Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Kenwood Inn


The Kenwood Inn and Spa is just off the Sonoma Highway, and the driveway is easy to miss when one is traveling 50 miles per hour. In Sonoma County signage is discreet, a plus for esthetics but a minus for tourists who want to drive quickly to their destination.

The Kenwood Inn labors valiantly—and largely succeeds—in keeping civilization at bay. The walls and shrubbery shield most of the road noise, and there are no TV’s in the rooms. Guests are forced to converse, go for a stroll, listen to music, sit by the fire, read a book (each room does have a stereo, a fireplace, and a stocked bookshelf), partake of one or more spa treatments, or possibly engage in activities best left undescribed in this family journal. If you’re looking for electronic distractions or loud music and entertainment, this is definitely not the place.

I had stayed there once before at a small gathering of our business customers, where I found the soothing environment to be conducive to conversation and just getting to know other human beings. If the other human being is your partner who’s heard every story you have to tell a dozen times, at least the 13th will be recounted on a couch next to the fire.

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