Wine Slushies and Adrenaline

 We heard about Bloomsbury Farms through my friend who received a Facebook ad for “Wine and Flowers Festival”. The ad was accompanied by a picture of mason jars with wine slushies that looked irresistible! With my fiancé out of town for the weekend, I thought why not? I went with two friends, one has a daughter who is four and her boyfriend joined too. 

Bloomsbury farms is an hour and a half away from the Quad Cities. Carpooling with a friend made this drive go by pretty quickly. I convinced her that we stop at Sam’s Pizza in Iowa City, my favorite calzone place on the planet. I highly recommend them!

From Iowa City, it was an additional 40 minutes to the farm. When we arrived, I wasn’t sure what to expect. To get into the farm, there was an entry fee of $20. We, of course, walked straight to the bar shop where the slushies are sold. The price for a flight of three wine slushies was $20. Individual drinks were $8. The pictures had shown mason jars and the cups we got were definitely smaller than promised. It took me about three sips to top off my slushy wine. Yummy? Oh, yes. Worth the price? Debatable. Seems a little excessive to charge an entry fee on top of everything else you have to pay for inside. But hey, I’m pretty cheap so…

Strawberry wine slushy

The farm was cute. There are a bunch of activities set up around the property. There are slides, swings, a “river” to mine for stones, a silo with corn for kids to play in, and more. It was more kid friendly activities rather than adult ones, but seeing the utter joy on my friend’s toddler’s face was worth the visit. 

Corn is an interesting thing to walk in

As far as flowers go, they have a huge field of zinnias towards the back of the property. You can pay an additional fee to grab a vase with water and pick what you want to take home. I have the opposite of a green thumb so I didn’t dabble. 

Gorgeous day and gorgeous flowers!

The farm does have a petting zoo, as well. I did appreciate that they don’t let people in with the animals. Instead, there are ledges around the gate so that the animals can approach if they want to. I’ve seen too many kids kicking and chasing goats, but I didn’t have to worry about that here! They also had cool ladders where the goats could climb up and receive food at the top. While it was hot, the animals were some of the better treated ones at petting zoos. I did, of course, bond with a goat who loved my neck scratches. My wonderful goat friend, if you’re reading this, I love you and I hope someone is scratching your neck right now…

These goats are more graceful than me, I'd fall...

As we were ready to leave, we stopped inside the shop again to grab a box of fudge. I’m a sucker for fudge and I do blame Buc-ee’s for this. If you’ve never been, definitely visit and buy some fudge!! The fudge sold at Bloomsbury was worth the price and the calories. I couldn’t pass up their six squares for $20 deal so I walked out with more chocolate than I needed. No regrets! 

The next day, my friend and I woke up early to drive the two and a half hours to Adventureland. Our other friend, boyfriend, and daughter were smart and got a hotel to stay the night near the park. With my fiancé out of town, I had to run home and let our dog out so I couldn't stay the night. The drive up there went quickly, both of us excited and nervous. Neither of us had been to an amusement park since we were teens. We bought our tickets online on the drive up so we were able to skip the line and walk right in. 

When you first walk into the park, you’re greeted by storefronts set up to look like a colorful Western town. It was so cute and unique, I loved it! We all agreed to ease into the more extreme roller coasters so we started with the good ol’ pirate ship swing. This got my stomach bouncing pretty quickly. Next we went to an underground ride that was a ride in the pitch black. This was something our kiddo of the group could go on, as well. Then we went to a wooden coaster which was a good way to get us ready for the big one: The Monster. 

Little color to your Western town

Y'all…this thing is terrifying. What’s worse than hearing the screams across the park and watching the riders in front of you climb that 90 degree angle to their oblivion is the fact that it doesn’t have the usual shoulder straps accompanied with coasters that go upside down. This ride merely had a secure bar across your lap. So, we climbed in, palms sweaty, and took our turn. 

This picture doesn't do the coaster justice! Go ride and see

The climb up to the top has you on your back. There’s no looking around at the park views to distract you. It’s straight blue sky and anticipation. The drop? I think I may have screamed myself hoarse. It was exhilarating to say the least. I think the part that had me truly scared was the seconds they have you hovering upside down, again secured by nothing by a bar across your lap. One of my friends said she felt her thighs come up off the seat. 

When we finally finished the ride, I stood up and couldn’t stop shaking for about 30 minutes after. Would I do it again? Oh, hell yeah. Twice in one day? Probably not for the safety of my heart. 

After we finished riding the coasters, we walked to the water park. We were all too eager to get into the water after being in the sun all day. Lockers were expensive, drinks were holy-moly expensive! They even make you rent a tube for $5. Who does that?! It was fun, though. The water was refreshing and the slides were a good time! The cocktail slushies were $22 each and they did have a good kick to them. However, my wallet judged my decisions pretty harshly. 

By the end of the day, we were exhausted and past the time we had originally planned to leave. My friend and I headed back to the car, hit up Sam’s Pizza again on our way home (for real, try this place. It’s a twice a weekend kind of calzone!) and made it back to the Quad Cities by 8 pm. 

It was a great weekend and worth the drive. My box of fudge didn’t last the week…