Hooray, another year! I had a very nice birthday, especially since I got to spend it with SMS rather than a hospital ship targeted by runaway train locomotives! I took Thursday and Friday off, which made for a long weekend gift to myself.
To celebrate, I hiked the Dear Springs trail to Suicide Rock…twice! On Thursday, I hiked with my friend Carrie and on Friday, SMS and I went. It was beautiful and worth doing, even though I was a little sore the third day. Idylwild is absolutely beautiful and it made for a great weekend getaway.
On Thursday, Carrie and I took a day trip out to Idylwild. We did the hike and grabbed lunch and a post-hike beer at the Idylwild Brewpub. The setting was awesome, but we didn’t linger too long because I had a small get-together to go to in San Diego. My friend/colleague Colleen was leaving for a new duty station, so the four lady ENTs got together to hang out and get some quality time in before she left.
On Friday, I celebrated by eating cake for breakfast. Mom and Dad had sent a cake from MilkBar, which is delicious. Nutritionally, I’m sure it’s so bad that it’s good but hey, birthday rules! I also was super hungry because of the tasty treat of a man who was on my birthday card from them. I say “them” but I’m pretty sure it was all Mom.
But before we left town, SMS and I stopped at Camp Pendleton where he got his first Pfizer vaccine! It was the best birthday present! I had been pretty nervous for him, especially in the interval between my vaccination and his. I wanted him to be equally protected but because of the difference in our jobs, we qualified for vaccinations at different time. It turns out he wasn’t quite as excited to get it since he was worried about mild side effects impacting our trip but everything worked out! He felt totally fine.
We had a great time on the hike. We had decided to stay overnight. SMS booked a room at The Grand Idylwild Lodge, which lived up to its name. There were beautiful outside eating areas, so we decided to order takeaway from town and eat at the hotel. We ordered Italian from FERRO and bought a bottle of wine from Middle Ridge Winery. We bought the Cinsaut, which is usually found in blends. It smelled so good and we really enjoyed it.
We at outside and enjoyed the sunset views of Suicide Rock, which we had hiked to the top of earlier in the day.
The next morning, we hung around for a bit before heading home. We stopped at the famous Dudley’s bakery. Then, we went to Grant James for a wine tasting, which was delightful! The patio is shaded, there was a slight breeze, the wine was delicious, and there was a pizza oven in the back with great pizza options.
And that was my birthday weekend! I had the best time on our mini-trip planned by SMS. Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee!