Branson, Day 5

Sunday was our departure day, so after we awakened from our Andy's-induced-sugar-comas, we got our stuff packed and loaded the Nitro.  Breakfast was protein bars with the promise of an early lunch after we shopped a while.  I wanted to take some random pics before we left town, too.  First, I got the water tower that's behind the RFD TV Theatre.  I probably could have gotten a better view if we'd gone to the Butterfly Palace parking lot, but we were already in the RFD TV Theatre parking lot.

Next, some dead presidents:

While browsing around in the gift shop next to Ronald Reagan, I happened upon this shirt:

"WE NEVER FORGOT 5-1-2011"  Ok...they never forgot, but apparently I never knew...???  I don't know what this shirt is about!

We went to the Disney Store and Old Navy at the Tanger Outlets, after which we were ready for lunch.  After tossing out about 15 suggestions, we ended up deciding to go to Blue Man Grill again. 

This time, I got the Ridge Runner Cluckers from the appetizer menu with a side of those yummy little onion strings.  Katie got the Mamma Mia burger, which is a burger with marinara sauce and provel cheese on it.  The girls both ordered sliders this time.  Everything was delicious again, and everyone was friendly again! 

We headed for Branson Landing when we were done with lunch, and along the way got some more pics of tornado damage.  I'll include those in a separate post about the tornado.  Down at the Landing, we parked in the Belk parking lot and walked on the boardwalk all the way to the Bass Pro Shop end, then backtracked to shop!  Along the walk on the boardwalk we fed some ducks with some leftover bread we'd kept from breakfast the morning before. 

We browsed in the As Seen on TV store and the Christian bookstore, then heard the Marble Slab Creamery calling our names (maybe I imagined that part).

It was good ice cream, but ridiculously expensive.  It was $22 for the three of us.  Those sprinkle cones alone were around $2.50 and then one scoop of ice cream was over $4.  If we ever eat there again, we'll be sharing! 

My next stop was Kirkland's, where I purchased some items I'd seen when we were there Thursday.  I don't do a lot of impulse buying, so I'd been mulling over the decision and finally went for it.  When I everything put where I want it, I'll post pics of my Kirkland's purchases.  I like that store a lot.

The girls checked out one of the candy stores after that, and we sat by one of the fountains and enjoyed the nice weather for a little while.  A quick stop at Payless and then we couldn't find anything else to delay our departure...I so did not want to leave!

Here are some pics of the girls at the fountains at the Landing:

We found a station playing the KU game.  Towards the end we were about to be out of the broadcast area so I pulled off on a side road so we could hear the Jayhawks beat North Carolina and head to the FINAL FOUR!  ROCK CHALK!!  We got back to Lawrence about 2 hours later and downtown was still pretty wild.  I love living in Lawrence when it's tournament time and the 'Hawks are #WINNING!

This wraps up my trip recap for this visit.  I'm not sure when we'll be able to go again, but I'm already looking forward to it.  I'm planning on two more posts related to this trip, a review of the Haygoods show and a post about the tornado, so I'll post the links on 1branson.com when those are up.  Thanks for visiting my blog!

Branson, Day 4

Day 4
Saturday, March 24, 2012

My grandpa, Elwood, was born on this day in 1924.  He passed away in 1997 but I still remember his birthday!  So Happy Birthday, Gramps.  Miss you so much.

Today was the fair weather day we'd been waiting for!  The first couple days of the trip were cooler with intermittent rain.  This was the first trip that I let Chesney completely pack for herself.  Before we'd left, I asked her if she had clothes for warm weather, too, because it was supposed to be warm while we were in Branson.  She said no, and added some clothes to her bag.  What I didn't know is that she also removed all of her cooler weather clothes so she ended up wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts LOL.  Fortunately she had a jacket so it wasn't a total disaster.  I think she learned a packing lesson.  I think I learned a Mom lesson.

(Warning:  Rant Ahead) So, we awakened to bright blue skies and sunshine with a few fluff clouds (just to emphasize the blue of the sky, I'm pretty sure).  Temps were predicted to be close to 80!  First on the agenda was a trip to Table Rock Lake.  It was after 9 when we got up and around.  It was too late for the hotel breakfast, so I made the mistake of going to the World's Worst McDonald's thinking we could grab something quick to eat on the way to the lake.  The drive thru lane was backed up...not only backed up but people were apparently too dumb to read where it says "Drive Thru Lane" and were mostly blocking the parking lot.  I thought going inside would be quicker.

Of course, inside was just as busy.  They were also no longer serving breakfast; apparently that ended minutes before we arrived.  Naturally.  So we were going to just have lunch food instead.  It took a minute but I figured out there were indeed two lines so I picked one, and was waiting.  After a few minutes of watching the employees running around behind the counter acting busy but not actually doing anything, I realized that a nice little line had formed off to the side of me, effectively leaving me in between two lines.  Not that it mattered, since none of them were moving.  Even more annoying, several of the people in the "new" line were McDonald's employees, looking at the watches and muttering about how they only had 10 minutes until they were supposed to clock in.  Hey, here's a thought...how about you clock in now and clear out some of this crowd and then take a break?  Nah...that'd be logical!

At this point I looked at Katie and said, "I can't be here anymore.  Let's go."  And we went!  I needed to gas up the Nitro so we stopped at the White Oak Station at 165 and Green Mountain Drive.  While I was gassing up, I remembered there was a Sonic right on the way to the lake anyway, so that's where we got our grab and go breakfast.  The food was fresh and tasted good, and they serve breakfast food all day long so we actually had our breakfast in the end.  /end rant

We drove across Table Rock Dam to the Dewey Short Visitor Center.  The old one is still open - the new one opens in April.  It's pretty from the outside, so we'll definitely be going back there to check it out after it opens.  The girls were fascinated by a different type of stuffed animal today!

We took advantage of the great walking path to get some exercise and fresh air!  It was marvelous!

Skipped some rocks:

(Ok, none of the rocks actually skipped, it was really just throwing rocks in the lake!)

Wondering if this heart shape is natural?

Look at this beautiful sky!

LOVE!

After our walk, we drove around a bit and then went to the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery.  Moonshine Beach was closed so we couldn't go there...hopefully next time!  The girls loved the Hatchery.  We used up all our quarters on fish food and Chesney scavenged a bunch of pellets off the ground after she ran out.  They were entertained watching the fish go for the pellets.

They were just finishing up a presentation inside the building when we got done feeding the fish, and guess what the guy asked?  "Does anyone want me to get a snake out?"  This is the part where I question if my children were possibly switched at birth, because they both shrieked "I do, I do!" and ran to be the first to touch it. And by it, I mean, the snake.  THE SNAKE!!!

Oh, look.  It's wrapping itself around her hand.  How wonderful.

They were pretty thrilled with the snake touching.  Me, not so much.  I just took pictures.

When we went back in to town, we stopped at the Blue Man Grill to get the photo I posted yesterday of the girls with the Blue Man.  Brief stop at the hotel and then we decided on Pizza by the Chef for dinner.  We hadn't been there before.  It was really good!  I got the Mama Mia pizza which had meatballs on it.  Katie got the Lasagna pizza with meatballs and ricotta cheese on it.  It burned her tongue but otherwise she liked it!  The girls had cheese pizza.  There were a couple of fellas there playing live music.  I later discovered I could have used my Branson Guest Card to save 10%...oops!  Again, now I know for next time.  (Notice how I keep mentioning next time?  I'm attempting to will another trip into happening by my optimism.)

On our way back to Branson from Branson West, we were stopped at the light by the RFD TV Theatre.  I was watching a guy jog across the intersection and come up the hill and as he got closer I realized it was Patrick Haygood LOL!  I looked at Katie and said, "Um, is that Patrick?" Woo...Branson Celebrity Sighting!  Actually Celeb Sighting #2, because we saw James Garrett in the lobby area of the IMAX complex the day before.  Nothing against James G but he's not as cute as any of the Haygoods, so the Haygood sighting was better.

This was the night we were seeing the Haygoods show again.  Again, we had a good time!  I'm still planning to do a separate post to review the show.  Here's the link for the photos from the show again, though.

Haygoods Show March 2012

I took some pics of the girls with the Haygoods and got to chat with some of them for a few minutes.  I told Pat we'd seen him out jogging...he advised against jogging to the fitness center from the theater because it's harder to get back than you'd think LOL.  Since Dominic is always introducing Michael as "Branson's Most Eligible Bachelor," I asked Michael just what exactly is it he's eligible for?  Ha!  I have to think of more jokes for him for next time, because I really like to see that guy smile!  After the New Year's Eve show last year he told me I didn't look older than 30.  He was probably lying but I'm going to pretend he meant it lol.

Tim Haygood was outside the theatre so we got to chat with him a few minutes.  We'd driven into the parking lot of the Americana earlier that day and seen some of the tornado damage there and the damage to the house behind the theatre that had been their recording studio.  I'll be doing a separate post on the tornado damage with pics, but Tim said it was around $600,000 in damage to the Americana alone, and that's just the property damage.  It sure does seem like a God thing that they had moved their show to RFD this year.  Mysterious ways, and all that.

Since it wasn't pouring down rain, we checked to see if Shoot for the Stars mini-golf was open, but we were too late.  So, it was time for a jackhammer at Satan's...I mean Andy's, Frozen Custard.  This is vanilla custard, with cookie dough mix-in, and hot fudge straight down the center.  I gained 5 lbs just typing that.

Since we were all in a sugar coma after that, it was time for bed!

Branson, Day 3

Day 3
Friday, March 23, 2012

On Friday, after breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the Grand Country Fun Spot to meet up with my friend Kim, a/k/a teacherkim!  Kim and I met each other as online friends a long time ago...I'm guessing at least 12 years ago, on a website called scrapbookaddict.  We met in person one other time, also in Branson, in 2003 when my older daughter was a baby.   Our daughters have the same first name.  Kim's daughter is older so Kim gets the cool points for the name, though!  So many things have changed in my life since our first in-person meeting in 2003...overall for the better, although I still mourn some of my lost dreams.  Visiting Branson has a therapeutic effect for me, though, and I appreciate the opportunity to be there more now than ever.  And of course it's always good to spend time with friends, even if you only see them once every 9 years LOL.

So Kim, my sister and I hung out and dished a little about the Haygoods and life in general, and I got a pic of the Two Chesneys.

Next we were headed to go see The Hunger Games movie, but the next showing was sold out so we bought tickets for the 6 pm showing and decided to go have lunch and go back to the Grand Country Fun Spot to play indoor mini-golf upstairs in the black light course.  I have had the opening date for this movie marked on my calendar since the day they announced it.

I've been looking forward to trying the Blue Man Grill after seeing the good reviews posted on the 1branson.com forums, and we were not disappointed! 

I ordered the Ridge Runner Clucker Italiano, which is chicken, marinara sauce & melted provel cheese on grilled panini bread.  Delish!  Absolutely loved the little onion strings.

I think Katie's was the Yokum Yeti Burger.  She liked it pretty well.

The girls ordered off the kids' menu.  Allie chose the Mini Monster Sliders with fries, and Chesney got the Ridge Runner Cluckers with mashed potatoes and a salad.  Chesney said the chicken "tasted like an angel."  The kids' meals also come with dessert which makes the meal well worth the price of around $5 for each kids' meal.

As you can see, the portion sizes are generous.  The staff was very friendly and efficient and we liked the atmosphere and decor inside.  They also serve the kids drinks in what they call "mood cups" which are cups that change color with the temperature and the girls thought they were pretty awesome.  Especially because they get to keep them!  They told us to come by the next day and the Blue Man would be there, and sure enough...

With our bellies full, it was time to work at least a little of that food off by playing mini-golf.

Yeah, I won.  Not that I'm bragging.  Much.  (Yes, I know it's lame to brag about winning when playing against 9 and 7 year olds.)  It's fun to play there, though.  The black light really makes those colors pop and the artwork is fun to look at.  They did a good job designing that course.  I used my Branson Guest Card for buy-one-get-one-free golf games.  It's $7.95 for adults and $6.95 for kids so that's a pretty good savings. 

Speaking of the Branson Guest Card, I used it at the movie theater to get a free small popcorn (with purchase of drink).  I could have used it to get more free popcorns but the first guy I asked said it was one deal per use, so I ordered, then the next guy said I can get as many free popcorns w/drink purchase as I want.  Not a big deal...I know better for next time.  A small drink is $3.50 and the small popcorn is $4 so it's a decent deal.

Between mini-golf and movie time, we relaxed at the hotel for a little while.  Had to play some rounds of Scramble with Friends on my iPhone ya know.  And take a catnap. 

We went to the Walmart on the Strip to get candy to take to the movie and it smells awful in there.  Moldy.  The girls started coughing and Chesney was coughing so much I thought we were going to have to leave and go elsewhere, but then her cough settled down so we grabbed our snacks and got out of there.  I'm sure it's largely from the water damage to the adjoining buildings, but I wonder if Walmart has insulation or something in their ceiling that should have been replaced.  The location of that store is convenient but at this point I'd drive over to Target or the Walmart Supercenter before I'd go back in there.  Hope they get that figured out and fixed.  Here's a pic of the outside:

Ready for the movie:

(Potential spoilers in this paragraph if you haven't read The Hunger Games or seen the movie.)
The movie was great.  I thought they did a great job adapting it from the book.  Jennifer Lawrence turned out to be a great Katniss Everdeen and I loved Josh Hutcherson as Peeta!  Even though there was a lot of violence in the book that had to be brought to the movie in order to translate the story, the movie makers were very restrained and conservative with it and it was very well done.  Allie is still a little on the young side for the subject matter but I had her sit next to me and told her when to expect things might be a little scary, plus I told her that Katniss was not going to die so she wasn't worried about that throughout the movie.  She watches the Walking Dead with me lol so she handled it fine. 

After the movie, we checked out some of the little shops in the IMAX complex and then went back to the hotel room and watched the KU game.  I kept trying to go to sleep but the game was too intense so I stayed up and watched instead!  Rock Chalk Jayhawk!