If you blink while driving through, you might miss it.
It's a pretty small town, but we made sure to stop by. Lucky for us, it was also the same day as their Farmer's Market...
Gualala, pronounced as "Wah-LA-luh) is the Pashoyo Pomo Indian phrase for "water coming down place". It's part of Mendocino County and is located at the mouth of where the Gualala River meets the Pacific Ocean. When we saw the signs and the booths for their Farmer's Market, we knew we had to stop by.
There were so many amazing vendors there selling fresh produce, fruits, olive oils, olives, and other foodstuffs.
Across from the market on Highway 1 were tables of jewelry and art vendors.
The town's business flanked the highway...
Everything was so fresh and vibrant.
This young man was showing me how huge the leafy green vegetables they had from their farm (seen in the subsequent photos). Look how big they are! Even the head of lettuce was ginormous!
I met a really nice young lady who was selling miniature paintings. She complimented me on my Tokidoki bag; she recognized the characters. She seemed genuinely interested in knowing how far we'd traveled to be here and when she found out we were heading up to Fort Bragg, she gave me a few recommendations for Mendocino.
TC had her eye on this lady's table. She made handcrafted rings with natural stones, crystals and wire. She also used a lot of abalone shell in her jewelry designs. I ended up buying two pairs of earrings from her; TC got a beautiful ring with a moonstone as the main focal point ($8 for her ring; my earrings were $10 each).
Where the Gualala River meets the Pacific Ocean...
Along the side of the road were blackberry bushes (or perhaps these were another type of berry?):
Before we left Gualala, we made a quick stop at a local market...
I bought a package of pepper jack Rumiano cheese (local to Crescent City, where we would be in a few days time)...
We bought some greens to complement the fresh tomatoes I bought from the market as well...
This looked tempting but fudge is way too sweet for me.
The meyer lemon I bought was from a lady's yard (she had a table at the market); same thing with the tomatoes and cucumber! Nice!
Here is the ring that TC bought as a souvenir from our trip. Sadly, it was misplaced, but she knows it's in the house somewhere. I'm sure it will turn up eventually. I was thinking of getting a ring as well but since I have gross manhands and big knuckles, didn't want to press my luck. The rings I tried barely made it over my knuckle.
Here is one of the pairs of abalone shell earrings I bought (I found out later that many jewelry makers work with abalone in Northern California). The shell pieces had a pretty "oil slick" like sheen to them with tones of purple and green that I found lovely.
The other pair had pieces dangling from a spiral-like charm.
Everytime I wear them, I am reminded of the great time we had during this road trip.
Sunday Farmer's Market
35513 S. Hwy I
Gualala, CA 95445
Saturdays 9:30 am - 12:30 pm (May - October)
Surf Market
39250 S. Hwy I
Gualala, CA 95445
(707) 884-4184
www.surfsuper.com + reviews from you know where
Before hitting up Mendocino, we would make a stop at the only lighthouse in California where you could climb to the top...
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