we liked it... now what?

James and I seem to have found a place to be wed. We're both a little tentative about it, though -- as if we're not letting ourselves get excited quite yet, until we make sure that there aren't any mitigating circumstances or something. Let me tell you about our weekend.

We left after my statistics class Saturday morning. I BARTed back to Oakland and stopped at the west oakland farmer's market for some strawberries and raspberries. We finished packing the car and headed out around 1:30. The Richmond-San Rafael bridge had a really bad back-up, the worst either of us had ever seen. It was just the toll plaza, though, so once we were able to scoot into the FasTrak lane we were good. The rest of the drive was uneventful. We stopped at Taco Bell for lunch, then Lake Mendocino (at the turn-off from 101 in Ukiah) to pee. We passed Saratoga Springs road, but kept on going -- we'd visit there tomorrow.

In Upper Lake, the town closest to Saratoga Springs, we stopped at the store for firewood, charcoal (didn't really need both), some extra food and beer. We headed off into the Mendocino Nat'l forest, hoping to make it to a place called Lets Lake. We had no idea if the roads were decent -- the camping guide I had described getting to the lake via the other side, from I-5. Hmm. When we turned off the paved road onto a dirt road, I noticed a sign that said something about Bear Creek and ford and four-wheel drive. Hmm. Yes, we were in my little 2-door Nissan.

OK, all these details aren't really important, I should just get to the Saratoga Springs part, huh? Suffice it to say, we were able to ford the creek, but we stopped at Bear Creek campground, about 25 miles from Upper Lake, 8 of which was a dirt road. It was warm. There were bugs. But the fire was good and the stars were nice and it cooled off nicely (but not too cold) that night. We saw two rattlesnakes in the campground, which kinda freaked me out. But then we saw a frog in the creek, which cheered me up. Such a cute little frog.

The next morning we had brunch at the Blue Wing, mentioned in the article I linked to in the last post. The Talmage Hotel looks really nice, I think it will be the back-up hotel for guests who need more comfort/privacy. I think it's around $200 a night. Brunch was yummy, and the waiter was very nice.

Finally, the important part! When we pulled up to SS, there was a sign saying it was closed for a private event (events there are always private, though) and to call the office. I was a little worried about finding Judy, the manager, since we hadn't mentioned a time in our email correspondence, but we drove on in anyway. There was a huge group there, over 200 people. Many, many tents all over. Some people were packing up, but not a lot. Things were still in progress. We started wandering around, and asked someone if she knew where Judy was. She turned out to be Judy's sister, and Judy wasn't there yet. So we poked around, checking out the place. The group was a dance-related retreat, with classes in samba, bellydancing, west african dance, and a couple of drum circles going on. Pretty cool.

Basically, the place was great. Nice pool, with a patio structure nearby and nice plants around it. The Heart Lodge, where we'd have the big dinner, is beautiful, and not as big as it looks in the pix, so it'd be a nice, cozy place for the reception. We debated music in the Heart Lodge vs music on the lawn. We still don't know if we're going to get a band, but the idea of Creation, the reggae band from Ben & Em's wedding, is floating around. They were awesome, according to James, and everybody loves reggae. Everyone can dance to it. But we also started a list of dance songs, in case we decide to just do the iPod DJ thing ourselves (or maybe in btn sets?).

We poked our heads into a couple of rooms & cabins, even though there were still people in them. The larger cabins with bathrooms are nice - they have porches out front, a common room with kitchenette, and a bathroom. The "rustic" cabins are private, but they're basically like camping. A lot of the rooms in the larger cabins sleep 4-6, so there's the worry that people might feel weird about sharing. It's going to be tough, logistically. But I think we can handle it.

So there's the low-down on SS. I'm going to call Judy tomorrow and see what their schedule is like for next May, and get down to "brass tacks," as it were, with all the little details. But I/we think this is it! Very exciting! And we made it back to Oakland this afternoon in just a tad over 2 hours. So hopefully the drive won't annoy anyone. Hey, it's closer than Monterey or Carmel!