Debating whether or not to head up to Santa Rosa for a sample dinner. Any advice on inexpensive hotels,etc?
The Travelodge on College and Mendocino is close and cheap. Probably the best of the real cheapies nearby.
http://russianriverbrewing.com/brew-pub/ at the bottom of the page, shows places to stay near russian river. on a side note, since this thread is about russian river. are they currently selling the 3L consecration bottles? are they sold out? all of a sudden i saw an explosion of ISO:'s of 3L Consecrations. i was just there a couple of weeks ago and i didn't see anything.
Travelodge is where I usually stay. Cheap and they offer discount for AAA. I stayed at Hotel La Rose one night, and it was VERY nice. A bit on the pricier side though.
I'm a light weight. Two beers and I can be had! Seriously, I'm from out of area and don't want to drink/drive.
Yeah, fair enough, but you don't really need to worry about it. I love Russian River, and their staff, but service can be slooooooow. If you just sit back, drink slowly, and eat some food, you won't get drunk. Of course if you really want to spend a night in Santa Rosa then go for it! You'll be able to trashed on Russian River and Moonlight.
Motel 6 is the cheapest, but you might want to spend the extra $30 to avoid being propositioned by a snaggletoothed potbellied methhead midget hooker by the ice machine at nine o'clock in the morning.
Today was awful. My hour drive to SR took about three due to traffic being backed up. Then when I got there, there were no tables and no seats at the bar. After a while I left. I have to say I was dissappointed with the place. Fathers Day business aside, I was saddened to find it was just a small dirty bar. So i drove further up the road to Bear Republic and had a burger with a 8 glass sample paddle. The place was clean with indoor and outdoor dining along with the bar. Nice place. I'll try RR tomorrow for lunch, but I hate places like this. Having world class beer, I thought they'd have a top knotch joint like Sierra Nevada does. Sadly it was more like a frat house. All it is missing is a stained and sticky couch on the sidewalk.
Dirty bar? Frat house? Did you go to the right place. Look, I know it's pretty crazy in there, and was yesterday (I was there yesterday as well), but frat house it ain't. I met up with a couple from Sweden and they were talking about how they loved the fact that there was a whole spectrum of people there. Families with kids go there, and people of all ages, from frat boys to senior citizens enjoy it. And it definitely isn't dirty. Give it another try when you haven't had an aggravating drive (and I know how aggravating it was; I was stuck in the same traffic). Glad you enjoyed the bear though!
Dear god, why didn't you say that you were going to be going on a Sunday? I think everyone would have told you not to. It's happy hour all day, plus everyone's day off, plus it was father's day! Of course it was crowded! I'm seriously wondering if you went to the wrong place, based on the "dirty" and "frat house" comments. Also, you should have just gone up the street to Flavor...
I know. What was I thinking of going on a Holiday/Sunday?! Anyway, I went back for lunch the next day and had a completely different experience. Of course, it's not even noon yet. This time I can see more than the floor. The place does have a thrown together decor (frat house), but it's clean and friendly. Still not top-knotch as I thought it would be. Yet it is a pleasant place to hang out in.
