Camp Meeker by Tom Austin - June 2017
It is coming up on Memorial Day weekend as you read this, so there is not much time for you to mark your calendars for the
If you’ve been to one of these before, you know all this and wouldn’t miss it come heck or high water. It’s well worth the price of admission just for all the items above, without even remembering that your donation goes a long way toward funding our Volunteer Fire Department, and let me tell you we get our money’s worth. Living way out here in the forest has its many advantages, but as such we are a little more vulnerable to some things than city folk. Out here, the first responders are more critical than ever, and they are our friends and neighbors in the VFD.
After you’ve filled up on pancakes, wait an hour and then head over to Monte Rio beach for some sunbathing and wading in the river. The beach will be newly open for the summer, and there is plenty of water in the river. Be careful! The current is pretty strong. I’ve gone swimming the last couple of weekends, and swimming upstream is almost exactly like a lap pool. You can swim forever and not move an inch. If you’re not a strong swimmer, stick to the shallow water and don’t overdo the beer.
Yes, the bell has been wrung on another Russian River summer. If you’re a grown-up with grown-up responsibilities, you are probably planning your summer several weekends ahead. You might already be booked through Labor Day. If you are a big city tourist refugee, reading this on a weekend getaway, I will give long odds that the above is true. So I will just tempt you with the other activities that will liven up your weekends in the hot months:
Sunday June 4: the Monte Rio Vineman Triathlon. Yes, it’s true: there are people whose idea of fun is to swim, bike, and run until half dead with exhaustion. There are difficulty levels from beginner up to Olympic if you are just catching the bug. Also the Great Russian River Race for those who like their athletic self-flagellation exclusively bicycular.
The weekend of June 24, there is the Russian River Rodeo in Duncans Mills. Yeah, y’all though we were just a bunch of granola crunchin’ hippies, didn’t ya? Admit it. Get your cowboy on this weekend. Ridin’, ropin’, wranglin’, barrel racin’, cute dudes and dudettes in boot cut Wranglers.
July 4 weekend: it’s all about the beach in Monte Rio. Big Rocky games. Inner tube races, canoe races, swim races, rock skipping, and ice cream eating. Then settle in toward dusk for the water parade, the Cavalcade of Patriotic Music While Stirring Images Are Projected On a Curtain of Falling Water (sorry I know it probably has an official name) and of course the Fireworks, the best fireworks show since Ever.
Weekend of July 15-16: this is a big one. Civil War Days in Duncans Mills (two battles a day, Saturday and Sunday), plus the opportunity to mingle with the Living Historians and get your Period Rush. Then head on over to theUnion Grove outside Occidental for theOccidental Fireman’s Picnic: barbecued chicken and tri-tip, plenty of cold beer, and dancing amongst the sawdust bales to some hot country band.
August: the Russian River takes a bit of a breather. Just hang out on the beach and read a book. Start perusing your calendar for all the apple festivals, crab feeds, Mermaid days, polenta dinners and all the other what not the local Volunteer Fire Departments use to fund themselves. Make a point to go to all of them. We’ll be glad you did.
That’s what we get up to here in a Russian River summer. You’ll want to clear your schedule.
