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April 2010 - Branson, MO
Mark's sister Spring and her husband Guy met us in Branson. They arrived around 8:30. On Tuesday morning we toured the Titanic museum. It was interesting but nothing great. We then went for lunch on the Branson Belle Showboat. It was a good lunch and a good variety show. The primary act was a ventriloquist who used dogs as his dummy. It was quite funny. In the evening on Monday we went to see Baldknobbers which is a Country music and comedy show. The comedy is definitely better than the country music. We enjoyed it and came away with some memorable jokes to spread around. On Wednesday we drove up to Springfield and went through a huge Bass Pro Shop and then ate lunch at Lamberts Cafe. Lamberts was not only good food but entertaining as well. One of their features is "throwed rolls." A waiter goes down the aisle and throws rolls to anyone who wants one. Heads up!
In the evening we went to see the Oak Ridge Boys. There are very good at what they do althoug I'm not a huge fan of their music. Just before intermission they introduced Ernie Haase and Signature Sound who were in the audience. Ernie Haase used to sing with the Cathedrals and now has formed this gospel quartet. The Oaks had them come on stage and sing one song (Wonderful Grace of Jesus sung acapella) and they got a standing ovation. They upstaged the Oak Ridge Boys in my opinion. They were clearly the hightlight of the show. On Thursday we went to a craft mall and then went to Shoji Kubuki (or whatever) in the afternoon. It was the most disappointing show. I didn't think the guy was really a great violinist (he was good, but not great). He also has a bunch of young people singing and dancing... we all guessed that its because his daughter fancys herself a singer and dancer so she's got this stuff in the show. Shoji should take control and get that junk and his daughter out of the show. Tickets were $53 with tax. We went to dinner at the Big Cedar Lodge which is South of Branson and over looks the lake. Its an old building. It made for lots of ambiance and the food was good so it was a nice experience.  Then Mark & Connie and Dad beat it to get to the Acrobats of China show. That show was really impressive. Its absolutely amazing what those kids can do. As the grand finale, they were going to have nine girls riding one bicycle, but they crashed just as the last girl was getting on. That was exciting. They have the boys run out and pick up anyone who's injured (there was one who hit her head and seemed pretty dazed) and hustle everyone and the bike off the stage. On Friday morning, Spring and Guy headed for home and the rest of us went to Table Rock State park and walked on the nature trail there. It was a really nice nature trail.. completely paved walkway probly four feet wide. We walked over to the Branson Belle dock and discoved the the launching ramp for the DUKWs is there as well. Two DUCKs showed up just as we got there so we got to see them launch. After that we drove over to the College of the Ozarks, AKA "Hard Work U." We toured the Ralph Fisher museum which turned out to be a really exceptional museum. It had some of everything I think and it had the best collection of stuffed animals of any I've seen by far. There was a huge variets of North American and African and Asian animals and a huge collection of birds.  We intended to have lunch at the resturant there but there was a 45 minute wait (this was at 12:45 on a Friday) and we hoped to go to a show at 2PM. So we had lunch at McD's and headed for the theater to see "Sx." When we got there we learned that they only had one show at 8PM. So we drove to another craft mall and wondered around there and then went back to the hotel and regrouped (a new term we learned from Guy). Then we went to dinner at Montana Mikes and dad offered to take Connie to see "Six" so that I could go to bed early and be rested for the drive home. Oh, I didn't particularly care about seeing "Six" either. So dad and Connie went to see six and I was in bed by 9 o'clock. Connie sort of enjoyed the show and dad didn't like it at all. Connie did a great job of scheduling and coordinating everything. Its not an easy job but she did an excellent job. Thanks Connie! A few pictures coming when I have more time. |
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