How To Celebrate a Birthday

My brother Steve celebrated his 50th in style on Sunday. He wanted to do something special for himself since, well, this is a milestone birthday for him. So why not throw a party! And what a party he threw for himself. We had a very nice dinner at one of his favorite restaurants (Amber) in Danville — and he invited a bunch of his friends. In total, there were almost 50 people there to wish Steve all the best, enjoy drinks, music, dinner, and cake.

Dinner was pretty tasty. A very nice salad followed by a choice of chicken or pasta (there are few vegetarians in the family). The wine was a 1985 magnum bottle of George De Latour that was pretty darned great. Steve’s neighbor and friend made both a cake and cupcakes (they are in the pictures above), and they were really delicious. Steve also hired a band to play some classic rock songs. They are a group of guys (all of whom are 16 years old) and they did a really great job of getting the crowd going — and for closing with two AC/DC songs.

On Monday — which was Steve’s actual birthday — he called to chat and said he was going to go on a bike ride. Well, since he’s had bad luck with birthday bike rides in the past (back in ’08 he had a pretty bad accident) so I said I’d go with him. We did a South Gate Mt. Diablo ride to Rock City and it turned out to be a very good workout. Here’s a map of the ride:

Overall, a very good day, and a nice way to ring in a birthday. I usually take a birthday ride each year, but I ride routes I’ve never cycled before. I’m not sure where I’m going to go this year, but for Steve’s day, I think this was a perfect ride. Mt. Diablo State Park is a challenging ride with some fantastic views, interesting rock formations, and very little car traffic. I can see why bicyclists choose to ride there over and over.