Thoughts about Little River or Ukiah for $500 hamburger?

VWGhiaBob

VWGhiaBob

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VWGhiaBob
No, it’s not $100 anymore! My buddies and I are always looking for new places to land in our 3 planes for lunch...with social distancing. We are thinking KLLR, but if it’s fogged in, divert to Ukiah.

Any locals or others with insights or recommendations? We are coming from LA (400 miles), so we’re hoping to have some intel before taking off.

Thanks in advance, all!
 
No food at LLR last time I was there, and AOPA directory confirms that.
 
bobmrg said:
No food at LLR last time I was there, and AOPA directory confirms that.
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I was thinking the same about Little River, although it's probably been 10 years since I've been there.
 
Whether it would fit the $500-burger description is based on fuel burn and prices, but I can recommend the Two-Niner Diner at Petaluma.
 
Agree on Petaluma. Auburn has Wings restaurant on the field and Knee Deep brewing next door to get some beverages to go for post mission debrief. And Castle has The Tarmac brewing (absolutely nothing else there besides the warbird museum) again for consumption during post mission debrief.
 
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Little River is close to the village of Mendocino, which has restaurants and shops. But you need a way into town. FBOs and car rental places come and go over the years, but I believe Air-Galore is still there and rents cars. Last time I was there was probably 2 years ago.

Ukiah has several restaurants on the street just outside the airport. A 1950’s burger place, a couple Mexican, a Himalayan restaurant. All fine. None worth a flight from SoCal.
 
There's nowhere to eat at Little River, although there is a reasonably priced private van service from the airport into Mendocino where there are a number of nice places for lunch.

An alternative is Shelter Cove (0Q5) just NW of Little River, but this time of year fog can be a problem and restaurants there seem to close and open frequently so it's a good idea to check on the current status of places to eat before flying in (Airport Mgr Phone 707-986-7447).

Shelter Cove.
Shelter_Cove_California_City_View.jpg
 
And, of course, I have no idea the status of any of the restaurants during the pandemic.

How about this as a paint job? Took this last time I was at LLR (2017).

upload_2020-8-1_9-33-13.jpeg
 
RIlls said:
Little River is close to the village of Mendocino, which has restaurants and shops. But you need a way into town. FBOs and car rental places come and go over the years, but I believe Air-Galore is still there and rents cars. Last time I was there was probably 2 years ago.

Ukiah has several restaurants on the street just outside the airport. A 1950’s burger place, a couple Mexican, a Himalayan restaurant. All fine. None worth a flight from SoCal.
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+1 for Shelter Cove.
Currently (during Covid) Gyppo Brew Pub, at south end of field, is quite good, has outdoor seating and take out. Open 3-9 (closed Tuesdays)

Mi Mochima is a wonderful Venezuelan place at the North end of the field, outdoor seating and take out, Fri, Sat, Sun 4-8p

Mendocino, has a dozen superior restaurants, some pricey but very good, you just have to get there from Little River (LLR)
 
Don't know anything about restaurants in CA, but there are a few in western WA that are great to fly into. The Spruce Goose (no relation to the plane) at Port Townsend has great pie. Now that the runway repaving is complete you can fly in there. KTIW has a great restaurant on the field, tie down in front and go in to eat. Unfortunately, the airport cafe at KPWT closed the end of the year and the new building won't be finished until next year, so I have no idea whether or not the new cafe will be worth a flight. And Lana's at KHQM closed a while back. Their roast beef sandwich was a cause for re-computing W&B for the plane before leaving, it was huge.
 
Cogito said:
+1 for Shelter Cove.
Currently (during Covid) Gyppo Brew Pub, at south end of field, is quite good, has outdoor seating and take out. Open 3-9 (closed Tuesdays)

Mi Mochima is a wonderful Venezuelan place at the North end of the field, outdoor seating and take out, Fri, Sat, Sun 4-8p

Mendocino, has a dozen superior restaurants, some pricey but very good, you just have to get there from Little River (LLR)
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That looks like a great place to stop overnight...any recommended hotels in town?
 
Shelter cove is an epic stop. We fly up there all the time. Have plenty of fuel and be ready for an alternate as it’s foggy there through most of the year.


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MooneyDriver78 said:
That looks like a great place to stop overnight...any recommended hotels in town?
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We always stay at The Tides. Rooms are ok, clean and everything, but the reason to be there is you’re only 50 feet from the surf. Bonus, at least before Covid, was if the weather is bad and you can’t fly in, you can cancel the reservation without penalty. Now they’re leaving rooms fallow for a day between guests, don’t know if they’re able to still honor that deal for pilots.
 
Shelter Cove is cool! But yeah, check weather. Also, know that it’s faily remote (lost coast), there is simply nowhere to land within about 40nm., nothing but mountains, connifers and coastline with steep cliffs and very cold water. If you took off from there in darkness, you would be IMC on all but the brightest moonlit night.
 
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Stan Cooper said:
Inn of the Lost Coast in Shelter Cove has several live webcams on its website. The weather can change quickly, but you can get a good idea of current ceiling/visibility from checking out the webcams. Pricey, but a great place to stay.

https://innofthelostcoast.com/shelter-cove-live-webcams/
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The webcams are helpful, but... I flew to Shelter Cove for a few days this week and while the Inn of the Lost Coast (on left of photo) web cam would have shown CAVU, soon after I departed, (downwind) the sky over the runway looked like this:

Shelter Cove.jpg
 
The fog can come in quickly for sure. There are several webcams including the "sunset" with a view to the west looking offshore.
 
Stan Cooper said:
The fog can come in quickly for sure. There are several webcams including the "sunset" with a view to the west looking offshore.
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I hadn't noticed the webcam looking south toward the runway. Thank you.
 
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