Wine Country Birthday...

Back in November, Ken took me on a birthday getaway to Healdsburg, CA.  He wanted to surprise me for my birthday and treat me for all the extra work I had been doing at the hospital.  It was such a pleasant surprise and I was so happy to make all of the arrangements.

I worked the two days prior to leaving and my hospital family spoiled me for my birthday.

The staff on my unit made me a sign and ordered specialty cupcakes for me the day prior to my birthday.  They were all so incredibly sweet to me!

We had an early flight to Oakland on my birthday.  We grabbed our rental car and drove to Petaluma for lunch.  We enjoyed lunch outside along the river at an Italian restaurant, which we tried in July 2020.  I think to date it is the best Italian food we have had in the USA.  

Our next stop was Iron Horse!  We cannot be so close to my favorite vineyard without stopping for a tasting.  Ken tried the still wine this time and I stuck with my beloved sparkling.

A tasting at my favorite vineyard, Iron Horse.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

We checked into our Airbnb in downtown Healdsburg and changed clothes to head out for drinks.  We ended up at Campo Fina for drinks and appetizers.  The next day we learned that this place is very difficult to get into and one of the favorites around Healdsburg.  Who knew?  

After drinks, we went to Willi's for wine and dinner and of course a piece of chocolate cake for my birthday dessert.  We called it an early night since we were pretty tired from our morning traveling.  

We started the next day with a run on the greenway trail around Healdsburg.  Afterward, we stopped at a cute French bistro for brunch.  We had a tasting set up at a winery in the Dry Creek area, so we got ready and started the beautiful drive.  We ended up driving up to Lake Sonoma which came with beautiful views.

Lake Sonoma

We wished we would have had time to hike!

After Lake Sonoma, we went to Dutcher Crossing for our wine tasting.  We sat outside and had beautiful views of the vineyard.  I think the vines turning Fall colors might be my favorite way to see the vines.  We enjoyed our tasting and even witnessed an engagement.  

Vineyard views at Dutcher Crossing

It was a beautiful, blue-sky day

Enjoying the beautiful day and the delicious wine!

Ken enjoying his tasting at Dutcher Crossing

The scenery was beautiful

Dutcher Crossing had several delicious reds and of course, we had to leave with a wine membership.

We ended the evening at a brewery in Windsor for dinner and drinks.  We had plans to go out for drinks around downtown Healdsburg afterward, but we were both tired and called it an early night.  I have to say, I have never had so much sleep on a quick trip like I did on this one!

We had a nice walk for coffee the next morning and flew home to see our girls.  Thank you Ken for the birthday getaway and spoiling me!

Girls' Trip to Wine Country...Day 3...

It is safe to say, we had wayyyy too much fun the day prior!  After my quick run, we got ready for the day to drive to the coast to visit Bodega Bay.  We had plans to enjoy some amazing fish and chips.

Sonoma County was only allowing outdoor seating, so we stopped at a place for some fresh seafood and outdoor seating.  I text Ken a picture of my food and he was so jealous.

My delicious fish and sweet potato fries.  This is some of the best fish I have had.  I could eat this every week.  

After our delicious lunch, we drove up the coast for a bit.  The girls were really looking forward to seeing the ruggedness of the Sonoma Coast.

So beautiful

Coastal ladies

The views of the rugged coastline never get old!

We decided at the last minute to get a tasting at Korbel since it was on our way to Healdsburg.  We have all mixed Korbel Brut into our mimosas for years and thought it would be fun to stop off for a quick tasting.  

Wine tasting in 2020 includes a mask.  One day all of this mask stuff will be just a memory.  One day.

We all prefer the sparkling wine at Iron Horse, but we were glad we decided to stop to enjoy a tasting at Korbel.

We stopped off in Healdsburg for a glass of wine and shopping before heading back to our VRBO.  We had a lowkey night of finishing off a few bottles of wine that we had purchased at our tastings the days prior.  Lowkey included playing darts, burning sage, and having way too many laughs.  It was too much fun.

Slumber party masks and a lot of laughs.

We got up the next morning and made our way back to Oakland to fly home.  We were treated with a beautiful sunrise on our way out of Hopland.  

It was such a treat to see such a beautiful sunrise over the vineyards

This trip was so amazing.  We laughed so much and had way too much wine.  These girls and Ken certainly spoiled me rotten.  It was a great distraction as our house was being listed and I was in the middle of finishing up my master's degree and working in a global pandemic.  The laughter was the best medicine.

Girls' Trip to Wine Country...Day 2...

 I woke up the next morning still completely stuffed from our dinner the night prior.  It was also the day that our house went live on the market.  There was definitely some anxiety, but Ken was at home managing all of the house stuff.  I went for a run around the house that we rented.  It was beautiful and full of vineyards.  

It was a foggy, crisp morning

Our VRBO was next to a lot of private vineyards that were not open to the public

We had breakfast and then the girls had a surprise for me.  They had hired a private driver to take us around to wineries all day!  It ended up being such a fun day with so much laughter!

MacRostie was our first stop of the day.  It was still pretty chilly out and I love how the fog is still in the vines.

Such a great start to our day tasting Chardonnays and Pinots.

After wine tasting, we drove into Healdsburg for a little lunch out on a patio.  We had reservations at Bravas, a tapas restaurant, complete with Sangria.

Bravas was quite delicious and the patio was very cozy, yet COVID friendly.

After enjoying Sangria, our driver took us to VML/Truett Hurst Vineyard, which Ken and I visited back in July.  The outdoor area by the creek is beautiful, which is why we included this location.  

Ready for some creekside wine!

Sparkling wine for four, please!

Creekside selfie!

We had Adirondack chairs next to the creek.  We sat there and laughed and laughed.  We enjoyed it so much that we considered canceling our next reservation and spending the rest of the afternoon by the creek, but we ultimately decided to stick to our original plan.  VML was so nice.  

Clearly, we were having fun and it is a good thing we had a driver!

We left VML and drove to Trattore Farms.  With it being a Thursday, we were the only people at the winery and had the place to ourselves.  

On the way to Trattore Farms, there was a lot of talk about me driving our massive SUV across the Golden Gate Bridge.  So when we stopped at Trattore Farms, our driver whipped the car around so that I could pose with the car to celebrate my proud moment.  

I may titrate lifesaving drips all day on patients that are critically ill, but my proudest moment in October was driving this car across the Golden Gate.

Our fun continued at Trattore Farms.  We had charcuterie and rose, two of my favorite things.  

Trattore Farms

Trattore Farms

My favorite picture from our trip.  We were having so much fun.  I am sure it had nothing to do with all of the wine!

Besties cruising back to the VRBO.

The girls got some props for us to use during the day.  Sadly, we did not bust them out until we were on our way to some dive spot for dinner.

I will spare you the video I have that goes with the picture.

There might be a video that goes along with this one as well.

I will spare you the videos of Michelle and me singing Mariah Carey's Hero while we were in the car.  They are quite funny but just too much for the internet.  We ended the night with a lot of laughs and Mexican food.  It was such an amazing day.

Girls' Trip to Wine Country...Day 1...

 Back in October my friends and I ventured off to California's Wine Country for a girls' trip.  It was also an early celebration birthday trip for me.  

COVID-19 flying.  I wore one of my N95's for extra safety.  The plane was definitely busier than when Ken and I flew back in July.

It had been about 18 years since Jill had gotten to see the Golden Gate Bridge, so our first order of business was to get the rental car and head straight to the bridge.  Yours truly was driving the rental car from the airport to our VRBO.  Lord help us all.

Once again, it was a beautiful blue sky day in San Francisco.  

Ready for some shenanigans!  

So, driving around San Francisco is really not that fun.  Especially when you are driving around in a ginormous SUV.  I always stay in the center lane in unfamiliar areas, so imagine my surprise when the lane ended due to construction and I was in the "fast" lane in a construction zone with barricaded walls and no wiggle room.  There was definitely a moment where I was panicking and basically told the girls that it was in God's hands at this point.  Luckily, the guy driving next to us realized that we had no idea what we were doing and slowed down, let us over, and stayed far away from us.  Thank goodness our rental had Louisiana plates so people could easily see we were out of towners!

We made it to Sonoma County where Jill treated us all to a delicious lunch at Taco Bell.  We were pressed for time to get to our first wine tasting and enjoyed Taco Bell in the car.  We all joked that we love it when our mom buys us Taco Bell.  

Our first stop was Iron Horse Vineyards.  Since I am a wine member, I was able to treat the girls to a complimentary tasting.  I was so excited to share my favorite winery with fellow sparkling wine lovers.

Enjoying one of my favorites, Harvest Moon

The girls were loving the tasting!

Iron Horse Vineyards

These grapes will soon become yummy wine!

We loved our stop at Iron Horse!  We were so fortunate that the wild fires were contained so we could enjoy our time outside.

We left with everyone ordering wine to ship home and some wine for our upcoming dinner at our VRBO.  As a birthday gift, Ken hired a private chef to cook us a multiple course dinner.  It was one of the sweetest gifts I have ever received.  The girls and I loved it.

Once we arrived at our VRBO in Hopland, the chef and her server immediately started pouring us wine to join on our deck.  The sun was setting and it was absolutely beautiful.

The view from our VRBO.  The sunset was beautiful.

Watching the beautiful sunset and so excited about our dinner!

The chef arrived at the house prior to us and started getting everything prepped.  Ken and I selected the menu with Chef Bree.  I was so excited about tasting her different creations.

The menu that was selected especially for us.  Happy Birthday to me!

Everything about the dinner was perfect.  The table was decorated for Fall and we had delicious homemade bread to start.

The first course was duck rillette with fig jam and sourdough crackers.  This ended up being my favorite.  I had to make myself stop eating it so that I could save room for other courses!

Up next was salt cod gnocchi.  It was absolutely delicious.

The main course was sea bass.  I sent this picture to Ken and he was instantly jealous of this delicious fish.  The sauce and the chestnuts were so good!

For dessert, we had chocolate fondant with salted carmel cream sauce.  It was rich and delicious.  I ate every single bite!

Because I had such a hard time deciding between a chocolate and pumpkin dessert, Bree surprised me and added a pumpkin parfait to the menu.  It was so light and amazing.  

This one was skeptical about all of the different food but ended up loving it.

Having a private chef was definitely a highlight of the trip.  I am so grateful that Ken was so thoughtful and did this for us girls.  We all went to bed extremely full.  It was a great way to start our girls' trip!