Some of my girl friends and I have been talking about visiting a winery in Wisconsin and with one of those friends celebrating a birthday this weekend, well it was perfect timing to head out on a road trip!
We were going to Trempealeau Wisc. to the Elmaro Vineyard. Now if you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve heard of Trempealeau before, well that could be true. It’s been known to hit the news for having the ‘World Famous Walnut Burger’. Now I’m not sure if there are any other restaurants that serve walnut burgers – but hey if you’re going to do it you should be the best right?
So like I said, today’s goal is to visit the Winery and check it out. When we pulled into the parking lot we noticed that there was so many cars there that the lot was completely full! Our first instincts was to think that someone was having a wedding and we were sure hoping that this wasn’t what was going on. I mean we’d still go to the winery 🙂 but we had to be a little bit more stealth about it. And sometimes, well sometimes that’s not so easy!
Elmaro Vineyard
What we found out was that we all had the same idea on this gorgeous day! No wedding, but a lot of people enjoying the musicians playing on the patio while having a glass of wine. So we grabbed a glass of wine and found a seat for ourselves.
Next on the agenda was to check into our hotel. 
We are pretty far away from home, and the hotel charges were $47 a night – so that’s a no brainer! I think the only way to describe the rooms was that it definitely seemed like we were in the old days and it was some type of boarding house. The rooms were all lined up on both sides of the halls with only a bed and a dresser in each room.
We all shared the bath room and that was the most tricky part of the whole deal. But we all survived and I loved everything about the hotel! We even got a good laugh at the phone in the hallway. Now I’m not sure if it worked or not – but it added more character to the already charming hotel.
We had a chance to check out the Lock and Dam No 7 which was literally in the same neighborhood of the hotel. It was only a quick walk to it and I think it was perfect timing because a set of barges was just pulling into the lock.
So here’s a little history on No 7. It was built in 1936 and more than 15 million tons of cargo is estimated to pass through the lock each year and more than 13,000 recreational crafts also use the lock annually. This lock provides the lift needed for canoes to towboats. Yup, pretty darn cool if you ask me.
After a good supper (no walnut burgers this time) and enjoying the band at the hotel, we headed upstairs to hit the hay for the night. With only the sound of the many, and I mean many, trains going through the town, we sure seemed to fall asleep easier than I thought we would.
What a good weekend for a Birthday !