Today we leave Branson after a week here… We saw 6 shows, and we were served 7 meals, all but one of which was Green Beans or Corn, Chicken, Potatoes, and Beef or Pork… As I have already reported, some were better than others… Branson is a tiny town (12,000 population) that has 9,000,000 visitors/tourists every year…
Travel days all start the same. People hitching up, catered breakfast in the clubhouse, then the Drivers’ Meeting…
And then we hit the road… This is considered the high plains of the Ozarks…
And the roads were even good!
The campground in Mountain Grove is a little rustic, but it had all the necessities… Having good power is important here! Temperatures hit 23 degrees in the morning…
The evening meal was pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches. No green beans or mashed potatoes in sight!
We returned to the Villa and turned on the furnace. An enjoyable time was had by all…
This morning we visited The College of the Ozarks, just south of Branson. It has nick-named itself as Hard Work U; its students work on campus for their entire time here in various jobs and trades, from hospitality (cooks and waiters), agriculture, administration and marketing, etc. As a result, there is no cost to the students for tuition and housing. The college obviously also has generous donors. Most students are lower income and from the Ozarks region; they also have students from many other parts of the country and from other countries.
We gathered in the admissions and visitors center; we were given an overview of the college by a student, a senior.
After the information session we headed off to explore the campus. This is the Williams Memorial Chapel, built in 1956 by students. Try as I might, I could not find out who the architect was…
The interiors are quite beautiful…
After the chapel we visited the mill and store, and the greenhouses…
Of course, no visit would be complete with a visit to the tractor museum. Most of these tractors were originally in use on campus, and they were restored by students…
After our walking around we had lunch in the college restaurant, prepared by students, from ingredients grown by students, and served by student-waiters: The menu? Beef brisket, chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans! Except that this time it was fresh, farm-to-table, not out of a can! The table setting was even perfect: the silverware was properly placed, not rolled up in a paper napkin… The meal was as good as a mass-produced banquet meal can be expected to be. The servers were top notch and very professional…
We returned to the Villa to warm up… It is COLD!
This evening we attended Dolly Parton’s Stampede. I expected a tryical country music show. Boy! Was I wrong!
Walking towards the entrance we were given a hint:
The “theater” looks more like a rodeo arena. (Luckily for me, this is NOT a rodeo… As much as I don’t like killing animals for sport, I don’t like torturing them for fun, either…)
Of course, this being a dinner show, we were served a dinner of soup, corn on the cob, potatoes. and chicken…
But first the MC rode in…
More horse and riders appeared… They rode around in fancy circles…
And then the bison came into the arena…
And then the covered wagons and the “settlers”…
Finally the chicken arrived on our plates. A whole chicken!
This next part was fun but it didn’t photograph well. It was the pig races!
Of course there was the obligatory tribute to veterans and patriotic song…A good show, but something I never would have selected. That’s the fun of caravans – I do things I wouldn’t ordinarily do…
It was a day of mourning and rejoicing over yesterday’s sports results… Dodgers lost, Stanfurd won, Notre Dame lost, USC lost, Alabama lost, Tennessee won, TCU won, CAL lost…
So you are now treated with a picture of the McAnoy Grandchildren; they are at one of the oldest still-operating Bob’s Bigboy Restaurant, in Burbank/Toluca Lake, California…
Tonight we see another show: O Happy Day, a show of Gospel music, at The Hamner Variety Theater…
It’s a grand place…
Oh! Wait… It’s just a metal industrial building with a fake façade
But the show was fun… Gospel music and Hymns! What’s not to like…
We enjoyed the show a lot! I even bought a CD! Now I need to figure out if I have a CD player…
We returned to the Villa, and an enjoyable time was had by all…
Lunch today was different! Florentina’s RistoranteItaliano. Plastic flowers and all… The food was decent, and a nice break from typical Southern fare… Even the Southerners enjoyed it…
Our show was Irish Tenors and The Celtic Ladies and the Irish Dancers…
Intermission gave us a chance to stretch our legs and catch up on the college football…
More singers and dancers… It was a good show; I particularly enjoyed the dancers – they sort of reminded me of soccer players, jumping around without using their arms for anything important…
After the typical veterans’ tribute and patriotic songs we returned to the Villa..
Lynda turned in early and I watched football until the large hours…
We began by driving to Springfield, MO. It is about a one hour drive, mostly on good divided highways and the Interstate…
We arrived at the most foreign place I have even been in – a Bass Pro Shop. It’s all about hunting and fishing. I know my opinion is not popular, but I’ve never understood killing animals for fun…
This particular Bass Pro Shop had it’s own “Worlds of Wonder” wildlife museum and aquarium – temple of glorifying killing animals for fun. They cloak it all in the name of “Conservation”…
Bass Pro Shops is owned by Johnny Morris and specializes in hunting, fishing, camping, and other related outdoor recreation merchandise. With headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, Bass Pro Shops has a workforce of about 40,000. Bass Pro also owns Cabela’s, another retailer that specializes in similar categories.
We spent most of the day in the wildlife museum and the aquarium. There were various exhibits, stuffed animals, replica animals, and stories of hunting and fishing. I am only posting a few interesting displays…
The Boone and Crockett Club is an American nonprofit organization that advocates fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. The club is North America’s oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization, founded in the United States in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt. They had a huge collection of “bones and skulls”, which eventually ended up here in this museum…
Mostly heads…
Mostly deer heads…
We took a break for lunch with the club at the restaurant in the Bass Pro Shop…
Again we had some sort of pork, some sort of chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. They were not as bad as the previous night’s fare…
After lunch we returned to the museum and aquarium. The aquarium did have live exhibits. We particularly enjoyed the rays…
These live crabs looked like they might be delicious…
By mid-afternoon we moved on to our next excursion – The Fantastic Caverns.
The caves were discovered in 1862 by a local hunter and his dog. The dog chased a small animal into a small hole and did not return. The owner crawled in after him and soon realized he could stand… He found the dog, crawled out, and never told anyone about his discovery.
In 1862, during the Civil War (or The War of Northern Aggression, depending on your ancestors…) if an army (any army) discovered a cave it was confiscated, along with the surrounding land. The armies had discovered that a biproduct of bat quango is potassium nitrate, a key ingredient needed to produce gunpowder. Since he did not want to lose his home and his cave, he told no one…
Finally, in 1867, he advertised for people to come explore his cave. He received one answer, and soon 12 locals showed to to tackle the cave – 12 women, aged 12-19. These young women crawled in, explored and documented the caves…
The main selling point of these caves is that you don’t have to walk through them – we get to ride…!
The caves are nowhere as large or as tall as other caverns we have seen…
The 12 young women did write their names on the wall…
This opening to the left is about where the 12 young women entered the caverns in 1867.
It had been a long day, but wait! There’s more!
We returned to the Villa, ate a quick bite, then headed out to the Mansion theater for our next show!
This is The Oakridge Boys!
The core group that would eventually lead to the Oak Ridge Boys was a country group called Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers, formed in 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the time, the quartet was made up of Wally Fowler, Lon “Deacon” Freeman, Curly Kinsey, and Johnny New. This group began recording in 1947. Wally Fowler and the Oak Ridge Quartet were members of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s. In 1949, the other three men split from Fowler to form a new group, Curley Kinsey and the Tennessee Ridge Runners, so Fowler hired an existing group, the Calvary Quartet, to reform the Oak Ridge Quartet. Walt Cornell sang baritone for the Oak Ridge Quartet in the early 1950s. In 1961, they changed the group’s name to “the Oak Ridge Boys” because their producer, Bud Praeger, thought “Oak Ridge Quartet” sounded too old-fashioned for their contemporary sound.
They remained a gospel group until the mid-1970s, when they changed their image and concentrated on country music.
The lineup that produced their most well-known country and crossover hits ― such as “Elvira” (1981), “Bobbie Sue” (1982), and “American Made” (1983) ― consists of Duane Allen (lead vocals), Joe Bonsall (tenor), William Lee Golden (baritone), and Richard Sterban (bass). Golden and Allen joined the group in the mid-1960s, and Sterban and Bonsall joined in the early 1970s.
They are really old now – about our age… They put of a great show. The four singers are accompanied by four musicians and a drummer. There were two guitar players, a keyboard player, and a generalist who played steel slide guitar, bass guitar, and violin. The first half of the show was loud Country Rock. After a song or two they all seem to sound alike… After intermission they sang several gospel quartet type songs, which was much more enjoyable… Then they sang their famous “Elvira”…
When the fog machines come on we knew the end was near…
We returned to the Villa and enjoyed a glass of wine… An enjoyable time was had by all…
Table Rock Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas in the United States. Designed, built and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lake is impounded by Table Rock Dam, which was constructed from 1954 to 1958 on the White River.
The lake is a popular attraction for the city of Branson, Missouri, and the nearby town of Shell Knob, Missouri. There are several commercial marinas along the lake, and Table Rock State Park is located on the east side, both north and south of Table Rock Dam. Downstream from the dam, the Missouri Department of Conservation operates a fish hatchery, which is used to stock trout in Lake Taneycomo, which begins immediately downstream from the Table Rock Dam. The cold water discharged from the dam creates a trout fishing environment in the lake.
We are here to enjoy a lunch show on the Showboat Branson Bell…
The original plan, of course, was to have a cruise around the lake, whilst enjoying lunch and a show… However, the weather was not encouraging, so the boat never left the dock.
(Apparently river boats do not like 40 mph winds… On December 11, 2010, due to high winds that had come up suddenly, the Showboat Branson Belle ran aground while cruising on Table Rock Lake. The incident stranded 567 passengers and 76 crew members overnight.)
Showboat Branson Belle is a riverboat—more specifically, a showboat—on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri. The lake is landlocked by the Table Rock Dam on one side and the Beaver Lake Dam on the other side. Being a showboat, it hosts lunch and dinner shows throughout the year.
The boat was constructed at its port at White River Landing and was launched on August 12, 1994. The boat was launched into Table Rock Lake at a speed of 14 knots (16 mph) on launching rails lubricated with two tons of bananas. The bananas were used for lubrication because they were biodegradable and would not have polluted Table Rock Lake as grease would have. The boat is claimed by its owner to be the largest ship on a landlocked lake in the United States. According to the plaque on the dock, the boat weighs 2,500,000 lbs.
So we waited to board…
Once on board, we walked around and explored the boat…
While the showboat looks like a typical excursion riverboat, it really is a 2,100 seat theater and a large kitchen…
The showboat is powered by a diesel-electric power plant, much like modern train locomotives. It is actually propelled by the twin stern wheels…
One giant smokestack…
Two giant smokestacks…
Now, back to the show…
But first! Our lunch was served – pork, chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans… What is it with these Southerners? The good news is that the food was WAY better than at the Whodunnit Hoedown…
A little light entertainment before the real show…
The show was great – very up-beat and flashy. Dancers were great! It’s fun to watch tap dancers in person…
At intermission a magician performed some rope tricks, with one of our Airstreamers helping out… This was fun!
There must be a law or something that every show must include a tribute to veterans, with patriotic songs…
We enjoyed the show, and we then returned to the Villa. Happy hours ensued…
While I worked on the blog, Lynda went to the clubhouse for fun and games, Airstream style…
The day started with a nice sunrise reflected in our neighbor’s Airstream…
We wanted to check out souvenirs, so we drove to “historic” downtown Branson. Not surprisingly, it was very touristy, and we did not find what we were looking for… However, the store aisles were narrow and there are many, many, very large people here in Branson, most of whom use wheelchairs and walkers…
We moved on and took a short drive out into the “country” (as if Branson isn’t all country all the time…). We passed this granite wall along the road. There are many quarries in the area, and apparantly these hills are all solid granite. This tells us why they do so little grading when the build roads… roads go up and down and around the hills…
Our destination was the Missouri Ridge Distillery…
It was not busy, and we tasted some of their whiskey and “Scotch”… We treated ourselves to Old Fashioneds, sweetened with their own maple syrup that is aged in their used Bourbon barrels. Tasty!
In the evening we experienced the first of many Branson shows; tonight is the Whodunnit Hoedown, a murder-mystery dinner show…
The theater complex has many forms of entertainment, with different shows rotating through the theater on different nights.
We had quite a wait outside, but we did enjoy a lovely sunset…
We had great seats, 2nd and 3rd rows…
The food was barely edible – dry chicken, bland green beans, sticky mashed potatoes, and some sort of sweet pork that looked like it had been through a blender. All of it was out of a can, I’m sure….
As bad as the food was, the show wasn’t much better… Silly corny jokes, no plot, no mystery…
We were happy when the “show” was over… We returned to the Villa and an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 