♥ Family Lifestyle ♥ Travel ♥ Homeschool

[Disclosure: Little River Inn provided this experience free of charge. The content and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.]

So, you’ve decided to plan a trip to Mendocino with the family. Now the question is: Where do you stay??!!

If you’re like me, the number one thing I spend the most time researching is lodging.

A lot of places like to say that they’re family friendly. But, are they really?

Let me save you the hassle and share with you our experience at Little River Inn; and why we think it’s the best place to stay with kids in Mendocino County.

Rooms are large.

When you’ve got little ones, the larger the room the better. We stayed in an ocean view deluxe with double queen beds. There was plenty of space for the kids to sprawl out and play. The bathroom was also spacious with a large jacuzzi tub and separate stand up shower. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the bathroom had it’s own heat lamp. It was nice to be able to flick a switch and warm up the bathroom for the kids’ bath. Our room also had a sitting area by the fireplace, a table for two, and an office desk.

Room service.

This may not be a big deal to some. But, when you have a child with special needs, having room service makes things that much easier and enjoyable. It’s already difficult enough trying to have any sit down dinner with young kids. But, my son, Lukas, requires a lot of special attention. I very much appreciated being able to call the front desk to order meals in. A special shout-out to Alex for being so attentive to our needs and kindly replacing Lukas’ freshly squeezed orange juice when he spilled it on the floor.

Beautiful property with plenty open spaces.

In the front of the property is a grassy area where the kids can run around. There are also a couple of benches perfect for taking in the view while the wildlings roam free. We also found a cute courtyard in the middle of the property with a tall cypress in the middle of it. This area was perfect for playing hide and seek.

Children’s menu.

Parent’s of picky eaters will be delighted to find that the inn’s restaurant has a dedicated children’s menu. Morgan was happy to find they had “plain old pasta” tossed in butter and cheese. She also enjoyed the PB&J. Our easy to please eater, Lukas, was thrilled to have a serving of the “monster burger” which was enormous.

Milestone: We had our first family dinner at a fine dining restaurant thanks to Little River Inn. They took note of our concerns and accommodated us.

For the grown ups, our favorites were the osso bucco, scallops, and olallieberry cobbler. The cobbler is seriously the best we’ve ever had.

 

 

Close to the beach.

A stone’s throw from the property is a beautiful beach from Van Damme State Park. You can get a marvelous view of it while sitting on one of the Inn’s benches. There’s also a trail connecting you straight to the park. A quick hike and the kids can explore on this sandy beach.

Excellent location for stargazing.

Did you know that Mendocino County is one of the best places to go stargazing in California? Little River Inn makes stargazing a fun activity for the whole family with the Stargazing Package. It was too cloudy during our stay so we weren’t able to experience this but it comes with hot chocolate, special binoculars and a star map. We did, however, bring some books about stars.

Whale watching.

During the months of November through April, California gray whales make their annual migration and can often be seen along the Mendocino coast. It was beyond cool to be able to whale watch, although unsuccessfully, right from our own private balcony. Even though we didn’t spot any whales, it was still a fun activity to do with the kids.

For more info on Little River Inn’s upcoming events, click here.

To make a reservation, click here.

*We’d like to give a big thanks to Marc and Cally Dym for being such gracious hosts. We were treated like family from the day we arrived. The staff at Little River Inn is amazing! We can’t wait for our travels to bring us back to Mendocino!