martha, in 1854.

CLASS: Movies of Mendocino

Your instructor is a local resident who has authored two books on movies made in Mendocino. His presentation includes showing a DVD of carefully selected movie clips of scenes that were made in and around the Village.

Lunch: Lunch at the hotel

Afternoon: CLASS: Woodlands Wildlife Center

Ronnie James joins us for a fascinating presentation about her work and the Woodlands Wildlife Center.

WALKING FIELD TRIP: Guided visit to the Temple of Kwan Tai.

Dedicated to the Chinese god of war, a Taoist symbol of integrity and loyalty, the Temple of Kwan Tai offers living evidence of Mendocino's 19th Century Chinese community. Four generations of its founders' descendents have preserved this original Taoist temple, a site now recognized as California Registered Historic Landmark No. 927.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel

Evening: Watch the 1956 American Comedy movie "The Russians Are Coming!" which was filmed in Mendocino. Based on the Nathaniel Benchley juvenile novel, "The Off-Islanders", it was adapted for the screen by William Rose. The movie tells the Cold War story of the comedic chaos which ensues when a Soviet submarine accidentally runs aground near a small New England town.

Lodging: Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

The Mendocino coast was home to hundreds of sawmills. The demand for lumber became even greater after the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco. That same year Congress appropriated $50,000 for a lighthouse on Point Cabrillo. Construction on the station began in 1908.

Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, the only public garden to front directly on the Pacific Coast, was founded in 1961 by retired nurseryman Ernest Schoefer and his wife, Betty. Ernest's keen eye spotted the ample supply of water augmented by the mild coastal climate and quality soil essential to acid-loving plants like Rhododendrons. The Grand Opening of the Garden was in 1966. By 1992, the Gardens had been purchased with grants from the California Coastal Conservancy and transferred to the Mendocino Coast Recreation and Park District.

Lunch: Enjoy a picnic lunch at MacKerricher State Park which offers a variety of habitats--beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest and wetland. Tidepools are along the shore. Seals live on the rocks off the park’s Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a formal tidal lagoon. During winter and spring, the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching.

Afternoon: After lunch, walk along the park's boardwalk with a knowledgeable local instructor. Observe harbor seals, grey whales (depending on the season), and many species of shore and pellagic birds.

Board the motor coach and continue to the Pygmy Forest with our instructor. The Pygmy Forest in Van Damme State Park is truly Lilliputian. Sixty-year-old cypress trees are but a few feet tall and measure a half-inch in diameter. Our walk takes us along a nature trail, built upon an elevated wooden walkway, looping through the Pygmy Forest.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel

Lodging: Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Following an introduction to the Art Center, we tour the artist studios where artists-in-residence tell us about their art. The Center is located 4 blocks from hotel.

Lunch: Lunch at the hotel

Afternoon: WALKING FIELD TRIP: At the historic Presbyterian Church, 3 blocks from the hotel, a church docent tells us about the church, its role in films, and its interestng bell pull.

In 1854, the first Protestant services in this infant village on Big River were conducted in the gangmill cookhouse of the Mendocino Lumber Company. The first ministers to conduct worship services were Methodists. Almost four years passed before other visiting ministers came – Baptist and Congregational.

In 1858, realizing that the small congregation needed a permanent Sanctuary for worship, Jerome B. Ford and William Heeser were elected to collect subscriptions to build the first church in Mendocino, a small building on the northeast corner of Lansing and Ukiah Streets, across from the future location of the Masonic Temple. The present Sanctuary, started on October 7, 1867, was built of local redwood for a cost of $10,000. Half of this sum, as well as the land the church was built on, was donated by Jerome B. Ford. The new building was dedicated on July 5, 1868.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel

Evening: Evening performance

Lodging: Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Explore the culture of the local Pomo Indians with examples of their crafts and customs. Some believe the word 'Pomo' is derived from Poma, the name of a particular village, and was given to these people by anthropologists at the turn of the century. Because of similarities in their basketry and culture, anthropologists saw them as one group. Actually, there are more than 70 different tribes within what is known as Pomo country as well as 7 different languages, of which only 3 are still spoken.

Brunch: Farewell brunch is served at the hotel with a review of the program highlights.

HOTEL CHECK OUT: This concludes the program. We hope you have enjoyed our 'Historic Mendocino: A Colorful Coastal Village' program and will join us for other rewarding adventures in the future. Best wishes for all your journeys!

Meals Included: Breakfast, Brunch