St. Louis Shenanigans- Part 1, Hermann, MO

OK, so I figure it's probably not a great idea to post Jimmy and My adventures on my "work" blog...don't' really think my customers need to see the kind of activities we get ourselves into so I am starting a new one. This blog is all about Jimmy and Samantha and the crazy life we lead....of course SOME things will still stay private...duh.

So, this past weekend Jimmy and I took a little trip over to St. Louis. We had a very busy agenda.....well, that went out the window. Jimmy and I are adventurers at heart and when we want to take a detour.....well, we DO IT!

Our first detour of the day is over to Hermann, MO. Home of Stone Hill Winery and even better, Adam Puchta Winery. Adam Puchta is the maker of Jazz Berry, if you haven't had this wine, stop reading this blog right now, run to the store and get some, then come back home and get back to reading this here blog. BUT, before we get to Adam Puchta, we saw this little corner bar, had to stop.

A couple frosty beverages later (super cheap by the way) we headed on over to Puchta. I was seriously excited about this!The sign leading us to our little slice of heaven...even Jimmy liked this wine!You can take this trolley into the winery from HermannSmoke house on the original propertyLarry showing us how the old corker workedJimmy and I in front of the "corker"Me going into the gift shopAdam Puchta Winery is the oldest winery in the country....weird that the oldest is in Missouri, but it is!Super awesome sign, I wanted it....I also wanted the door mat that said, "we serve only the finest wines here.....did you bring any?"Sigh.....yes, I still claim himUmmm....this is the truck they ship cold wine in???? ;)

Land Ho! This creek runs across the front entrance to the winery. On the way out we HAD to stop and put our toes in the water.Upon walking down to the creek, I discover the water is chock-FULL of crawdads. I made it my mission to catch one of the creepy little suckers.See, there's one right there!After 20 minutes of hopping around and squealing because they were backing over my toes in the water, I managed to shoo one towards Jimmy, who promptly swept the little bugger up onto the bank.....and then this.....ah, my boo....i know all you ladies out there are jealous! You want on for your own but I'm pretty sure God broke the mold after he was made!Finally managed to pull ourselves away from the winery and get back on the road. Well, of course we didn't want to back-track to I-70 so we bust out the atlas and decide to take a short cut....we made it about 20 minutes down the road before we found this bridge.....well, we HAD to stop! Geeze....Don't know what these plants are but they were completely hollow like a straw and perfectly stripped....anybody know what they are?