Saturday November 25, 2017
Vixen Vittles and Fun Times at Mountain House Estate
Here is our “Dear Diary” post… wanted to share with you all one of the special perks of being a Venue Vixens when the host invites us to spend the night. John and Lane, owners of Mountain House Estate did just that! It’s great for us Vixens to bond and talk some shop, but most importantly, to absorb and experience all that a venue has to offer. This fall excursion was made up of Vixens Lora, Kendra, Catrina and our great friend and Vixen Photographer, Allison Stahl. We missed out on having Laurie join us, but somebody has to stay behind and work!! To read the full Vixen Feature Review of Mountain House Estate, click here.
Mountain House Estate is located in the northern portion of the Sonoma Wine Country, just outside the town of Cloverdale. It’s a lovely 2 hour drive from Sacramento or 1 1/2 hour drive from San Francisco. The drive through Sonoma County is gorgeous, as some of you know, and then once reaching Cloverdale, the road takes an ascent up into the coastal mountain range heading toward Mendocino (about an 1 away). Rolling hills, oak and pine trees, vineyard covered knolls greeted us as we approached this lovely destination venue.
After a very informative tour of Mountain House Estate, and checking out several wedding ceremony and reception spots on the property – toured inside and outside, we then spent a lot of time wandering about the raised beds of the flower and vegetable gardens up at the Oak Tree Terrace area. We picked a few figs, cherry tomatoes and a lemon cucumber, so we could add them to our evening meal we had pre-planned.
That barn – the tractor… what a great photo op location!
Then we selected a sweet side patio at the estate (there are a number of places for enjoyment) to have our first course of appetizers and those goodies we picked. Catrina brought the champagne, so that started Happy Hour!!
Photographer Allison Stahl and Vixen Catrina Arcularius above… Vixens Kendra Wershing and Lora Ward below. Doing what we do best – talk, eat and drink!!
Second Course… Kendra made her “famous” and most wonderful French Onion Soup with home made croutons. On this cool evening, the warmth and flavor was perfection!
For our final course, Lora served up all the fixin’s for a Baked Potato Bar. Mind you, this entire eating and conversation time frame was over 2 hours!
Before heading off to bed, we bundled up and ventured out to the lovely patio. Upon turning off the overhead market lights we were plunged into complete darkness. Laying on the ground, and looking above, we saw soooo many stars and a hint of the Milky Way. It was refreshing, amazing and so quiet (as quiet as four women can be getting excited about stars!)
Slept like a log!!
Since Lora is the early riser, followed by Catrina, Lora was snapping photos of the fog rolling in from the coast. Again, it was quiet with a little dripping sounds of dew from the trees. The weather vane and old truck was really pretty in the early morning hours. Catrina enjoyed her cup of coffee sitting in the Adirondack chairs pond side while getting her meditation moment on.
Thank you, John and Lane, for the invitation and the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy your beautiful venue – Mountain House Estate is a home away from home. It just feels so right being at this property. We invite you to read the full Feature Review on the website by clicking here.