With Marian n Earl, our good-time traveling pals, we recently got back from a fun trip to Branson, MO. We had a good flight with just one connection both ways out of Eugene, well, except for our seats on one plane too close to the bathroom...sheesh, stinky!
We kept busy the whole time we were there...so many shows...so little time...going from morning to night. The Irish Tenors were good, but I really would have liked to have heard a little more of the lilting melodies of Ireland. Although the blonde kid 'really from Ireland' was easy to watch...SIX was the biggest kick in the pants! They had no band backing up their singing, but made all the music (sounds) with their voices...Andy Williams was the smooth, elegant veteran we expected...Shoji Tabuchi's show was full of high energy. What a great violinist he is! We also really enjoyed the presentation by the Chinese drums (worth close to $1 million, by the way)...No Dolly Parton at her Dixie Stampede. But the North won the Civil War again thanks to the pigs and ostriches that raced. The stampede by the long horn cattle was funny; they didn't, stampede that is...lol...then before leaving town for the Springfield airport, we took in the Red Skelton Tribute show. The fellow wasn't as good as the original, but we still got plenty of belly laughs.
So, what else did we do? Oh, LOTS!...The Titannic Museum was packed with artifacts from the ship and passengers and lots of original stories from survivors. We had our pictures taken in front of the rendition of the Grand Staircase. We each received a boarding pass for a different person and discovered just before leaving the museum whether we had survived or not...We attended an IMAX movie "Ozarks, Legends and Legacy" telling the stories of the area. Thought we would be the only ones in the theater, but a few other tourists joined us just before the show began...I loved the Five & Dime at Branson Landing. It had all kinds of joke gifts, popguns, whoopee cushions, candy, mugs and cheap t-shirts. It didn't take any of us long to go through the Bass Pro Shop. Well, truthfully, Marian and I barely made it in the door. But lunch along the waterfront in the sunshine during a lazer light, fire & water fountain show to the National Anthem was spectacular!
Marian and I spent some time at an outlet mall. We found a few good buys and a lot of empty shops. Hmmm, economy is suffering everywhere....Meanwhile, Norman and Earl did a little drive around the countryside of northern Arkansas. They really enjoyed seeing the beautiful green farmlands.
We spent some time at Silver Dollar City including attending the old time show at the saloon. It was Fall Harvest time and the decorations were beautiful. There were many, many craftspeople throughout the complex, but not enough time to see everything...darn. Norman and I did take a 2 minutes 16 seconds ride on the Wildfire roller coaster that drops 15 stories, travels at up to 66 mph through a half-loop/half-roll, a full loop, a cobra roll with 2 back-to-back inversions, a corkscrew and a high-speed spiral. FUN!!!
The fun slowed down as we headed to Springfield airport with a lunchstop at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, MO, "the home of the throwed rolls". Yep, rolls come sailing across the room to your table, whenever you want one, and the kid has good aim. We ordered what we thought was plenty to eat (each dinner arrived in a frying pan), but then we discovered people going around the room dishing out macaroni & tomatoes, fried okra and fried potatoes to anyone wanting them. We were so full after lunch we rolled out the door.
Our conclusion about Branson? A fun place to visit, especially during the off season...it's not cheap...sort of a mini-Las Vegas without the lights, liquor and gambling. But we did it up in style, and we probably won't go back. After all...TOO MANY MORE PLACES TO SEE IN THIS UNITED STATES!
