Saying goodbye to the weekend was especially hard this week. My best friend Katie came to Bloomington for a quick, 24-hour visit and I’m already missing her like crazy. She lives in Florida, so we only see each other a couple times a year. But we always manage to make the most of our whirlwind reunions.
It was Katie’s birthday weekend, which gave us all the more reason to celebrate being together. She’d been to Bloomington before, but in the middle of the winter. It was so nice to be able to walk everywhere and spend some time outside. We started the day with lunch at Upland Brewing. Katie was 
wowed by the size of their flights. We all had great meals and fell in love with Purple Reign, a saison that won this year’s Up Cup. Upland hosts a homebrewing competition each year and the winner gets to come in and brew a production batch. We are big fans of Brandon Schaefer’s creation!
After an amazing lunch, we headed out to Oliver Winery. It’s one of my favorite places to take out-of-town guests because the grounds are beautiful and there’s a good variety of sweet and dry wines, meaning there’s something for just about every kind of wine drinker.
We did a tasting before buying a bottle of Catawba and heading outside for a little afternoon picnic. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a blast catching up while sipping wine and demolishing some cheese. It doesn’t get much better.
If we could have, we would have spent hours at the winery. It’s such a peaceful setting and the perfect place to spend a summer or fall afternoon. It was Katie’s boyfriend’s first time in Bloomington and I’m so glad we were able to make it to Oliver.
We headed back to our house to relax for a bit before braving the Welcome Weekend crowds and walking down to Kirkwood. There were, of course, a couple rounds of Sink the Biz. It’s a game we rarely partake in, but visitors are always interested in trying it out. Luckily, I’ve gotten pretty good during our two years in Bloomington.
The night took us to the Root Cellar for dancing and to Rockit’s for late-night pizza before we came home to celebrate Katie’s birthday with some homemade funfetti cake. It was the perfect way to end a ridiculously fun day.
Saying goodbye after such a quick visit is always hard, but I’m already looking ahead to December when we’ll be able to see each other again.