on friday night, anson and i stayed at the holiday inn in south san francisco. we thought it would be better to be closer to the starting line so that we didn’t have to wake up as early…but we ended up being the last ones there anyways =( for dinner, we went to Ali Baba Mediterranean restaurant that was average in food, but I was impressed with the tablet at every table where you could order from the menu, pay (options of splitting the bill, tip calculator, etc), play trivia games to entertain kids (or the kids at heart). we slept a little earlier (before midnight) in order to prepare for the oh so fun saturday =)
we woke up at 5:30 (5:47 after hitting snooze a couple times), and i dropped anson off to the bike ms starting line. i had time to kill before christine and jessica came, so i spent an hour getting gas and at a local starbucks to research our route. once they arrived around 8:40 at christine’s friend’s house, we took my car up to napa. first stop was Mumm Napa!
this place is now my favorite winery. it seems a little weird to drink in the morning, but i’m glad we did since there was no line when we first got there, but a line out the door once we left. this is a place where you can sit at shaded table and look out into the vineyards and enjoy conversations without feeling rushed. the tasting are a little pricey (around $22-26 for three wines), so we opted for getting 1 glass each for $10 a glass and then sampling each others. it was a very enjoyable time, and i even bought a wine stopper (days of wrapping the wines in plastic wrap are over!)
we then went to Gott’s Roadside which had a long line. i got a ahi tuna burger (very generous portion, though not sure if $16 was worth it) and tried some of the girls’ onion rings and sweet potato fries. it was a good place, but i wouldn’t have mind another place with less of a wait time. the rest of the day was spent in the car (windy road from napa to sonoma), and two wineries in sonoma. we went to pr winery and st francis winery where it pays to have visa signature =) we took advantage of the perks of free wine tasting (one white and one red) from both places. still…mumm takes the cake.
at 5pm, we arrived at rohnert park and met the group after their ride. alex and daniel had fallen while on the ride, the girls were the best in their group, but it seems that anson was holding back. go sexy cow! they were provided dinner, different souvenirs (mist spray, t-shirts, etc). all in all, a great saturday for the bike party and our girl’s wine party =) we both enjoyed in our own ways! let’s do it again!