intellectual properties

dancing in the rain 2/14-2/25

(….)

friday 2/13 – dance club until 4am. pulled some muscles.

sat 2/14 – attended the lovesick fashion show, which contained lots of underpants, and then the ILYB closing party, which was unexpectedly awesome and featured this great musician: cohen (LIsTEn!). i wore my cari borja dress and most uncomfortable shoes. had a great time, but drank too much. yech.

sun 2/15 – mon 2/16 – Stillwater Cove Ranch for belated-anniversary/valentines/presidents day weekend trip. my boss recommended this place, a small family farm that was homesteaded in the 1860s on the coast between Jenner and Gualala. *rustic*. they converted some of the old farm buildings into sleeping quarters. no restaurant, no hot tub, no TVs, no services. but i knew it was perfect when we turned off highway 1 and tried to pull into the driveway and couldn’t because it was being blocked by LAMBS! and then peacocks! and all other sorts of cute animals. i was pretty excited. we stayed in the cook’s cabin, which had a fireplace and a sort of view of the ocean, past the main original farmhouse. upon arrival to the cabin, the hostess asked if it was OK if some people who were checking out the place for their wedding came in for a minute to look around. the couple came inside, and the bride-to-be immediately turns to me says “ok, this is kind of weird but….” and i knew what she was going to say by the look on her face because i’ve now seen that look a few times before. “i read your blog.” and there i thought i was getting away from it all. ha! (hi!) turns out she’s a former moontriber who found me via ariel.

we poked around the farm for a while until it got dark, talking to the farmers and cuddling the baby animals with our eyes, and then we drove up to gualala sunday night for dinner, ate at the “roadhouse”, where i admit i felt like a weirdo for ordering a vegi burger in a place that specializes in ribs and other smoked/BBQ’d meats.

monday we slept in late, checked out, and then went across the road to check out the dangerous Stillwater Cove Beach. it was a bit cold and misty, but still really beautiful and full of kelp. the cove is also the mouth of a small river/large stream, which was overflowing and causing erosion on the beach that we could watch! little mini landslides everywhere. i wandered back to where the river came out, between highway 1, a redwood stand, and the ocean, and for a few minutes i thought i was in the most beautiful place in the world. and then i decided that i needed to CROSS that river, and climb the bank on the other side back up to the car, instead of take the somewhat-precarious hairpin coastal road with no room for pedestrians that we came down on. so we debated the best route for a while and then did it and only got a little bit wet and muddy. we forged that river! and then climbed the somewhat slippery and very steep bank back up through the redwood trees.

then, we went a bit down the road to Timber Cove, where they have a super fancy, upscale hotel, right on the ocean. it’s all landscaped, with a fancy restaurant and all that and costs like $245 a night. i’m much more a Stillwater Ranch type, but if you’re not and don’t really like farm animals and want more amenities etc., this place is pretty awesome. the nicest rooms have hot tubs and decks literally on the cliffs of the pacific ocean. we know because we stayed there for quite a while, hanging out, taking the short hike past the odd cement totem-pole thing, down the rocks to the water’s edge and making use of the property as much as we could as non-guests.

back on the way out, in Jenner, we had lunch at Sizzling Tandoor, which sits right on the mouth of the Russian River where it pours into the ocean. i was pretty happy to find some food on the coast that wasn’t oysters/seafood + BBQ/grill. i’m not sure why some of those yelp reviews are so nasty, cuz i thought their food was great (i had vegetarian thali), plus the view is fantastic. then, we went home. it was a great 30-hour trip.

2/17 – orange’s 30th birthday, went out to dinner.

2/18 – 2/20 work, gym, dinners.

sat 2/21 – helped throw a party for 500 people, danced like crazy, up all night. fan.tastic.

sun 2/22 – slept, recovered

2/23 – work, step class, became an aunt!

2/24 – work, went to Y, watched Obama’s address

2/25 – work, dinner with stephen, this.

next:

thurs 2/26 – maybe transportedSF

friday, 2/27: going to see Port O’Brien and Ezra Furman at Cafe du Nord

sat 2/28-sun 3/8: visiting the family and new baby niece in wintery northern michigan.

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