A year ago on Halloween, my absolute favorite holiday, my fiance proposed to me at my favorite vineyard in Sonoma, Viansa. It was amazing! So now we are making it a tradition to return to the area to celebrate our commitment and enjoy some of the finer things. I should point out that yes we are still engaged and not married and are intending on staying engaged for as long as we want. We have a great relationship and neither one of us is in a rush to fix something that isn't broken.
We made our trip west this year a week before Halloween because of finances and scheduling. Leaving early Friday afternoon, our first stop was San Francisco to stay a night and research beach side camp sites for the following night. Perhaps we should have researched our accommodations for Friday night a little better. Justin, not wanting me to stress about plans took it upon himself to book us a room through priceline that sounded affordable and nice. They even boasted, "newly renovated rooms"... They lied.
We were pleased to see a nice sized parking lot where we could park the Expedition considering neither one of us has quite mastered the art of parallel parking this beast. It was comforting until we saw signs posted every 3 feet warning hotel stayers to "park at your own risk" and "hotel not responsible for theft, fire or damage" and "this hotel uses chemicals that are harmful to children and pregnant women". That last one really freaked me out.
After checking in at the front office, windows clad in iron bars, we headed to the car where we were greeted by a pleasant man who helped us take our bags to our room. The stale smell of mildew and cigarettes wafted out when Justin opened the door. I think the man carrying our bags noticed the look of disappointment on my face and said, "Hey I bet you got the new shower system in this room."
He looked in the bathroom, hopeful to have some good news to deliver but quickly turned off the light and said, "Nope, guess not."
Bless his heart, he was the most pleasant part of our stay, that and the feeling of leaving the next day.
So it's not newly renovated and it's small and stinky, that's a bummer but it could be worse, right?
It can always be worse. In this case, it definitely was.
There were some flimsy towels and a roll of toilet paper sitting on the edge of the sink, other than that there wasn't an item in the place that wasn't bolted down. A giant hole in the wall was patched half heartedly and there was toilet paper shoved in the peep hole. Did someone figure out that peep hole worked two ways? There was also a dirty toothbrush left in the bathroom. Gross! I didn't walk anywhere without my shoes on.
Aesthetics aside, this place was down right frightening! We hadn't been there long before the sounds of drug deals and screaming could be heard right outside our door. It was around 9pm and we had planned on going out on foot to grab a late bite and a drink but there was no way we were leaving our stuff in the room and I for one wasn't leaving that room until it was time to get out of dodge.
So I fell asleep, a defense mechanism I'm sure. With the realization that Justin was not going to be able to sleep at all that night and that he's placed a giant can of bear mace next to my side of the bed I allowed myself to drift into a half sleep where the disturbing sounds I heard all night turned into bad dreams and half-realities. As soon as the sun was up so were we and Justin assured me that I wasn't dreaming about crack heads and screaming.
I was up and getting ready to take a shower when I noticed they didn't have a blow dryer. I realize this isn't a necessity but it is something I use everyday so Justin, once again being the wonderful guy that he is, went to the front office to inquire about a blow dryer. What he returned with was a dirty wall unit blow dryer that obviously gets passed from one person to the next and it didn't work. He also told me about his encounter with a mumbling homeless man who he couldn't shake until he entered the office. It was time to go.
We headed to Sausalito and enjoyed a nice breakfast and walk on the pier. The inside of the car smelled like the room we'd stayed in but that was all that remained of our lovely evening in the crack house. Not able to plan our camping night due to the lack of promised "free internet" we headed towards Sonoma with out much of a plan in mind. Exhausted, I just wanted a clean room and a bed to sleep in. Thankfully, Justin's father had a free hotel stay that he used to get us a room in the same place we stayed a year prior. Heaven! Fireplace, clean room, walk out to pool and jacuzzi, a hairdryer and best of all, no crack heads.
We spent the remainder of Saturday wine tasting, walking and taking in the sites. That evening we strolled through Sonoma's downtown park and then enjoyed a swim and some Jacuzzi time at the hotel. The day was amazing and much needed. Regardless of our first night we were able to unwind and spend some real quality time together.
Upon further reflection of that weekend it makes me laugh to see the symbolism of those two days in our relationship. We truly have been through the trenches together and have celebrated some beautiful moments as well. Meeting in college, our relationship started out with high hopes but turned rocky and unmanageable. Now we realize what we have together and celebrate our love daily.
You have to take the good with the bad because together they paint a more interesting story.
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