Hi friends! How goes 2027? Can you believe we’re already in February? Us either. So much for life slowing down.
In our last post, we mentioned a neat gift we got for Christmas from Jason’s parents: the Missouri card deck from the Adventure Bucket List. Not wanting to let 2026 get away from us (at least not yet), right after the New Year started, we put together a plan to visit one new place each month until we run out of cards. Great plan, right? The next thing we knew, we were staring at the last weekend in January and…you guessed it…hadn’t gone anywhere.
Picking Our First Adventure
So, to the couch we went (everyone makes their serious plans from the couch, right?) to figure out our first Missouri adventure. Fortunately, the cards themselves make this pretty easy. At the bottom of each card is a series of icons, letting you know when to go, the activity level, cost, and a few other things. So, our first order of business was to narrow the cards down to the ones applicable to the Winter: 3 cards. Great. One of the cards was for November/December, which we assumed would be more Christmas-themed, and since we were already past Christmas, we took this card out. That narrowed our options to two. Tasha closed her eyes and randomly picked a card, and the next thing we knew, we were planning a quick weekend getaway to Weston, Missouri. The idea was to leave after Jason left work on Friday, drive to Weston (about 3 hours away), stay the night, and come home after our activity the next day.
Home for the Night
First order of business: find a place to stay. We’re fans of the Hilton family of hotel brands (always remember: the more you stay with a single hotel brand, the faster you accrue points and gain status), so we headed to their website and found a grand total of zero properties in Weston. Bummer. Fortunately, there were plenty of options in Leavenworth, Kansas, about a 15-minute drive from Weston. Hotel booked!
We should also say that a quick search on your favorite hotel booking website will bring up a ton of really neat-looking B&Bs and smaller hotels, many of which are in or very close to Weston. Some of those weren’t open during the winter, and because our planning was last-minute, not available, so we opted for a more familiar hotel chain instead.
Weston: Day 1
Before drawing the card, we’d never heard of Weston, Missouri, much less what there is to do there (well, Jason hadn’t anyway, due to his illness in Scotland and not participating in activities where his cousin was talking it up, and then Tasha’s cousin mentioned it too, so she investigated). But gosh, the more we looked, the more interesting the town seemed! We decided to make the most of our adventure and so kept ourselves pretty busy, but we’ll highlight our favorite stops.
We arrived in Weston around 5 pm, so our first stop was at the Pirtle Winery. This small winery is currently housed in what was a Lutheran Evangelical Church built by German immigrants in 1867. When you arrive, there’s an imposing staircase taking you from street level up to the front door. Walking into the large, open space, we were greeted by the friendly barkeep who did our wine tasting. And we tasted so many wines! From reds and whites to meads and fruit wines and even bourbon, we tasted nearly everything on the menu. We even tasted Norton-based wines. If you haven’t had Norton wine before, let’s just say it’s an acquired taste, and one we typically don’t reach for. However, after much encouragement from our wine guide, we tried a few and had to admit they were pretty…ok. Better than we remembered, anyway.
Having thoroughly explored their menu and bought our favorites to take home, we headed back out and, yes, down the same steep staircase we’d come up (seriously, why are these stairs so steep?!). But before taking off, we asked our barkeep, a Weston native, for dinner recommendations, and we are so glad we did!
Dinner that night was at Avalon Cafe. From the outside, the cafe looks slightly out of place, as if it belongs in the Deep South near a plantation somewhere. Walking up to the large front porch from the street, you’re greeted with window views of the white tablecloth-clad tables inside and tons of candlelight vibes. Walking in, you’re immediately greeted by a friendly hostess who takes you to your table. The menu looked good, but it’s always good practice to ask for recommendations, and they did not disappoint. Tasha had a mahi-mahi, and Jason had the steak (with coffee butter sauce – what!?); both were specials of the day and came with mountains of vegetables – yum! Our only regret of the night? Not getting dessert. Sigh. We were both so full from dinner, dessert was the last thing on our minds, even though they all looked amazing. Oh well, it’s a reason to go back, right?
After dinner, we did a quick drive around Weston, but as it was now dark, we couldn’t see much. So we headed off to our hotel, about 15 minutes away, to call it an early night to be fully prepared for our main adventure the next day.
Weston, Day 2
Before heading off to our main adventure, we stopped in for breakfast at The Depot in Leavenworth, a place we can’t recommend enough. Hearty breakfasts, super friendly staff, reasonable prices, and oh my gosh, the cinnamon rolls! They’re nearly as big as your head, and everything you want in a cinnamon roll: light, warm, oozing with cinnamon, and topped with cream cheese frosting that melts just the right amount. That alone is reason enough to visit the area (available Saturday and Sunday ONLY).
Fully satisfied with our breakfast, we rolled out of The Depot and back into the car, heading off for our adventure. But one more quick stop first. We poked our heads into Weston Coffee Roastery to grab a coffee to fortify Jason for this adventure. We love a local roaster!
So, what was the main event? The thing that brought us to Weston in the first place? Snow tubing! Truthfully, this isn’t something we’d have picked for ourselves, but looking back, we’re so glad we did, as it was some of the best fun we’ve had in a long, long time. The weather was about as perfect as you can ask for: cold (about 20 degrees, eventually) and sunny, albeit with a slight breeze, though that calmed down throughout the day.
Our tickets were good from 11 am – 1 pm, and we made the most of it! The slope had about 6 different tube runs, though two were closed for minor repairs. From 11 am – noon, the course was pretty packed, but around noon, most of the crowd disappeared, leaving only a few of us to enjoy the runs. And gosh, it was like being a kid again. Racing down the different runs, running over to the large conveyor belt that took us back to the top (whoever developed these is a genius), and speeding down again – so fast! Rinse and repeat…and repeat…and repeat. Our 40ish-year-old bodies might not have appreciated the abuse the next day, but it was totally worth it for the fun we had. We slept like absolute rocks that night.
Our time on the course ended at 1 pm on the nose, and after handing in our tubes, we headed for the car and home. We’re intentionally not sharing the name of the slope we visited, as this is one of the reasons to get the card deck! But, suffice it to say, we had a great time and are already looking forward to our next visit to Weston; we’re told they have lots of wineries and distilleries that are lots of fun to visit during the Spring and Summer. Noted.
Do you know what the funniest part of this whole adventure is? Snow tubing was one of the first dates we went on, way back sometime in 2006-2007 (we’re terrible about remembering actual dates)! I guess you just never know when those little glimmers are going to pop up in your life. You’ve heard it here first, folks: the couple that goes snow tubing together, stays together!
Adventure Local
And there you have it, friends: our first Missouri exploration is in the books, and we’re really looking forward to the next one. We’ve been saying for years that we need to do more exploring closer to home, and we finally have an easy way to do it. This just goes to show that, as much as we love spending time in Europe, there are plenty of adventures and (not so) hidden gems much closer to home, too.
Happy travels, friends!
