Branson

August 28, 2007

Well, Brent and I just got back from a trip to Branson, MO. We flew into Bentonville, AR. late Friday the 17th, and then drove to Branson the next day. Only 90 miles, but it took 2.5 hours to get there. Lots of winding, hilly roads. One of the jokes we heard and laughed at was that we were honking at the car in front of us and it was so twisty, we were honking at our own tail lights!

Branson is more fun that I thought, and oh so green, yes humid and a bit rainy too. But we had a great condo to stay in. I wasn't sure if I would like being in one place for a whole week, I am such an explorer, but there is so much to do there we can even go back and not hit anything twice. There is so much to do and it is all so different, it was a really fun time.

We saw the Circle B Chuck Wagon show on Saturday evening, The Horn family put it on, from singing to cooking to serving. They were great singers and entertainers, had a comedy act like the Tom and Dicky Smothers Brothers, but the pregnant sister was the dumb one. They were really good. It was fun, they fed us dinner, throwing out the biscuits and coming around to each table and slopping a spoon full of beans, meat, potatoes, applesauce, and cake. It was great. Loved the beans.

Then driving by the American Bandstand Theater on the way back to the condo, Brent saw the billboard for the 57 Heaven show. We stopped and hit it at 8:00. Both were fun and different. We saw Bryan Hyland who sang ‘The Yellow Pokka Dot Bikini’ and a bunch more, Fabian, Bobby Vee, Chris Montez and the Shirelles. Some were a bit older than our time, but we enjoyed it a bunch.
The Sunday we went for a lunch cruise on a big old paddle boat on the humongous Table Rock Lake, they feed you, and have a show, saw a comedian that was really good and quick, he really interacted with the audience and he was also a magician, pretty funny. They had a cruise type show of guys and gals doing Broadway and dancing and then had a Cirque De Solie type of dances from Russia. Really amazing ballet dancers with sashes from the ceiling coming down and they did ballet in the air. Really beautiful.

After that show we saw Jim Stafford that evening. He is funny, still picks pretty good and do you remember one of his hits, Spiders and Snails? It was fun, we were on the front row and he made fun of Brent when he was interacting with the audience. We have a CD of it and it was still funny the second time we watched it with the kids. He even had a very old 3-D section with glasses and all.

Monday we watched the rain come down in the trees from our balcony of the condo and had a leisurely breakfast. This makes it all beautiful and all green. That was when all the flooding happened just north of us, killed a few people and washed out many road and bridges. Just before noon, Brent went golfing and I shopped a bit. They have several outlet malls as well as all the other shops to see. He got so hot from the humidity he was soaked to the bone, all his clothes were soaking. It was a beautiful course, green, water falls, big hibiscus, as big as a dinner plate and all colors. He said the grass was weird and when you lost a ball, you could not find it. We headed back to the condo to swim and cool off Brent.... he was hot to the core.

That night we went to the Dixie Stampede, put on by Dolly Parton, it was fun, they fed us dinner, without any utensils; soup to desert.. The show was full of horses and even had stampeding buffalos and cattle, Southern Belles, Indians, pig races and it was oh, so entertaining. Not what I thought it would be, I thought it might be more like a rodeo. There was singing and dancing and horse acts and a rivalry between the north and south. Pretty fun.

Tuesday was a slow day. Brent slept in and I went swimming. He came out and then we had breakfast. I wanted to go to Springfield, only 30 miles north of us, but took an hour to go the old road. We stopped at an antique store for a while, then when we got to Springfield we had a Mexican dinner, more of them there, one on each corner, then I have seen anywhere. We headed back on the freeway and shopped a bit in the Old Branson downtown. Lots of junk, but fun.

That afternoon we took a tour of the site that does the play from the book The Sheppard of the Hills. It is over 50 years old and had a cast of 90 people, some who have been there for 30 years.. It was one of the first American authors that sold over a 1,000,000 in 1907. You should read it. We saw old Matt’s Cabin built in 1884, just a 2 room log cabin with a back screen porch put on later. I think grandma's house in Ephraim was build about that time, maybe 10 years before. I know my grandma was born in 1881 and she was born in it. I am amazed, it is so nice, rock and 3 stories high with a basement. I thought this house in the Ozarks had to have been built before the civil war, but not. Just good and plain people. It must have been pretty hard living. So many hills and woods (and might I add bugs you have never seen before and they are huge!). A few 'bald knobs' as they call them where the rock doesn't allow much grass, everything else is wooded with oaks, redbuds, sumac, vines and a bunch of trees I do not know. Vultures just a flying high in the sky, usually in pairs. More butterflies of all colors than I have ever seen outdoors. Just beautiful, so many colors and sizes... just like the flowers. But I digress. We went on the tour, went up to the Inspiration Tower, then had dinner in town and back again to see their show, it was out doors and a beautiful night.

They do the play from the book, it was written about many of the real folks that the author knew. It was in an amphitheatre, again horses, buggies, and one old crank automobile, they even set a cabin on fire, the old fashioned way, throwing buckets of oil on the cabin, then had to put it out by hand and throwing numerous buckets of water. You could feel the heat clear up in the stands.. Even had a square dance.

But the best part is they had this frog jumping contest just before the show started. It was held down on the dirt of the theatre stage., Brent entered it and won! He has a secret, just tickle it’s behind and it JUMPS! He has an official Frog Wrangler Certificate and got a lighted spinning ball on a-thing-a-ma-jig. Pretty fun. The show was entertaining, too..

Well,, maybe not the best part was the frogs jumping and Brent having so much fun, I think the very best part was that I even got to see my first lightning bugs (glo-bugs, fireflies). They are so cool! But no, come to think of it the best part was when I picture Brent down on his haunches and jumping behind the little green guy like a little boy. It was fun and make you laugh.. I didn’t have the camera with me so no pics of this, but pretty funny!

The next day, Wednesday, we swam again and I took Brent to Mel's Hard Luck Cafe, a 50’s diner, it was a surprise, all of the waiters and waitress's would get up and sing to the customers. They had 2 open rooms and they would go to each corner and sing, beautiful music everywhere. They would work in between singing, what a job!. Maybe 3 songs on the juke box, then they put in their cd and sang to it. Really professional singing. Food was fun too. Brent had an old fashioned vanilla shake and I had a dream-cicle, both were big enough for 3 people, but oh so good.

Brent went golfing again and I went shopping, didn't buy anything much, just a brush at the Fuller Brush Store. He had a good time and this time he saw a ground hog, huge one! We went to see the corny old "Bald Knobbers" show. It was fun, lots of dumb jokes and of course singing, dancing and singing. It is the first theatre of this type in Branson. Now they have 3rd generation of family in the show. They are the ones that have Hill Billies with the funny faces. We bought a joke book and you may be getting some of the dumb jokes we heard there. We went back to the condo and swam again.

Thursday we went to Silver Dollar City. It originally started out with the Marvel Cave trip. It still has the cave and you can go into, but it has developed into an amusement park, but with people demonstrating trades like; iron work, blowing glass, making baskets, brooms and candles, jewelry, candy and a ton more, plus everywhere you turned there was an open air pavilion with some sort of singing. One was rock a billy, one was the world champion woman yodeler, and one was gospel singing. We heard the original Homestead Pickers, who did the Beverly Hill Billy TV theme, they were the best and lots of fun. Ending with another huge amphitheatre at 6:00 p.m. and another hour long show of singing and dancing and of course the salute to the veterans.

Earlier in the day we went on one roller-coaster, Brent even went on it. He hates roller coasters. Then 3 rides involving water, and I mean you DO GET WET, soaking wet. Little did we know... but it was fun. Actually rode a rubber raft after climbing 100 steps, Brent at the front, 2 little kids in the middle and me at the end. Yes we were dripping, sopping, soaking, did I mention very, very. very wet! We especially loved the water cannons, great for a water fight!

We took the Silver Dollar Frisco train ride on their 24 inch gauge railroad. Got robbed and then the train steam engine broke down way in the back forty of the park, we had to be bussed in back into the park. I think we were closer to our condo and could have walked home, if we could have found the courage to get lost in the woods hiking up and down a few hollers. Still it was fun. When we left the show, we watched 2 squirrels and their antics, doing a ballet with each other and a tree. It was so funny, all those acrobatics playing with each other. I think they probably gave the ideas for snowboarders and their 720’s. I think that and the lightning bugs were my favorite part of the trip. Still have never seen a cardinal, even though I have been in plenty of the country to see one....oh well, one more quest for the future....

Friday we headed back to Bentonville and hit Eureka Springs in Arkansas. It used to be a favorite destination bath hot springs city at the turn of the century. Lots of old Victorian houses and buildings built into the cliffs on narrow streets, now filled with tons of shops. Looked like the old part of Park City. It is the number 2 wedding place in the USA. Who’d of thunk that?

We went to see the Blue Grass Festival, but never saw much. That was ok, we had had so much good music and entertainment in Branson. They have the Passion Play and the Christ of the Ozarks stature. It must be 40 or 50 feet tall of a very alabaster white Jesus. We didn't stay to see their play, but enjoyed the city.

We ate a BBQ pork meal at the world famous Bubba's BBQ, pink piggies everywhere! It was a luncheonette with pigs and memorabilia covering the walls. It was good,; coleslaw on the top of the slow cooked pulled pork meat in the sandwich and the best BBQ beans… Tasty.

We left there and headed to a civil war site, Pea Ridge, got out and to see their displays and then boy oh boy did it rain..... like buckets of water falling and then just kept coming. We watched it for a while, then headed back to the car under the big umbrella I had. Got us both back, and still got soaked getting the umbrella down... Good time. We never really saw this tavern on the ridge, It was raining to hard to see anything!

We headed back to Bentonville and the Sleep Inn, had to find a UPS to mail some stuff home, and tried to find a theater to see a show. No luck, but looked like their town was having a party downtown. We didn't go, I was getting pretty sick from having so much fun (or maybe all the water from the rides), so just went back and had a pizza at the same good restaurant next to our hotel.

We flew home early Saturday morning, hit Cincinnati as a stop and had a 4-way chili, been wanting to try one when I had been there before, not worth the wait. It is actually spaghetti with a soupy meat sauce, then chili beans, onions, then cheese on top. Only ate 1/3 of it and left the rest. Oh well got home safe, scrunched and sound.
We had a great time and may go back sometime.