Dear Family and Friends:

We hope you can join us for our wedding in the woods. We will have a short ceremony in a redwood grove followed by a picnic reception at the edge of the grove.

PARK MAP

LOCATION

Our ceremony and reception will be at the Roberts Regional Recreation Area, 10570 Skyline Blvd., Oakland, CA. The ceremony will start at 1:00 P.M. at the Madrone Picnic Area. The reception will immediately follow at the nearby Bay Vista Picnic Area.

Blowing up Blossom Rock

The Madrone Picnic Area is about 10 feet from the California Historical Landmark, Blossom Rock Navigation Trees (#962). Until at least 1851, redwood trees on this site were used as landmarks to avoid striking the treacherous submerged Blossom Rock in San Francisco Bay, west of Yerba Buena island. Although by 1855 the original stems had been logged, today's trees are sprouts from their stumps. After many attempts from 1869 to 1932, Blossom Rock itself was finally destroyed.

WEATHER

While we are hoping the temperature will hit Oakland's average high of 73 degrees, don't count on it. Be prepared for possibly chilly weather, especially if the fog rolls in (or never burns off from the night before).

Check out the current weather from the Chabot Space Center Weather Station - that's just a little down the road from where the wedding is.

GETTING THERE

There are many ways to get to Roberts Regional Recreation Area. If you don't like the directions we included with the invitation, try GoogleMaps, Mapquest, Yahoo Maps or, if you have it, GoogleEarth.

LODGING

About 10 minutes drive from the park there are two Motels on the water, Motel 6 and Executive Inn and Suites. Michael has personally seen these rooms and says they look nice, especially if you request a room on the water side vs the freeway side.

• Motel 6 1801 Embarcadero, 510-436-0103
• Executive Inn, 1755 Embarcadero Rd., 510-536-6633

If you plan on visiting San Francisco, look for hotels/motels in Downtown Oakland or Jack London Square that are walking distance from BART (the subway). There is a Marriot Downtown. These locations are about 20 minutes from the park.

There are also plenty of hotels and motels near the airport, which is also about 20 minutes from the park.

If you want to go upscale, try the Claremont Resort in Berkeley.

If you plan to stay in San Francisco, call our friend David DiPuma, sales manager for the Beresford Arms Hotel and Hotel Beresford, at 415-673-9900. Tell him you are going to our wedding, and he’ll give you an excellent rate, starting at $95 for a queen which is a great rate for the Union Square area location. - Thanks David!

Try Hotwire: We have had good luck booking motels at Hotwire.com. You don't know the name of the hotel until you have paid and you can't change your reservation, but you can get a real good deal on a national chain within a designated area. I just did a search for rooms near the Oakland Airport on June 16th and 17th and found a room for $40 a night that usually goes for $80 and one for $67 a night that usually goes for $119. We've never reserved rooms in Oakland, but in our experience, the advertised discounts are accurate.

NOTE: We looked at the hotels closest to the park and we do not recommend any of them. With the exception of the Mills Hotel and the Sage Motel, the rooms have not been kept up and are in need of paint, carpet and new grout (or at least a good scrubbing) in the bathrooms. All of the rooms are smoking rooms and reek of stale cigarette smoke beneath the scent of the airfreshener. But, the rooms are less expensive than others in Oakland. So, if price is a HUGE concern, and you aren't picky, try the Mills or the Sage (in that order of preference). Again, we really don't recommend them, but the rooms in both motels have been recently painted, carpeted and tiled. They allow smoking in all of their rooms, but they don't yet smell as badly as the other motels since the smell has not yet permeated them. They still have old furniture and bedspreads with cigarette holes. All the rooms at the Mills have refrigerators and microwaves, but no phones. The Sage has nice bathrooms. Prices are $60 for one bed at both and $70 at the Mills and $75 at the Sage for two beds. If you can afford to spend about $20 more per night, it will be well spent at the Motel 6 mentioned below or at one of the many national chains near the Oakland Airport.

We recommend renting a car to get to the park. Buses don’t go there on weekends and it may be difficult to get a taxi to pick up at the park.

KUDOS

• To Susie Wright (Sara's mom) for footing most of the bill for our soirée.
• To Sara's parents: Susie Wright, Bruce Wright and Marilee Marshall for raising Sara to be the wonderful person she is.
• To Michael's parents: Charles and Joan DeWeil for raising hell and brimstone - er, Michael
• To Kevin Patrick Fanning for introducing us!