My Birthday Weekend

Keri and I landed pretty late into Oakland.  Yes, Keri was in First for our last leg, but first or no first–it was a long trip and we landed at midnight

I don’t know how Keri drove the rental car because I was starting to doze.  I struggled to navigate us as my sleepy eyes drooped (and we may have needed to circle the airport twice before I correctly led Keri to the exit).  By the time we reached the hotel, I was even having trouble getting excited over our amazing junior suite.

Until I saw the birthday wish from the Intercontinental San Francisco:

It was probably mostly the sugar in the dessert, but that perked me right up.  I spent more time awake, enjoying the view from the room.  We went to sleep extremely late for East Coasters (4am EST, I think) and late for people on the West Coast getting up early to go wine tasting.

After hitting up the Club Lounge for breakfast, we headed to our first winery: Grgich Hills Estate.  I have to confess, I fell in love at this winery.  And I “forgive” ( 😉 ) Keri taking the upgrade because she introduced us:

Meeting this wine was the best birthday present ever.  I slowly finished my sample in the tasting room and immediately missed it.  I think I whimpered a little because I might have been given a little extra.  The wine had this delicious honey-almond combination that reminded me of some Persian dishes I’ve had.  I’m looking longingly at one bottle of Violetta as I write this, tempted to open it.  But then I’ll have one less, and that would be sad.

I’ll let Keri describe the rest of our winery romp.  But once we returned back to our room, another birthday wish greeted me:

This one was paired with a birthday card.  Awww!

On Sunday, we had a few mimosas in the club lounge and then headed to a previous favorite for both of us, Yank Sing, a place coincidentally loved by other bloggers, including View from the Wing’s Gary and Hack My Trip’s Scottrick.