Ratna Ling Retreat Center

Boy have I told you about the Ratna Ling retreat center yet? I got a LivingSocial voucher for this place last year and have been looking forward to going for a long time. It's up in Mendocino, past Jenner and Bodega Bay, and then inland. The drive is super beautiful with lots of coastal driving and then fields and fog and cows.

The grounds at the center are really beautiful. There are fields and redwoods and small ponds. It's very quiet and misty. You hear a lot of birds and turkeys roam the land. The "cabins" are enormous. Very new and modern two-bedroom homes and Jacuzzi tubs(didn't use those though, because of the drought). The food was fantastic. All vegetarian with lots of gluten free options. It's all western food - not Indian or Tibetan like i was expecting. We had a shephard's pie friday night, eggs and omelets Saturday breakfast, eggplant parm Saturday night. Veggie kabobs and bbq tofu for lunch. Sunday brunch was fritattas and quiche and banana chocolate chip bread. There is always fruit and yogurt at breakfast too.

So most of the time, the place is rented out as a retreat center to big groups. While we were there, there was a yoga retreat. A lot of the people were from San Francisco. We and perhaps one other couple staying there were the only ones not with the yoga retreat.

I wish more classes came with the retreat. We had one mediation class in the morning and one yoga class in the afternoon and that was it. They were good, especially the mediation teacher, don't get me wrong, but I was expecting a more rigorous schedule.

I really enjoyed a getaway where I didn't have to bring groceries and cook. Everyone on the staff was extremely nice.

Here are some pics of the food on my Yelp review. I wasn't able to get pics of the turkeys :(