We arrived at Jim & Shirley’s about 11:30 and they were all ready and waiting for us!! We started out with some crackers and cheese and a cocktail of course.. Soon we were on our way to a new adventure! And we all know I am always up for a new adventure!!
Jim drove, Ev sat up front with Jim and Shirley and I sat in the back seat. Jim turned right out of their driveway heading toward Pope Valley and then we took the road that would lead us to St Helena. Never been on that road before.. Before you knew it we were in Rutherford (out skirts of St Helena). There is this marvelous restaurant there!! “Rutherford's Grill”. No reservations, first come first serve. Fortunately Jim & Shirley packed up a couple bottles of wine (no corkage fee). We put our name in and sat outside on the patio and drank some wine. Beautiful day. Rutherford's was packed and it was Thursday about 2pm.. Can you imagine? We waited maybe about 20 to 30 minutes before they called us. It was nice sitting out on the patio chatting and doing some people watching..
We had a nice corner booth for the 4 of us. The wait person opened our second bottle of wine and took our order.
Considering how busy the restaurant was I was surprised that we got our food so quickly! The service was impeccable!
The food was so delicious, I can’t even tell you! Ev, Shirley and I had the “prime rib” French dip, OMG to die for!! Jim had the rotisserie 1/2 chicken.. Everything was delicious!
Soon we would be on our way up through St Helena where we stopped at Lolo’s consignment store.. Boy did we find some good buys!! I found these wonderful “red shoes”.. Love them!
Because is a consignment store if the product has been there for any length of time they reduce the original price to a lower price.. So I offered $15 on the shoes that were marked $22!! The lady behind the counter said how about $11??!! Can you imagine going even lower?? Well as it turned out they were all ready on sale at 1/2 off, I didn’t see the sign!! LOL oh well.. I got the shoes!!
Ev found a deal also for a birthday gift for me. We all know how much I love Christmas?? Well there was this set of these just adorable animated Mr & Mrs, Claus.. Couldn’t pass them up!! Mr & Mrs Clause $38, not a bad price at all.. they originally probably sold for $38 each.. They were boxed perfectly and they work wonderfully!! 
Truly the funniest thing happened as we walked back to the car after shopping.. We were all admiring my “new” shoes and we were at the intersection and this man in a work truck was giving us the “thumbs up” sign.. he liked the shoes too!!
We were now on our way to Happy Hour/bar hopping in Calistoga to round off this most adventurous fun day!! With two absolutely wonderful friends! All of us were having a great time laughing and talking.. Perfect day..
Our first stop in Calistoga was Barolo’s Restaurant & Bar..Happy Hour here.. We had a couple of drinks here and visited with some of the regulars. From here we went down to Susie’s Bar and had our last drink of the evening before heading back over the hill.
On our way back to Jim & Shirley’s we made our final stop at the Twin Pines Casino. We all tried our luck, no one really won.. On our way once again, now it was only a short drive back to Jim & Shirley’s.
Shirley had baked a rum cake for the grand finale of the evening.. uumm and it was delicious! We had a little ice cream with it..
Jim & Shirley were the most gracious hosts! They even had a bed ready for us to stay the night.. So sweet! We retired about 10pm. What a day! One of the best birthdays I have ever had! Thank you..
In the morning I could smell bacon cooking.. OMG Jim & Shirley were now cooking us breakfast!! Can you believe it?
Wonderful, wonderful…
We got home about 9:30 Friday morning..
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