So, here are a few details about our trip to Branson over Halloween weekend. Before leaving town we stopped by Peter's office since they were having their annual Halloween Chili and Pumpkin Carving Contest. Peter entered a really detailed pumpkin that I should have taken a picture of. I personally think it deserved a first place spot (and the $50 prize), but apparently politics won over as the winning pumpkin was made to look like a guitar with the "Hard Rock" emblem carved into the body. You see, Peter's company had just landed the job to create the site development for the new Hard Rock Casino that will be built at the Nascar track near the Legends. Thus, politics outweighed talent and Peter's pumpkin was tossed in the trash without award.
After sampling the chili we headed for Branson. On the way to Branson we took our usual pre-Ozarks stop in Osceola at the Osceola Cheese Factory. If you are a fan of cheese and have never been to the factory you must try it! They have over 100 different varieties of cheese and you can sample ALL of them! They also sell a soda called "Nehi" which comes in a few flavors and is really tasty. We made a small cheese and soda purchase and headed on down towards Springfield. We were making pretty good time until we went to head south to Branson from Springfield and found that they had closed the highway! There was a terrible accident so we took a detour on the frontage road and continued on our way.
When we arrived in Branson we had to stop by the travel center that arranged our free vacation. Turns out our accommodations were at the local Super 8 motel. We were a little disappointed at first, but then we realized that as long as we had free cable we were happy. That night we decided to try a Mexican restaurant that was across the street from the motel. Winner! I had a guacamole salad and Peter had a chimichanga. Their salsa was so good that I actually contemplated drinking it and forsaking the free chips altogether. We thought we were having a pretty good dinner when all of the sudden we stopped eating and both donned a Missy-like stupor on our faces. When we snapped out of it we realized it was because people at the table next to us had ordered fajitas and they smelled quite intoxicating. That was when we made the decision to return there for dinner the next night!
We also took a walk in the new downtown district. For those of you KC metro dwellers, it's similar to the Legends with the exception that it's on a lake. Retailers were handing out candy to the passersby and we spent the entire walk gawking over the cute babies and talking about how much we missed Piper.
The next morning I woke bright and early thanks to the extra hour of sleep. Breakfast started at 7:00 in the lobby and I was anxious to see what was offered. To our surprise the breakfast was actually quite appealing. They even had biscuits and gravy! Since we were going on a hike anyway we both loaded up on the heavy stuff and headed off to find our trail head.
The hike we took was the inner loop of a larger group of about 50 miles of trails in an area called the Hercules wilderness (or something to that effect). We had about 6 miles to cover in about 3 hours so we knew we were going to have to book it. The reason we were on such a time constraint was because we had to get back into town by noon for our timeshare presentation (and the $50 that went along with it as a reward). We really enjoyed the hike. Although we were moving at a quick pace I managed to spot a white-tail in the woods and I also saw a walking stick in my path on a leaf. I still can't believe I didn't squish the little guy, especially since when I stopped I had to kneel down and point him out for Peter to see. The only downside to our hike was a spill I took while going downhill. I was thinking to myself, "I'm so sick of going downhill! This is requiring way to much concentration! I just want to get back and take a shower." Two seconds later, I slipped on the leaves and fell on my fanny pack, which sure beats the ol' tailbone. I ended up with a nice hemotoma on my wrist from hitting bone against a rock, but all was fine in the end.
We totally underestimated the noon-day Branson traffic. If you've never been to Branson it's basically a Midwestern mini-Las Vegas. The main highway through town is three lanes, one of which is a suicide lane. About 75% of the people that vacation there are over the age of retirement, thus they drive about 10 miles an hour under the already low speed limit and slow down at every theater so they can pause to commit it to memory I guess. It took us about half an hour to get back to our hotel once we were in Branson so we didn't have time to take showers, just change clothes. We ended up at the presentation a few minutes late. It took way longer than they said, probably because we were nice and let them think they might have a chance of taking our money, but in the end we said no thanks and headed on our way. When we returned to the travel center to redeem our reward they asked us if we wouldn't mind listening to another presentation tomorrow morning for which we would be given $100 in cash afterwards. Sure! Why not? You can pay for our groceries for the next week!
Next we went up to the fish hatchery to pay homage to the fish and give them a little food. We also took a little trip up to the Table Rock visitors center where we watched a film about the construction of the dam. Quite interesting, except for that whole part where they have to flood towns. That always creeps me out.
When we got back to the hotel we took much needed showers and headed over for our fajitas, which were awesome! It was one of the best Mexican restaurants I have ever been to. We returned to downtown, only this time we walked through the older section to look at the free art galleries. By the end of the day we were pretty dead. Peter watch football while I dozed and dreamed of my bed at home. We survived the presentation the next morning which was about wholesale travel. We're totally considering that as an option later in life, but not now. Thanks for the $100 bucks!
On our way home we returned to the cheese factory and picked up some gifts. When we got back into town we picked up the dogs and went to Ryan and Meredith's to wait for Piper to come back from church. When she got there she saw Xena and got so excited she didn't even seem to acknowledge us. Oh, well. She had a great time. Ryan finally got her to fold her arms during a prayer and she picked up a purse fetish from Meredith.
