40 in Napa!

My longtime friends and I have been planning our 40th birthday celebration for quite a while now! It took a lot of discussion and planning, trying to adjust wants/needs/time/money/expectations, etc. We finally picked a date and place, and enjoyed a long weekend in Napa, Ca.
After late flights, and a quick sleepover at Nori's, we drove to vineyards on Friday morning.

We spent a beautiful day wine tasting and started at Sebastiani in Sonoma. Since Kim used to work in the wine business, she had quite a few connections! Her friend graciously set us up in a private tasting room for a wine and chocolate pairing. Seriously, that's my kind of wine tasting!

(Me, Shloe, Christy, Nori, Kim)

 

 

We had a great selection of wines, and chocolate ranging from milk, mocha, to dark.

 

 We stopped at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa to pick up an array of gourmet cheeses and loaf of bread, salad and fruit. This place was an adorable indoor market with lots of cafes to choose from.

We took our snacks with us and headed to William Hill Winery in Napa.

 We enjoyed our lunch at a shaded table outdoors.

 Our cheese selections were incredible. What a fun, relaxing way to spend some time.

Our next stop was Mumm Napa. This vineyard was gorgeous. Here they offered delicious sparkling wines. 

 We didn't have a lot of time to spend here since we had an appointment for our next stop, so we quickly drank our glasses and got on our way. (Not before snapping a few more pics though!)

Our final winery was Sterling. We were able to take the tram up to their facilities, which provided beautiful views of the valley before getting our first tasting.

We toured through this winery...

 and stopped at several locations for beautiful views and a new tasting.

 We enjoyed dinner at the Market in St. Helena before checking into The Westin Napa for the rest of our weekend.

We had a mellow, relaxing day on Saturday. We walked to the Farmers Market in Napa, and ended up back at Oxbow Market for breakfast.  We decided to drive back to St. Helena to do a little shopping. It is such a cute little town, with fun shops to walk in and out of.

We stopped at Oakville Grocery to enjoy a nice lunch outside, along with some refreshing spiked lemonades.

We made an unplanned stop at Cake Bread Winery on our way back to the hotel. More delicious wines and fun. :)

When we got back to the hotel, we had a nice plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us from my parents! So thoughtful...

We got changed, and headed to Celadon in downtown Napa for an awesome dinner. The food was great, and it was a nice way to end our last night together.

I had a delicious onion-crusted chicken dish, with kale and potatoes. It was amazing!

We'd heard about a yummy chocolate shop in town so we ended the night there. We could pick from a large variety of chocolate truffles and have them mixed into gelato. What a treat!

We left Napa Sunday morning, and headed back to Nori's. We stopped at the Black Bear Diner on the way back for a GIANT breakfast. Wish I'd gotten a picture of the biscuits! We spent a little time with Nori's girls before saying our goodbyes and heading for the airport.

We hit some traffic, but it was fun to be able to see some of the air show from Fleet week in San Francisco. Thanks for driving Shloe!

I am so thankful to still have these ladies in my life. We have been friends for well over 25 years. We have seen each other grow from little girls to adults, and been a part of so many of the ups and downs that we've all been through.  I cherish each of them for different reasons, and I love that even through all of our differences, we can still laugh, cry and reminisce as we continue to make new memories!