Thought I would update everyone on the rest of our trip.
After probably 30 hours in Bolivar, our car was fixed (and paid for!) and we headed to Branson Friday afternoon praying that our car would not have trouble again. We made it and we had no other car troubles after that.
Friday night we ate at the Fall Creek Steakhouse. Someone had told us it closed, but we drove by anyway because...holy cow they throw rolls at you. :) We arrived expecting it to be closed, but it was open, in a huge new building. Apparently the old one had burned. We were very excited and needed this relief after the previous day. We waited about 25 minutes or so only to be underwhelmed by the food. It was boring and seemed mass produced. Glenn had ribs and they were not good. I had soup and what was supposedly a wonderful salad bar. Yeah, I had some lettuce, cheese, sesame seeds and dressing. Boring. The only fruit on the salad bar was pineapple. Great. The only fruit I can't eat. Thanks. So we were disappointed, but still thankful just to be settling in.
After a much needed good night's sleep, the next day we experienced the fabulous breakfast at our hotel and set out early in our hiking clothes to hike some trails. The guy at the hotel told us to go to Dogwood Canyon because this place I had found on the Internet (Lakeside Wilderness Area at Lake Tanycomo) he hadn't heard of. So we headed to Dogwood. We had hiked this before with my mom and brother and it is gorgeous! However, after probably an hour of driving to get there, a sign stopped us dead in our tracks. No pets. :( Our whole purpose for hiking was to get the dog out of the hotel room and have some fun. We love hiking with Frankie. We were devastated. This trip just wasn't being realized the way we imagined. So we headed back toward Branson a different direction. We decided to try and find the lakeside trail, which by the way, was not known by the hotel attendant OR a gas station attendant. We didn't find it either. We did stop at Table Rock Park or whatever it was called and ate lunch and walked around a bit. The water was beautiful. But this is where we discovered that a majority of the trails were flooded over because the water was so high. that was disappointing.
We left and drove around downtown to see the new modern area. It is so different, according to Glenn. I don't remember it enough to know the difference.
We got cleaned up at the hotel and headed out to the World's Largest Toy Museum that afternoon. It was fantastic! I wanted to go more, but I think ultimately Glenn enjoyed it more. After that we headed to the Dinosaur Museum and although we had fun taking silly pictures, it was underwhelming. I was really looking forward to it as most people don't know I really wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a kid. Crazy. I know. Can you imagine me digging in the desert? Anyway, on the way to the museum we stopped and had a little piece of Heaven in Branson: funnel cake, topped with strawberries, topped with ice cream. It might be the most fantastic thing I have ever eaten. :) We ate the whole thing and we were so full!
That night we decided to try and find an authentic Mexican restaurant and we did! El Portal on 76 is a fantastic place with great peach daquiris. We got our fill of Mexican (on our already full stomachs!) and went home to sleep the night away. We also tried to see the new Noah the Musical this night, but it was sold out ALL weekend. :( Guess we should have gotten tickets earlier.
Sunday was our shopping day...OK, MY shopping day. We went to the infamous (that's when you're more than famous) Tanger Outlet Mall only to find most of the stores gone and the ones left were not for us. The Gap was gone, so that was disappointing. We headed to The Landing, Branson's new east side, to peruse the new shops there. I found a Charlotte Russe and Maurices! I was in Heaven and finally found a pair of dark jeans and a couple of shirts. I was really hoping Glenn could find some clothes, but alas, not very many grown up boy places to shop. It was sad.
After shopping, we took a nap (it wears you out you know...) and relaxed until our 5 p.m. show. We had free tickets from our hotel to see the Bart Rocket Show. He does comedy, magic and ventriliquism. We weren't that excited about going, but hey, it was free. And it was fantastic! I definitely recommend Bart Rocket to everyone. He is great. His ventriliquism was some of the best I've seen and he was so funny! His 2-year-old son also came out at the end and did a booty shake to some Justin Timberlake. It was adorable.
We stayed an extra day to make up for the one we lost on the way in. So, Monday we slept in and made the thankfully uneventful trip home. Frankie was an angel in the car. He slept a lot and just did so well. He was pampered at Boxcar Willie Hotel with fancy dog bowls and a home made treat every morning! We really enjoyed having him with us on this trip. Through all the stress he was comforting and mostly calm. We truly appreciate this and love our dog very much!
So all in all, it was a good trip. We always love the laid-back and friendly setting of Branson. Setbacks will always be there, but we have grown as a couple and continue to fall more in love through all situations. I saw a side of my husband that I haven't seen much: He took control of our bad situations when I was crumbling. I dearly love my husband. And just for him I say: Shoji Tabuchi. And from now on you can call us the Swarzeneggers. HA! (we're trying to come up with a new name to give at restaurants as Shipps doesn't work so well and Glenn sounds like too many other things)
From back in KC...peace and love...and good car fortune.
