This post covers the highlights of the first half of our return to our house in St. Joseph, Missouri.
After doing our bonsai two-day drive, we arrived in St. Joseph on the second night at around 10:30 pm. We got up the next day and hit the ground running by participating in our HOA’s two-day garage sale. Yes, we had brought items we had from California just for the garage sale. The first day of the garage sale was Friday, with the second day on Saturday. We found it odd to start on Friday, since the vast majority of the garage sales in California are on Saturdays. It turned out Fridays are the garage sale days in the Midwest. Our HOA ended up making over $2,500 from the garage sale. Our first major social event had us joining the Culvers and Broyles for a Three Dog Night concert at the Star Pavilion in the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City.
First, we all had dinner at the Amerisports Brew Pub in the casino. The food was good, but the food delivering robot was the bomb.
Even though they did not earn a link, we can recommend a visit if for nothing more, to have your meal delivered by a robot. The concert was outstanding. Three Dog Night is one iconic band. Over their 50 plus years, they have had 21 Billboard top 40 hits, with three of them hitting number 1. One of those songs was “Black and White.” The other two were written by people not part of the original band. They helped introduce audiences to other writers’ songs such as Randy Newman’s “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” Paul Williams’ “An Old-Fashioned Love Song (a number 1 hit),” and Hoyt Axton’s “Joy to the World (another number 1 hit).” The show was outstanding, and we can highly recommend you see them if you have the chance. Yes, they earned a link. It’s in the usual place.
On September 15, the BBC Gang (Bailey, Broyles, Culver) started our day with brunch at the Provident. The food was really good and the spicy Bloody Mary was delicious and actually spicy. The food would have earned a link, but they closed down at the end of the year.
From there, we went on the Jewel of St. Joseph Tour where you get to tour historic homes in the area. We did this last year and had a really good time. Our first stop was the James Robison House.
This house has been mostly restored and is really beautiful. It has some amazing stained-glass windows, as well as some intricate inlaid wood and tile floors.
It was recently sold for $765,000. That is a decent price for this amazing house. Our next stop was the Kirkpatrick-Garth House. This is next door to the Shakespeare Chateau. The inside was in the process of being restored and was pretty much in shambles when we visited.
We did not go inside the Shakespeare Chateau because we have not only toured it before, but also spent the night there earlier this year.
Less than a mile walk away, was the Zion Church and its parsonage.
The church was opened in 1926 and contained many things you would expect to find in a church.
It also had a basketball court in the basement, which I did not expect to see.
Next door was the parsonage. It was originally built to house the pastor and his family, but is now an Airbnb you can rent. It has four bedrooms and one bathroom, and was built when the electric plugs were two prongs, no ground prong.
We walked back to our cars and drove to the last stop, the Washington Park Library. It was opened in 1910 and is an “Andrew Carnegie” library. That means it was built with funds from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. The library has many original oak furnishings such as the circulation desk, stack shelving, book display shelves, library tables and interior staircase.
A significant interior architectural detail is a quote above the main doorway by Andrew Carnegie “The universal education of its people is the greatest glory of the state.”
Overall, we had a good time but were a little disappointed. We did this tour last year and it included a lot more historic homes to visit. This year was six stops, with only three historic homes. If it is not improved next year, we will most likely pass. A few days later, the BBC gang was off to the Castle Bridge Event Center to eat some catered bbq and watch a live singer.
Castle Bridge is like a giant barn with two bars built into it. It is a unique and enjoyable venue.
The next night the same group was off to the Missouri Theater to see a Cher Tribute, called “The Beat Goes On,” featuring Lisa McClowry.
Ms. McClowry did an amazing job and really looked and sounded like Cher. And there was no shortage of costumes, either.
This show was good enough to earn a strong recommendation to see it……….and a link. During the week, we had lunch at one of our favorite downtown cafes, Seventh Street Cafe. They have some of the best soups I have ever tasted. I love the little hobbit door in the wall near the main entrance.
Use the link at the end of this post to get your breakfast or lunch fix. I also visited my favorite store, Menards. Menards is an amazing place with the variety of products. On this visit, I bought a sink faucet, a greeting card, some milk, and dozen eggs, and some paint brushes. Crazy.
The next weekend, we added Don and Marie (not the Osmonds) to our group, and we all headed to Hermann, Missouri for a weekend of wine tasting. Don and Marie drove and the rest of us took the train. We rode out of Central Station in Kansas City.
I was expecting a TSA type search prior to getting on the train.
There was no search. Just get on the train.
Most of the people on the train were drinking, so it was more like a train ride and a show. Four hours later, we were in Hermann. We walked to our hotel in a light rain.
After we checked in, we checked out Machele and Bobby’s snack table in their room. These were just a sampling of the snacks Machele brought for the train ride and the short stay in Hermann.
We spent the first day checking out the downtown area. There were distilleries, wineries, and wine shops.
An extremely overpriced chocolate shop.
An interesting Popcorn store.
Even a meat vending machine that sold sausage and bacon.
We ended the day at the Piano Bar that had average food, decent drinks, and no piano player on the first night we were there. They promised us dueling pianos the next night, so we made reservations to return.
The next day we took a trolly tour of some of the local wineries. Our first stop was Adam Puchta Winery. The wines were not that good, but the band was excellent, as were the grounds.
The second stop was at Stone Hill Winery. Once again, the wines were not very good.
Our final stop was at the OakGlenn Vineyards and Winery. They had a very nice covered patio.
The views of the Missouri River from the patio were very nice.
Here is some of the gang on the patio.
L to R Front: Machele, Heather
After our winery tour where there were no links awarded, we headed back to our hotel and freshened up for our return to the Piano Bar for dinner and dueling pianos. The food at the Piano Bar was average at best, and one of the two dueling piano players was sick, so we had a single piano player. He was very good, and it seemed like everyone really enjoyed themselves. The next day the majority of our group was leaving on the early train. We walked with them to the train station then went to breakfast.
We had breakfast at the Hermann Wurst Haus. Luckily, wurst is the German word for sausage. So basically, we ate in a deli. And it was pretty good. Not worthy of a link, but pretty good.
After breakfast, we walked around the downtown area, did some shopping, and headed to the train station for our return home. At the train station, was a statue of the founder of Hermann, George Bayer, and a sign giving the history of the city. The city was founded on 1836 by German immigrants and was originally referred to as “Little Germany.”
Our train arrived on time, and we were returned to Kansas City in one piece.
After a restful night of sleep in our own bed, we had one day to prepare for a visit from our good friends, the Webers. Their actual visit will be covered in the next post. Enjoy your train snacks until then.
LINKS
