This past weekend Matt and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary (June 29th). It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. Time sure flies when you’re having fun right?! (and crazy busy!) We have actually known each other for 16, but have been married for 10. We started talking about places we wanted to go…meaning somewhere we would fly, however we sort of ran out of time and have been so busy. We decided to go back to where it all began…good ol’ Winona. After the weekend we had, I wouldn’t have changed a thing or wanted to go anywhere else actually. We had a fabulous weekend and it brought back a lot of wonderful memories.
WARNING: This is a LONG post with a gazillion pictures, so feel free to skip it. ;)
Matt took off work on Friday and we took the boys to daycare. My parents watched them for the rest of the weekend. THANK YOU mom and dad! When we got into Winona we went to have lunch at a place we ate, studied, and drank coffee (me a little more than Matt) many times, Acoustic Cafe. Right across the street was where Matt and I danced for the first time. It used to be a bar called Bangers, and because we were only freshman, I am leery to admit that yes we got our way in by people passing back fake IDs. It was college people! We had to laugh that it is now turned into a country store called Pieces of the Past. The name was fitting. ;) We took a look around and could still see many of the “fixtures or staples” of Bangers. Good times.
Then we went to meet the lady who was checking us into our Bed and Breakfast for the night. We stayed at the Village House, which ironically was right across the street from campus. I remember the red brick house, but when we were in school it wasn’t a B&B yet. The house itself was built in 1852, but it has only been a Bed and Breakfast for 5 years. It was really nice. It wasn’t your typical B&B (well not that I would know because this was our first one, but so I hear), because the decor was more modern and breakfast was continental. There was a little kitchenette with a stocked fridge and snacks, etc…
Our room was cute and quaint. We liked it because it was the only room on the main floor (there was only one other couple there while we were). There was a little sitting room right outside our room and then a really nice main room.
Campus was right across the street. After we settled into our room a little we headed over to SMU to look around. It’s been awhile since we have been back.
St. Edward’s hall or Ed’s like we called it…..where it all began. Matt and I both lived on the second floor. The boys were on one wing and the girls were on the other. I actually noticed him the first week we were there during freshman orientation. I noticed him as I walked by his room one day when he was taping a huge McDonald’s sign to his floor (don’t ask) and that same night the entertainment was a hypnotist. Matt was chosen to go up on stage. He had to perform the song Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks and it was hilarious. He worked the stage almost as great as Garth! At the time he was a huge country music fan so it was perfect. We were more friends or had the same group of friends for most of the year, had some honors classes together, and both played basketball. Things didn’t really start to happen until the end of the year and people started talking about and telling the other person how we liked each other. Ed’s is where it started.
When it came to signing up for housing for sophomore year Matt was thinking about transferring so he never signed up. However, he started to like this girl and decided to come back because he couldn’t imagine being far away from her. ;) Or so that’s how I like to tell the story.
He ended up in the dorm called St. Yonne’s or Yon’s like we called it, where many of the music majors (because it had the music/band/orchestra room in it) and people who didn’t sign up, got stuck in. It had a long walk up and down stairs and hills that was not fun.
I lived in St. Benilde’s, we called it Benilde. It was conveniently the first place you came up the hill to when walking from Yonne’s. One of the guys transferred out at the end of first semester though and Matt was lucky to move into his room. Again, we lived in the same dorm. ;)
It was fun to see the things that hadn’t changed and amazing to see the new things. It really is a beautiful campus, in the most beautiful setting of the bluffs.
After walking around campus and getting all sweaty and smelly (it was hot!) we went back to our room and freshened up a little bit. We then headed up to the Garvin Heights area and stopped at the Garvin Heights Winery and the Lookout up in the bluffs.
One of the things we did a lot in school was rollerblade around the two lakes.
A picture of St. Stan’s church that we went to on Saturday (more about that later) and the chalet we rented a kayak from.
After our adventures we went back to our room and got ready for the night. We visited Betty Jo’s for a pre-dinner drink. This place opened up our senior year and it was a fun place to hang out.
Matt made dinner reservations at Signatures. We had never eaten there before. It was right on a golf course and as you can see had a beautiful view. We both had delicious meals with a very good bottle of wine. They even brought you plates of “things” to cleanse your palette between courses. Not a type of place I frequent often. We had a good laugh because I ordered the special (it was some type of tenderloin) the waitress mentioned without knowing how much it was….I have been known to do this a couple of times now. Oops. Normally I’m pretty good about being cost conscious, but I must get carried away in their description of the meal and completely forget. It was DELICIOUS and worth every penny!
It was a fabulous day!
Saturday we woke up and ate our breakfast by ourselves on the patio outside our room. We had fresh pastries from one of the local bakeries, yogurt and granola (also from the bakery), with juice and coffee. It was a great way to start off the day.
We were switching to a new B&B, so we got ready and packed up. They were able to let us into our room so we headed over there. This place we stayed at was called the Carriage House. It was the actual and original carriage house for the home, built in the 1850’s as well. It was much older, but had great character. The big wooden door and hook from the hayloft and the rafters were part of the room decor. The first picture is the house that the family that started the B&B still lives in and the second is the Carriage house.
Our room was cute, there was a little room with a daybed connecting the bedroom and a room with a stove fireplace and whirlpool tub.
This place had bicycles that we could use. We got a chuckle over how old they were (were there bikes in 1850?) but they did the job. We rode them around town a little and then down around the lakes like old times. My bike even had an S in the old, hard seat.
After returning the bikes we headed across the bridge into Wisconsin territory to the cute town of Trempealeau. We did some wine tasting at the Elmaro Winery (by far our favorite of the three we visited). It was beautiful. The family has been growing grapes for some time now, but the actual winery was built in November of 2011. It had the most perfect setting. They did it right, that’s for sure.
We were going to go eat at the Historic Trempealeau hotel right on the river that so many people told us about, however the gentlemen at the winery that we talked to told us about a little bistro called Mrs. Sippy’s (what a clever name!). The head chef, Max, used to be the chef at the hotel but left and opened up his own place. We were so glad the guy told us about it. The food was wonderful. I had the best veggie melt ever and Matt had the Max burger and said it was awesome. We enjoy doing and trying new things out of the ordinary. They sometimes end up being the best experiences. The employees at the bistro were great also. We met, visited, and heard stories from many memorable and interesting people this whole weekend.
After we ate, we headed back to Winona to rent a kayak. Neither of us had kayaked before. It was fun, and I have to say I enjoy it more than canoeing. The water was peaceful and warm being that it was hot AGAIN.
It was hard not to bring my camera out while we kayaked, but that would have just been plain stupid if something would have happened! ;)
We went back to our room and freshened up for church at St. Stan’s. Fr. Tom, the priest that married us here in town 10 years ago at St. Joe’s, is now the priest at this church. We thought it was fitting. After mass we stayed to talk with him a little while. The thing he remembered the most from our wedding (well besides being a mixed marriage – a Vikings and a Packer fan – Fr. Tom is a HUGE Vikings fan) was how hot it was (those of you that were there do you remember?) and that we had an ice sculpture that didn’t last very long! Ha.
After church we headed back over the bridge and this time went west to Fountain City and visited the Seven Hawks Winery. Obviously these are all small wineries considering they are in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but it’s cool that they grow their own grapes and the wines were decent. None of them were there when we went to school. We sat on the rooftop and had a glass of wine. You could see the river a little bit. This vineyard was crazy to see up the side of the bluffs like it was.
Then we drove back into town. The whole weekend we enjoyed reminiscing and driving around to see if some of the places we would go to were still there, or had changed. One place Matt wanted to check out was called the Handy Corner. This was a place some of the guys frequented. ;) It had changed a TON. The owner, Mikey, is apparently into decorating now?? He has painted the building and I can’t even explain how many things he has hanging on the outside and inside. Can you tell from the picture that those are paintings/pictures that he has hung on the outside of the building? The inside was even more crazy. We had to take some pictures.
After driving around a little we went to Jefferson’s Pub and Grill to eat. This was where we had our first date, well if you can call it that. Maybe we should just call it our first dinner out. ;) One Friday after classes I got back to my room and saw a note on my message board saying “Come down and see me when you get back ASAP, - Matt”. Now, Matt and I had just started talking more and hearing from people that we liked each other, so there was some flirting and hanging out going on. I had no idea what his message was about. I actually just went into my room and hung out for a little bit, not sure what to do. After a little while there was a knock on my door, and guess who it was. I open the door and there is Matt looking a little concerned and nervous. He told me that he had been down to my room a few times already trying to find me. He eventually asked me if I wanted to come to dinner with his family. What? Yes. You read it right. Dinner with his family. I didn’t know what to say, but of course wanted to because I liked this guy. I just thought it was a little strange to go to dinner with his family who I had never met, yet alone didn’t even know much about because Matt and I had just started talking more and hadn’t even been on a date by ourselves. It was a very pleasant evening and his family was great. However, I still am not really sure what the reason was for me coming to dinner so early and quickly but we joke about how our first date was with his family. It’s either very strange, or very sweet. Our first date ALONE was out to the Olive Garden the following week. I think he felt he had to make it up to me. ;)
Here we are at the table we actually sat at that night out with his family!
This morning we had a great breakfast with three other couples that were staying there. The food was delicious again. The pastries were from a different local bakery and the fresh fruit was yummy. It was fun having two such different experiences with the Bed and Breakfasts. I’m not sure which I prefer. After breakfast we packed up, and headed home to get our sweet boys that we missed only after 2 nights away from them. We truly our blessed.
Our goodies from the weekend.
Happy Anniversary hon! I love you and am so fortunate to share the life that we have with you. I am in awe daily (even with the ups and downs that come with marriage ;) ) of my life…. Thank you for planning an amazing, perfect weekend. It was fun going back to our past and all those memories. Here’s to many many more.
Whew….did anyone make it through this post?! Ha. Sorry it’s a novel - it’s more for my recollection than anything.
Our last few trips we have enjoyed finding the letters to our name in pictures from meaningful places/things during the trip. Here are my favorites from this weekend.
