Augusta, Missouri

To celebrate Mother's Day John and I decided to join my sister Julia, her husband Cal and their daughter Katie (who came with her boyfriend) at the Montelle Winery in Augusta. As you can see in the picture above, we even had entertainment while we enjoyed our lunch. The winery advertises that it is the most scenic winery in all of Missouri. It is certainly a beautiful spot as its dining pavilions overlook the Missouri river hills. And Sunday was finally a perfect spring day, with no rain. All the water puddles near us seem to be attracting shore birds.We have never seen so many egrets in Missouri as we have recently. We even saw a blue heron on our way to church Sunday.  

The cafe at the winery on Sunday had a buffet for Mother's Day, which seemed to draw a fairly large crowd of people. However, our group was just as satisfied with sandwiches, crackers and cheese for our lunch. Of course we did wash all that down with several bottles of delicious wine! I think that both John and I have been itching again to hit the road,  because we took a slow meandering route over several country back roads for our return trip home. The fields around Augusta are starting to display the new crop of grape plants for 2011. By the way, there are several other wineries besides Montelle in the Augusta area. Missouri has its own Napa Valley. Our plan is to remain in St.Louis for one more week, and then to move south to Farmington.