Applefest, Weston, MO

Weather was gorgeous this weekend. One of those rare weekends in Kansas when it was neither sizzling nor freezing. Also, Steve has Monday off for Columbus day.

We decided to go to the Applefest at Weston, a little town of population 2,000 or so at west central Missouri, an hour from Kansas City. The Applefest was more festive and crowded than I thought. I saw many suburbanites with KS license plate like myself. We had to park at the ballpark and then rode a shuttle to Main Street, where the fest was. It was Ian's first bus ride. We had some really great apple dumpling in the best with ice-cream. Yummy. There are many little shops there, but one which really stood out was the Sundance Gallery which exhibits artistic Vaudeville (a style of multi-act theatre which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s) celebrity pictures taken by Orval Hixon from 1914 to 1930.

We also went wine tasting at Pyrtle Winery. Didn't really bother to try their typical reds nor whites (for heaven's sake, this is still Missouri), but their Apple Wine was quite delicious. The Cherry Wine, however, definitely did not cater to my palette. It tasted like water down robitussin to me. We did leave with a bottle of Apple Wine and had thoroughly enjoyed it with our trial thansgiving dinner (we substituted turkey with a big hen, mashed potato with polenta, and served with green bean casserole and cranberry sauce.).

After all the crowds and noise, we headed to Weston Bend State Park for a picnic. Funny how kids pick things up on their own - Ian promptly rolled around on the sleeping bag as soon as we put it on the grass. We then hung around at the park and went to the overlook to enjoy the view of Missouri River from up above the bluff. I wish we could have hiked more on the trails, but Ian definitely had enough for the day. Pulling into the garage back home, the digital clock in the car read 5:45 pm or so. It was a great Saturday!