We're home from Branson, what a weekend. Too cold and windy by far, but we still managed to have a pretty good time.
Let's see, what did we do...
We left Friday morning, after Brian dropped Seth off at preschool. We stopped at Lambert's Cafe south of Springfield for lunch, home of the "throwed rolls." It's a good thing this place has a gimmick; the food is pretty mediocre. And fattening. When we got to Branson, we stopped first at the Tourism Center on the north side of town to pick up our tickets for the train ride. While there, the guy helping us told us that if we listened to the "vacation ownership" sales pitch while at the resort, we'd get $80 cash back from the tourism center, so we said we'd do that. Then we went across the street to Kohl's and bought clothes. Ooh, and they have the coolest new shade of eye shadow now, "golden pink" or something. I bought some of that, too. And some Buzz Lightyear underpants for Seth.
We drove down and found the resort (Wyndham at the Meadows), about four miles south of the main drag, well away from the hillbilly theaters and traffic. Got checked in, found our room, unpacked, relaxed a little. Phone rings, it's someone from the resort saying they'll be in our building soon and can they come by and ask us how we like everything so far. Sure. Guy shows up about ten minutes later, asks us about three questions, gives us a certificate for a free steak dinner and a coupon book.
We left the resort and headed down to the fish hatchery and dam on Table Rock Lake. Because of all the water and flooding down there right now, they had all ten gates on the dam open, first time since 1963, I think someone said. It was pretty impressive.
And windy as HELL. My hair was one massive snarl by the time we got out of there, I looked like a troll doll. Don't believe me?
After we fed a few fish at the hatchery, we left there and went to an outlet mall and bought more clothes. I know. It's not like we never see stores up here that have clothes in them. What can I tell you. After that we tooled around and decided to eat at a seafood place called Landry's, on the strip. It was also pretty mediocre, tho a little more high end than Lambert's. Good mood lighting, anyway. I had angel hair with shrimp and scallops and not a hint of garlic, which it sorely needed.
After supper, since we were both tired, we decided to rent a movie and call it a night. Drove around Branson looking for a place called Buster's, could not find it. At all. Decided to go to the Wal-Mart and buy a movie. Walked around calling out titles to each other, could never decide on one we both wanted, and ended up buying air freshener instead. I'll leave it to your fertile imaginations to figure out why Brian needed air freshener. He says he was only thinking of me.
Saturday. Got up, ate breakfast in the unit, went to the two-hour sales pitch. (Some of you who may be reading this...apologies. Yes, we gave them your names and numbers to call. You could get a free weekend at a nice resort, but if this upsets you, we are sorry! All you have to say is "No thanks" after all.) Afterwards, we found the restaurant where we could use the $30 certificate for the steak dinner and had a very good lunch (neither of us ordered steak, btw) that didn't quite cost $30. Naturally, it doesn't cover the gratuity, so our lunch ended up costing us about $8. Not too shabby. Then we drove down to the Landing, a fairly new shopping center on a branch of Lake Taneycomo on the other end of Branson, where we goofed around, shopped, and killed time until our train ride. We had bought tickets for the dinner "cruise" on the train, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
The one downside was the group sitting right across from us on the train, two older couples. One of the guys was a total blowhard who would not shut up. He was loud and stupid, two things I don't have much patience for. When they brought out the dinners his biggest concern was whether they'd bring him "some of that there Heinz 57 sauce" ... for his prime rib! Then, looking at his vegetables, he says, and I quote, "What are these orange things?" They were carrots. Another time, when the train was OBVIOUSLY going faster, he looks up and says, "I think we're picking up speed!" Thank you, Captain Obvious. I wouldn't have known it otherwise.
Let me amend myself; the other downside was that Branson is experiencing flooding right now, and on the train we went past a few spots that saddened me, homes underwater. I got some video of a lamp shade floating out on the lake.
After the train ride we returned to our room and called it a night. We get tired a lot earlier than we used to. This morning we checked out and drove home, stopping once at an antique shop on Highway 13, where I bought something and broke something (they didn't make me pay for it, very nice people). Got home around 2:30 and Seth seemed pretty happy to see us, as were we to see him. We missed him very much and I'm glad we're taking him on our next trip, to Key West in November.
