Branson, MO

Part two of our vacation was in Branson, MO. We still had to contend with the rain, but in between downpours we were able to play mini-golf. We also checked out The Hollywood Wax Museum. I do have to say that the Madame Tussuad's in Las Vegas is quite a bit better. We also visited the Titanic Exhibit, which is absolutely remarkable. We’ve been to the traveling exhibit when it was in Minneapolis and also the permanent one at Luxor in Las Vegas. The one in Branson is by far the largest.

We had planned on visiting the Princess Diana Exhibit when we first got into Branson. I was very disappointed when we went to the location and it was no longer there. That is one of the things that I was the most excited about on this trip! We originally found the information on a website that was obviously out of date. I believe that if a company has a website, they should update it on a regular basis or take it down - a pet peeve of mine!

We stayed at The Hilton, which was in walking distance to the Branson Landing shopping area. The pictures above show the flooding that has taken place. The stores were open, but some of the restaurants were closed and the boardwalk along the lake is still underwater. In the photo with the flag and the posts, we were told that was the walking area was actually on the other side of the flag pole.

We decided to take a ride on the Branson Scenic Railway, which takes you south for about an hour into Arkansas. We’ve never ridden on a train before and I found it to be a little bumpy! We enjoyed the scenery though.

I did manage to get in a little shopping. (My husband says I got in a lot of shopping.) He says I’ve spent my scrapbook budget for the next year! We’ll just see about that!

We took in a few shows while we were there. We went to a show called The Haygoods, which we enjoyed. It’s a family of six brothers and one sister. No photos for that one, as we forgot to bring cameras. We also went to a show called Hooray For Hollywood, a salute to movie musicals, where cameras weren’t allowed. We had reservations for the Osmonds, but got to the theatre and discovered that they had cancelled all of their performances until September. We drove up and down the Branson Strip and at the last minute, decided to go to a show featuring the Platters and the Comets, two groups from the 50s. It was a tremendous (and pleasant) surprise! I would guess that only three of the original group members remain with the Platters, and the two original Comets that are left are 77 and 87 years old. Hard to believe when you watched the energy they brought to their performances. It was a top notch show done by real professionals in an intimate setting where nobody in the audience was more than 30 or 40 feet from the stage. The collage above are The Platters. How good is your memory? They were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, but had their biggest hits occurred over half a century ago -including “The Great Pretender” in 1956 and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” in 1959.

The collage above are The Comets. The sax player in the center is 77 years young and the drummer is 87! The gentleman playing the upright bass on the left is not an original Comet, but played with Sammy Davis Jr. for 15 years. For those of you who don’t remember, Bill Haley and the Comets are credited for the birth of Rock and Roll with the song “Rock Around the Clock” in 1955. The group continued to exist in some form or another since Bill Haley’s death 30 years ago and were a joy to watch.

Before we left town we stopped at The Butterfly Palace. It reminded me of the one we had gone to when we visited Niagara Falls. I think that one might have been a little larger though. This one also had some gorgeous flowers and beautiful butterflies. There were blue butterflies fluttering by that were so pretty. No matter how hard we both tried, we couldn’t get photos. They were just too fast.

Food, glorious food! I like to order things that I normally can’t or won’t have when I’m at home.

Clockwise from the top: For breakfast one day we stopped at Bob Evans and I had the hotcakes stuffed with sweet cinnamon chips, stacked with vanilla cream cheese and drizzled with rich cinnamon cream sauce.

At Outback Steak in Springfield, IL, I had the tilapia with pure lump crab meat. The tilapia was crowned with crab stuffing and sliced button mushrooms, finished with a drizzle of light lemon butter Chablis sauce.

Our first night at the 1886 Crescent Hotel, we dined at Dr. Baker’s Bistro. I had the Baker Burger. It was a ½ lb hamburger on toasted ciabatta roll with Swiss and olive oil roasted potatoes seasoned with truffle salt.

Our last lunch was at Mel’s Hardluck Diner. That was a very interesting place! All of the waiters and waitresses sing, and you can even buy their CDs. It’s just song after song while you’re eating. I had a delicious chicken salad, garnished with almonds, eggs and cucumbers.

One of my favorite meals was at Landry’s Seafood House. I had the shrimp fresca. The shrimp was dusted, Parmesan crusted and topped with jumbo lump crab, served with angel hair pasta.

Last, but not least, I enjoyed a few chocolate martinis. That’s it! Thanks for stopping by!