Peoria Weekend Spring 2018

In May of 2018 we decided to take a short trip up to Peoria, Illinois. Peoria is a nice little town on the banks of the Illinois River with a small riverfront setting that was hosting a craft market the weekend we were up there.  Mostly we went up to catch a Peoria Chiefs game, this is the Low-A affiliate of our St. Louis Cardinals.  Minor league baseball games are usually pretty fun, the baseball isn't always great but the venues always have their unique flare. On this particular evening it was a fireworks night as well as a tennis ball toss for charity, imagine an entire infield covered in tennis balls with a few target hoops and one poor girl on the mound with a bucket and wearing full catchers gear. 

We managed to stop at several great wineries on the way there and back and enjoyed some great food options while in Peoria.

The Game

The Peoria Chiefs play at Dozer Park right in the heart of a nice little riverfront area that also includes the Peoria Civic Center, home of the AHL Rivermen. Dozer Park had some fantastically priced seats (right behind the dugout for $12) but concessions were nearly MLB priced ($7.50 beer).  The Chiefs lost but it's an in-between year for the team with a lot of the Cardinals best prospects at the higher levels of the system.  The fireworks at the end of the game were pretty impressive and we stayed within walking distance of the park at the Staybridge Suites, shout-out to Miranda's favorite, free breakfast! 

The Food

We visited two of TripAdvisors top 10 restaurants, The Blue Duck Barbecue Tavern and Sugar Wood-Fired Bistro.  Both options were excellent, The Blue Duck had a great selection of meats, we tried the pulled pork, brisket, and rib tips, along with the fries, coleslaw, baked beans, warm bacon potato salad, and mac and cheese. All of the meats were delicious and the fries, mac and cheese, and baked beans were our sides.  For a late lunch before the game the next day we each got a pizza at Sugar, they are 10-inch pizzas and we both loved ours, the crust is light and crispy and there were several topping options. 

The Wineries

We visited 8 wineries on our trip, everything from a few family wineries (Big Horse Vineyards, Sunset Lake Vineyards and Winery) to some pretty large operations (Kickapoo Creek Winery, Danenberger Family Vineyards).  We found everything from the serine views and walking trails at Kickapoo (pictured) to a rock concert going on at Danenberger. A lot of these wineries doubled as wedding and reception space so they were mostly all very well kept and had knowledgeable staff.

 Wineries on the way to Peoria: Walnut Street Winery, Danenberger Family Vineyard, West of Wise, Hill PRairie Winery, Big Horse Vineyards.

Wineries around Peoria: Kickapoo Creek Winery, Mackinaw Valley Vineyard, Sunset Lake Vineyards & Winery.