Jay Kersting's Blog

It has been good in Jefferson City for me the last couple of weekends. 

Kathy, Alex and Ben came to visit on March 21st and stayed until Sunday the 25th.  We went to the Capitol, looked at some houses, drove around the area, used hotel pools, goofed off in the hotel rooms.  Generally had a good time.  I think Alex liked the pools best of all.  I'll tell you more about what Ben liked in a second.

Then on Friday night, my brother Dan, his wife and son came to visit us.  Lulu got us hotel rooms using her Marriott points (Thanks again!!) and we went to Central Dairy and generally just hung out and had a good time at the pool and up in our rooms.  Central Dairy is a must visit place here in Jefferson City, especially if you have a nearly 3 year old child with you.  Central Dairy is the big dairy producer/distributor of the area and they have a nice ice cream parlor....nice and cheap.  The taking a 3 year old part.....let me just say that my nephew Will became Bluebeard the Pirate after his Birthday Cake ice cream cone.  By the way, the best part of being there with a 3 year old who is not yours is that his parents have to clean him up and not you.  I think Dan and Lulu enjoyed seeing their son like that, so it was still good.

This will probably come as no surprise, Ben loves the Missouri Capitol.  We had to go back to the Capitol because he liked it so much.  And after talking to a person at Jefferson Landing, I am glad we did.  We got a chance to see the Thomas Hart Benton murals in the House Lounge.  That is a must see for any one going to the Capitol. 

As for Ben, he still talks to me about it. (No one tell him, but I got him a book on it.) 

I also took everyone over to see the old Missouri State Penitentary.  Nothing like an old scary looking prison as a place to go siteseeing.  In fact, Ben had his "Flat Stanley" project for school that weekend.  We have a great picture of Ben, with a very angry face and his arms crossed across his chest, holding "Flat Stanley" in front of the MSP. 

We took pictures of "Flat Stanley" outside the Capitol, outside the Governor's Office, near the busts of Walt Disney and Mark Twain. 

Sunday the 25th was HORRIBLE!!!  Kathy, Alex and Ben left for Knoxville and I felt more alone than ever.  I cried my eyes out. It was the worst feeling that I can remember in a long time.  It did of course pass, but it was terrible.

On Friday, March 30th, my friend Ethan Mayers came to visit. I went to Kansas City and stayed with Dan and Lulu for a bit before I went to the airport to get Ethan.  Then we stayed the night there before driving back on Saturday.  Before leaving town, we had lunch with Dan, Lulu and Will at Oklahoma Joes on 47th and Mission.  Intersting place, decent barbeque (overall a 7...as a certified barbeque judge, that was my determination.  For details, shoot me an e-mail.) and it was nice to spend a little more time with Dan, Lulu and Will.

Ethan is a self proclaimed wine snob and part of his wanting to visit me in Missouri was to go to wineries.  He made a list, plotted them out on a map and we headed out.  Our first stop was in Lees Summit. 

We go in, taste some wine, he buys a glass, the owner shows us around, etc.  I go to the bathroom and this couple walks in and the other employee tells this couple that Ethan was from New York.  Turns out that this guy was also from New York.  When I get back, Ethan is chatting away with Dan (not my brother) and Barbara.  Apparently, they are hitting the same wineries that we are.  We joke that we will see them down the road.

Sure enough, we go to Lone Jack....Dan and Barbara are there ten minutes later.  Ethan and I take a side trip to see Warrensburg....it has changed a LOT in the last seventeen years.  WOW!!  After seeing the sites of the Burg...which did not take long, we continued on to a pair of wineries in Knob Noster. 

We get to these wineries, which are behind a trailer park.  We go to the first, sample...go to the second....and Dan and Barbara are parking as we walk in.  We chat with them as we get done sampling and head out to the next stop in Cole Camp. 

The place in Cole Camp was really cool.  The couple who owned it ran separate vinyards and wineries in Colorado, but they were sixty miles apart and it was too expensive and too many permits, etc., to build there.  They found this vinyard and built the winery.  In fact, this summer they are opening a microbrewery there as well.  Ethan was taking pictures and showing them to the owners.  The husband actually brought Ethan a microbrew sample out to him as he was taking more pictures.   Apparently, they want him to send them pictures and they may use them for their website and advertising. 

Oh, and Dan and Barbara made it there as well.  In fact, they were intending on making it to Jefferson City to catch one last winery.  BUT, it was getting late.  Ethan and I were planning on getting dinner at Paddy Malones that night, so we invited them to join us. 

So we had dinner with them that night, which was nice.  Saturday was a great, but ODD day.

Sunday we hit two more wineries that Ethan wanted to see, toured the Capitol, walked around downtown, went to Arris' Pizza Palace for dinner.

Monday, work in the morning and then off to Kansas City to get Ethan back to the airport.  Went to Arthur Bryant's on 18th and Brooklyn, up to the Liberty Memorial (weather was beautiful, so it was a great place to see the city....Kathy, if the weather is ever that nice when we are in Kansas City, I AM taking you up there....it just never has been so far.), a ride down Ward Parkway, around I-435 and up to my old neighborhood.  I saw that the front door of the McCabes house was open so we stopped to say hi to Cheryl.  Melissa stopped by as well and I got to meet Kirk's daughter Tessa as well.  Couldn't stay long because we had to get Ethan to the airport.

Anyhow, two very busy and very good weekends in a row.  Hoping to make it three in a row.  Then four...and so on.