A Two Day Tour

On Tuesday, Dan and I drove Branson MO on a whim . We didn't really plan the trip out other than to pack camping gear and a small ice chest of food. Needless to say, we never used our camping gear with the exception of one cooking experience. It was way too hot to think about sleeping outside. So we endured the air conditioning of a motel, oh woe is us! I broke my big toe on Monday when I fell on the stairs crunching my toes. So I limped around the whole trip, I wrapped it with a friend and iced it every evening. :(

On the way to Branson, we stopped off in the metropolis of West Mineral Kansas and were wowed by Big Brutus. It was pretty incredible.

From Big Brutus, we drove to Branson. We stopped at a few places advertising tourist services, but all they wanted to do was sell us tickets to shows. Good grief! We just wanted some info about motels and a MO. map.

From there we went to Ride The Ducks for a tour of the area and a dip in Table Rock Lake. They gave us all Quackers that we wore around our neck and whenever we saw another "Duck" tour boat/truck we would all quack. It was a hoot! The kids on the boat quacked quite a bit and I think I am all quacked out now. However, I plan to use mine at school to get the students' attention!

Inside the boat, life jackets on the roof. The driver (who was kindof cheesy) let the kids drive.

Then we still had energy despite sweaty clothing and stinky pits ( I imagine of course, I didn't go hunting for the smell), so we went to Branson Landing. We parked in the back 40, caught a trolley and walked into The Bass Pro Shop and enjoyed the cool air. We then walked to Joe's Crab Shack where we waited for 30 minutes among crowds of restless people. We dined on coconut shrimp and seafood fondue. Dan didn't think it was as good as it was the last time we were at the Shack. But I loved the seafood anyway. We walked around the Landing for awhile sampling fudge and coffee. We bought some amazing towels that absorb water like you would not believe. Actually, Dan already had one that he used for camping and I wanted one, so it was good timing. That night we slept in a nice hotel after swimming in a tiny indoor pool (3 feet deep) and sat for a bit in an outdoor hot tub.

Wednesday, we got up bright and early --thank you Dan... :) and shopped downtown Branson. We looked in some stores and went to a candy shop, where Dan got some chocolate covered coffee beans which made him talk like a rabid squirrel all day (Dan's actual words). We went to Wild Woody's Go-Cart Track. What a hoot! A cross between a wooden roller coaster and a race track.

I decided to ride with Dan because I knew that he was not afraid to go fast!

Afterwards, we drove to Table Rock State Park and cooked our bacon over our camp stove for BLT's. The flies added some extra protein. We scoped out some campsites but there were too many rocks from where the lake had flooded the area, so we decided not to camp out. It was a hot day so we went to the White Water theme park. We spent the first hour there waiting to get in the water after lightening was spotted. We had great fun after the storm passed, it was refreshing on a hot day. We spent the night in another hotel after eating at a steak house for supper. We decided to come home today instead of tomorrow. It was a good trip, but we are glad to be home!