Weekend at Monte's

This was it... our first weekend sans-computer. It's been a year and a half since I've gone anywhere without my laptop so, although somewhat apprehensive, I was pretty excited for the break. We'd rented a house at Rio Monte, right near Guerneville in Sonoma. Although we've spent lots of time in the area, we typically head to Healdsburg and the heart of wine country and had never explored the areas closer to the coast. It was definitely an experience...

We arrived Friday night at around 8:30 and made a pit stop at the local fruit stand / truck stop to pick up some stuff for the cottage. We were both a little puzzled when the guy behind the counter asked us where we were going. "Monte's!" We said. Ahh... Vacation Wonderland, he answered. Sure, yeah... I guess so. 10 minutes later as we were nearing the final turn towards our destination we came across a huge free-standing multicolored warehouse with the words 'Vacation Wonderland' written across the front of it.

We were treated to an excellent BBQ dinner thanks to the boys and copious amounts of lighter fluid. After dinner our younger and cooler na-na-na-na-neighbors invited us over for some Margaritas and a guitar sing-along. Saturday morning was full of laziness -- exactly what the four of us needed -- along the Russian River while we debated the meaning of success in the Bay Area.

We ventured in to the big town of Guerneville (still not sure if that's Gwer-na-vil or Gurn-vil -- but the former sounds a little to cosmopolitan to apply) for some greasy burgers and fries to wash down the previous night's Margaritas and other. Here we ran into a new bride and her groom who had come to the local burger joint to have their wedding photos taken. She capped the session off with a portrait of herself climbing on to a motorcycle out front. That is, until her worried husband cut in that the muffler was ruining her dress. She didn't seem too bothered. Lucky for us the Monte Rio Jazz Festival was playing so we joined some of the locals who were also too cheap to pay the entrance fee along the bridge that spanned the river to catch some tunes.

Unfortunately our weekend in paradise was cut short by some nasty allergies that attacked both Seth and I on Saturday night. We had to make a quick escape in the middle of the night back to the city in order to get some sleep. Determined to make the most out of the weekend, we woke up Sunday morning and headed back up to Marin and did the Bass Lake hike in Bolinas (which I highly recommend, but only if you make it back to town in time to get a bowl of Turkey Chile at the Coast Cafe before it closes). Thanks to Danny and Joana for a great weekend!