The 4th annual "No Boys Allowed" weekend!

This past weekend I met up with 4 gal pals in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, for our annual girls weekend. 

Jenny, Jami, Keli, and Natalie

These girls are quite the mix--Keli is the glue that binds us all together:  She and Jenny and I went all through K-12 together, and Keli and Jami and Natalie all went through real estate school together.  While their real estate careers were short lived (due to the collapse of the housing market...), they stayed good friends and we've all gotten to know each other through Keli.  (Jami, Keli, and Natalie live in La Crosse, WI, while Jenny and I live here in Northern IL.)  This is the fourth year in a row that we've gotten together and we were all crying from laughter within the first 15 minutes of our reunion on Saturday afternoon!  That's how you know you're true friends!!!

We went to the Wollersheim Winery and toured their wine making facility.  It is a beautiful location nestled in the bluffs of central Wisconsin.  I don't think of Northern Illinois as being "flat", but the bluffs in central WI really are beautiful and a real change of scenery.  The winery consists of a beautiful limestone barn and an adorable limestone house, as well as some other out-buildings that have been designed to fit nicely into the landscape. 

The tour was interesting, but that knowledge is lost on me because I don't drink wine and I don't care that much about grapes.  It was interesting from a production standpoint; Jenny and I both worked at a local apple orchard in high school, so we have that to compare the whole fruit business thing to... 

If you're looking for a quick afternoon get-away, Wollersheim Winery is about an hour and a half away from Rockford, about 15 minutes Northwest of Madison.  They're open year round, 10am to 5pm, and tours and a tasting cost $5.00.  Here's a link to their website:  http://www.wollersheim.com/

Now, I'm not going to lie:  I walked in to the place thinking, "This is the moment when I'm going to learn to love wine.  I will officially be an adult when I leave because I will be able to enjoy a glass of wine with my wine drinking family and friends."  

Didn't happen.  I just can't get into it.  If I'm going to have a drink, I really just want a Coke.  Sorry. 
But I'm happy to be the Designated Driver!