{TRAVEL} A Russian River Weekend Getaway

Over President's Day weekend, we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. February 16, to be exact. We took Friday off and drove up to the north end of the Alexander Valley of Sonoma (not to be mistaken for Sonoma Valley) to meet up with our friends at Mercury Wine for some wine tasting, some wine buying, and to give them our signatures for our bottling of wine. From there we traveled out to the Russian River Valley, past the increasingly adorable Guerneville, to a small little town on Austin Creek called Cazadero to stay in an even tinier cabin that I'd bookmarked several years ago. I was pretty giddy that we were able to book Tuck It Inn on such short notice, and on a holiday weekend to boot, but luck was with us, especially as we got a winter discount of one night free. The cabin was everything I had hoped for and more. Rustic and quirky, comfortable and beautiful. I couldn't have been happier. We spent our weekend sitting around the fire reading, cooking up crazy good breakfasts, driving to Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa and then heading north to Bear Republic when there was a line around the block to get in (Pliny, you Bastard!) We battled torrential downpours in our shiny new Subaru, and enjoyed sun filled afternoons at the coast watching harbor seals frolic in the waves. We watched a lot of House of Cards, and just generally enjoyed our time together away from the stresses of everyday life. I was sad to return back to Oakland on Monday, but glad for our semi-local weekend away. I highly recommend it.