Mendocino was the first "new" place to us on this road trip. It was an entirely new landscape for me to explore, and I finally had the time to do so.
Based in Fort Bragg, I spent some 2 and half to 3 full days driving and hiking around the cute small towns and beautiful coastal line that this part of California has to offer.
You can't really go wrong here: not only you have the southern part of the Lost Coast very close, but also places like Glass Beach or Mendocino Headlands.
And further south, my favorite of them all: Point Arena. I took some long exposures there that are some of my favorite photos of this road trip so far.