Day 1: Napa Glory

After learning firsthand what 430am looks like and seeing a glorious sunrise over Cincinnati, friends Sheri, Susan (who also happens to be Sheri's sister) and I touched down in San Francisco. After picking up our rental car, we swung back to SFO to pick up our fourth--Christine from Chicago (though she had flown in earlier from a work meeting in Anaheim). First stop of the trip?

Yes, my first-ever trip to In-N-Out Burger. No better way to kick off the eat-fest than here. While I did enjoy my burger and 'nilla shake, I wasn't blown away. But, still, pretty solid. After that, we hit the road to Napa hoping the sun would somehow break through the thick grey skies.

We made great time on the roads and soon checked into our ADORABLE 2BR/2BA rental cottage in downtown Napa. Then, it was off to the lone winery visit of the day: Artesa in the Carneros region of Napa.

The scenery from this winery was the first of many breathtaking views. From a lucky hook up from the Wine Institute, we were welcomed upon entry with a sign bearing my name and the staff wishing us all a happy birthday. An added bonus? Our tasting was comped, and our wine guy had us taste everything from both tasting menus in addition to giving us a full glass of champagne after! Even better was getting some great input on the rest of our winery visit picks, tips on a great dive breakfast spot and advice on the best restaurant to dine at in downtown Sonoma on our last night in town. After wrapping up the tasting, I bought a bottle of their current release Merlot.

The sisters!

Sistas from anotha mista!

The main Artesa sculpture...and the clouds moving on out!

After carefully navigating back to the house, we freshened up and drove the quick few blocks to the central part of downtown Napa to scope out our dinner options. After wandering past some big name restaurants (Morimoto Sushi, Tyler Florence's rotisserie, and more) we decided we wanted Italian. To our good fortune, a local parking her car steered us to what she said was the best Italian in town: Uva Trattoria

Everything there was a culinary triumph! From the bread, to the risotto ball appetizer, to the special gnocchi with braised short rib ragu, we were blown away. I ordered a ravioli in a brown butter/sage sauce with parmesan just to throw some variety in there since two people ordered the short rib special. While it was delicious, I wish I had gone with the special. The ragu was the best thing I've ever had in a long time. Layers of flavor, hints of wine, tender and silky meat, light velvety gnocchi. Wow. WOW!

Then it was time for dessert. With no room left in our stomachs, we powered through and ordered two desserts. Not realizing our waiter was within earshot, I joked to Sheri how it was her birthday and he quickly reappeared with a complimentary tiramisu for us (in addition to our other desserts!). I tend to not like tiramisu, since I find that they're over-saturated with the coffee syrup (or whatever is in them), but this one was perfection.

Also a winner? The sweet potato tart. I ordered a bread pudding, which was fine, but not earth-shatteringly novel by any means. Great restaurant, and a great way to cap off night one of our birthday trip for sure!

And then we returned to our car to find this note below.

Gah...oops. Angry notes! But at least we didn't get towed...and at least we have a firmer grasp of English grammar than the fool who wrote the note. Yay passive aggression!