[Belated] Birthday Weekend in Wine Country

Santa Rosa + Healdsburg + Sonoma

Friday, March 19

Mr. E and I headed up to the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa after work on Friday, making a stop at the nearby Whole Foods on the way to pick up some goodies for my in-room birthday dinner. We had reserved a two-room suite, which had a [non-working?!] fireplace and lovely view out over the pool. After I opened my cards and gifts and lined them up along the ledge under the TV, we settled in for the evening to relax.

Saturday, March 20

I went for a run along the path that borders the greenway and creek out in back of the hotel and then rounded out my workout with a short Zumba routine and my daily yoga practice while Mr. E slept in. We visited the Omelette Express a couple of blocks away for a yummy (indoor dining!) brunch. As we walked back to the hotel, we caught sight of E & C unloading their car in the parking lot of the Marriott Courtyard across the street. We all met up in the courtyard of our hotel a bit later for our taxi ride to Rodney Strong Vineyards, where we had a 12pm tasting appointment.

The weather was lovely but a bit cool due to the strong breeze, and we all made sure to put on some sunscreen so we could enjoy the clear skies as we sipped our wine on the outdoor terrace. Our host was quite talkative... When he learned that both E and I have March birthdays, he comped our tastings, which was a lovely surprise! Once we came to the end of that experience, it was just about perfect timing to stroll over to J Vineyards for our 2pm appointment for the Small Plate Tasting on the Terrace. Mr. E and I had been fortunate enough to experience this last year in late summer with A during the window of time that wineries were open, and we were equally pleased with our repeat visit. We also picked up our J Wine Club shipment to bring home with us.

We were able to get an Uber back to the hotels and then went our separate ways for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Mr. E and I went browsing in a couple of shops in Railroad Square, and I was pleasantly surprised to find several great items at two of the vintage/thrift shops. I realized how long it had been since I'd been shopping in a store instead of just online!!!

E & C came over to our suite for pre-dinner snacks and cocktails, and then we walked the few blocks to Stark's Steak & Seafood for our 7pm dinner reservation. With a couple rounds of drinks, some group appetizers, entrees, and a shared birthday dessert, we didn't finish up our lovely meal until after 10pm! I was definitely ready for bed by the time we got back to the hotel.

Sunday, March 21

After Zumba and yoga in the room, I checked out the pool in the hopes of swimming a few laps, but again my key didn't work in the gate. Mr. E and I drove to the Starbucks near Whole Foods for our [long delay] breakfast items, which we ate in the room before packing everything up and loading the car for our drive to Hamel Family Wines. We met up there with E & C for our 1pm tasting, which included the house-made crackers and ricotta cheese along with some yummy trail mix. The food offering of the day was a flatbread pizza, which had some toppings I couldn't eat, but I did pick off some of the arugula and nibble on a piece of crust. E & C bought a bottle of the Hamel rose as a birthday present for me, which was in addition to the feminist book and awesome animals puzzle from the Crocker that they'd already gifted me. So thoughtful!

Our drive home to Sac was relatively traffic-free, so we were back in time to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with Caly.

Such a fun birthday wine country weekend!