2004 Lazy Bear Weekend

This year, everything finally worked out and I was able to go up to the Russian River town of Guernville for the 9th Lazy Bear Weekend. My pal Harry Lit, one of the event's promoters has been trying to get me up there for years. I've never had the right combination of car, time, money and reservations. This year that all changed. My pal Puppy (far right in the photo) drove me and his boy-dujour Len (in the ball cap) and Len's pal Robert (in the cowboy hat). We got a campsite at The Willow's Inn. They were sold-out in January, but Len & Robert called in June and found our space because of cancellations.

Hairrison Promo

My pal Pete had several things arranged to promote the Hairrison Street Fair. Friday night was a great bonfire and then on Saturday there was an ice cream social. I attended both events because I'm volunteering to help produce the street fair.

This is the layout of our campsite. The Gazebo is a permanent fixture of the Willows. Sometime on Saturday night, two British guys had to camp out in it because there were no more rooms left at the Inn.

Here's a view of the Inn from our campsite. I had hoped we could have set up a volleyball game on the grass court, but it never happened. They served our continental breakfast on that deck.

Pool Parties

The picture shows the bears around the pool at the Russian River Resort, aka the 'Triple R'. It seems that Lazy Bear rotated their events between the resorts in the hope that the crowds would rotate a bit as well. Saturday the auction & boisterous party was at Triple R and moved to Fife's Resort down on Main Street on Sunday. Both days, "The Woods" Resort had a clothing optional pool party. I floated around all weekend, checking out the various parties. I really enjoyed the Triple R on Sunday when it was the more 'mellow' event. It was still quite warm without the previous day's humidity. The unheated pool was cold at first but felt really nice after a while and it was the perfect way to relax and feel like I got a bit of a proper holiday away from the city.

I was shocked to see my "uncle" Ron and our pal Chuck wandering the crowd at the Hairrison Street Fair Bonfire on Friday night. Neither are bears themselves but like me, they know quite a few and wanted to get out of town and support their friends and have some fun.

Our campsite was shockingly close to the river. While it was really warm on Saturday, it wasn't warm enough to lure me into the cold river water. It was quite bucolic and lovely and these Portugese boys made river swimming look fun.

Hiding Out Back

I was glad to find Ken Woodard with Steven and Scott round by the Koy pond at the back of the Triple R. We hung out for quite a while on Saturday until I left for the Ice Cream Social.

Pepper Spray

The band has drag queens who play rock and roll. When they were introduced it was revealed they were fresh off of the American leg of the Cher farewell tour. Can't say I'm a fan, but they were pretty good.

Amazing Escape

I was shocked to realize how close Guernville is to SF. It's a great little town with a wonderful vegan restaurant and a dance club. Now that I know how relaxing and refreshing it is to get up there for the weekend, I'd love to get back sometime this summer and I'll definately be back next year for Lazy Bear 2005!