Eli & Cole - two boys, one big adventure: CA40 - My week in California with girlfriends

CA40 - a week celebrating life, friendship, cycling, good food and good wine. =)

A year or so ago, my friend Holly asked if the girls would be up for a trip to celebrate her 40th birthday. Three of us were game (me, Cary, Cynthia) so the planning began. California was chosen and then Cary began planning and organizing. I bought my airline ticket in April and then it seemed like November would never come. It has been 2 years since Holly, Cary & I were together - that was in Florida. But finally, last Wednesday did come and I was set to hop on a plane to vacation with the girls.

Wednesday - Tim and the boys dropped me off at the airport at 6:30am for my 8am flight. I had a little layover in Dallas and landed in San Francisco about 2:30pm their time. Holly, Cary and Cynthia were there waiting for me. We were all excited for a fun week. After getting my bag and then finding the car, we were off to Yountville where we would stay for two nights. We got there in time to pick up our rental bikes and then check into the Lavender Inn - the coolest B&B / Inn. After unloading, we walked down to Hurley's for dinner and made it a short night. We were all tired from traveling. (BTW side note - Cynthia drove from Oregon, Cary flew from Colorado and Holly flew from Vermont. Yes we had the US pretty well covered!)

Thursday - We got up early and the other girls went for a run and I just walked around town. Their morning run and my morning walk became the norm. With my knees I just don't want to chance running so I walked and checked things out each place we went. After breakfast, we headed out on our bikes for a loop out of Yountville. We did a little over 35 miles that day and it was the longest single bike ride I've done since before getting pregnant with Eli four years ago. We cleaned ourselves up, relaxed a bit and then went out to a wine tasting and dinner. That night dinner was at Redd's. We had some good recommendations from the President of my company so we went to almost all of the places he recommended and were not disappointed. Again, early night after dinner (again a theme!). I roomed with Cary and fortunately she likes to go to sleep early like me so it worked out perfect.

Friday - A travel day. We had plans to ride from Yountville to Healdsburg - about 47 miles or so. The plan was that we'd each "sag" a leg, driving the car to a point to then ride back and meet the group. I somehow gave myself a short sag leg and ended up with 40 miles of riding this day. We got into Healdsburg, got settled and then went to dinner at Willie's Seafood. Again, yummy food. And again, early turn in.

Saturday - Riding around Healdsburg. Cary did a marvelous job planning all our bike routes. She had plotted some rides and then little tweaks were made here or there based on what we saw of the roads. On this day, we rode to Geyserville where I decided to hang out while they did an add on loop. I then rode and met them after their extra loop and we all headed back to town. We made a great pit stop at Ridge Winery and did a tasting before going back to our apartment. I only did about 30 miles this day but enjoyed not adding all the extra hills that the girls rode. For those keeping track, I'm now at 105 miles of biking over 3 days. My legs and bottom were trying to figure out what was going on. Saturday afternoon we went over to the 34 North Wine shop to meet a friend of a friend and then had dinner at Bistro Ralph.

Sunday - travel day. The plan was to ride from Healdsburg to Sonoma, riding 3 legs and sagging with the car the 4th. That day I did 37 miles. I felt great the first leg, sagged the second and then tried to keep up on the 3rd and 4th. When we got to Sonoma, I was so happy because I had opted not to ride on Monday. My final tally - over 142 miles, not too shabby! We checked into our hotel and they didn't have space for us to store our bikes so our bikes got their own King Room. It was pretty funny. Sunday evening we had dinner at The Girl and the Fig. A neat restaurant in downtown Sonoma.

Monday - The girls rode and I went to a Bikram Hot Yoga class in Sonoma. I very much enjoyed the class. It was great to stretch out and practice in a different studio. The instructor / studio owner was very complimentary of my abilities for such a short time practicing. I was refreshed and happy when I finished. Then it was time to clean up and drive back to Yountville to meet the girls. They chose to ride 23 miles back to the bike shop and apparently it was 95% uphill. They told me it was a kick-butt ride and several times during the ride, they thought I had chosen more wisely to do yoga. Our timing was perfect and I arrived at the bike shop just minutes before they did. We got our bikes turned in and then grabbed a treat at Bouchon Bakery. It was so good and I was happy to try it b/c William Sonoma sells some of the Bouchon products. We then headed back to Sonoma for some spa time. I had a massage and then a pedicure with Holly & Cary. We easily went from biker girls to spa girls. =) One more nice dinner, an Italian restaurant and it was time to call it a night.

Tuesday - travel day home. Holly & Cary had 11am flights home so we left Sonoma at 7am to get to the San Francisco airport. We got there at 8:45am and I was hoping to get an earlier flight myself - mine was scheduled for 2:20pm. The flights were so full that that didn't happen so I hung out and read a book. Finally got out of San Fran and got to Atlanta around 10pm. My flight from Atlanta home took me through some lovely thunderstorms and rocked the plane quite a bit. By the time we got in, I got my luggage and took a taxi home, it was 1:30am. And I was exhausted from travel but so happy to be home.

The trip was everything a vacation should be. We rode bikes and enjoyed the marvelous scenery, ate good food and drank good wine. Four girlfriends celebrating each other and taking a break from reality. I have to thank Cary for all her planning and organizing and Tim for letting me go. I talked to him and the boys every day and Tim was so wonderful to send me pictures several times a day of what the boys were doing. I talked to the boys a few times but most of the time they weren't interested in the phone. I missed them all but they were in great hands. Grandma & Grandpa N came to stay for the week and help Tim with the boys. Everyone seems to have done great although I imagine Grandma & Grandpa were happy to get back to the quiet of home. I know Tim was appreciative of their help and I'm very thankful they came to stay with Tim and help him / spend time with the boys.

It has been a rough re-entry into reality since I got home. Eli got sent home from school Wednesday sick and I've had a busy week at work. But I've about made it through the week and then we're full on into family travel and the holiday season.