Honey, I'm home!!
kc
Branson, MO
Well, FINALLY, we're home!!! This morning dawned bright and early, with both of us eager to get where we were going. Too bad, now that we have packing up down to a fine art, and it's generally accomplished within 20 minutes, we won't have to do it anymore! At least, not for a couple of months!!
Jim's advice was sound yesterday, and we found Rt 65 to be a pretty good road for most of the time. There were a couple of occasions, though, were the truck sort of strained under its load - these hills are STEEP, and there was one downhill stretch that was hairy. A 7% grade for 2 miles. One run-away-truck ramp, midway. Thankfully, we didn't have to use it!! But, my palms were sweaty at the bottom, and I know Dick's were too.
We followed our directions to the letter (THANKS, Terry & Jim!!!) and had NO problems finding our way. Nor did we get ourselves into a jam or stuck under a bridge. We were welcomed with warm smiles and hugs (even Sunny got her share of pets!!) and were given our choice of several sites. We picked one and were set up with the A/C cranking in about 15 minutes. Honey, we are HOME.
Back up to the office for a short orientation and pictures (for our "city-employee" ID badges) and we were on our own. Walked around the park for a bit, watched a guy feeding the ducks, and read our literature. Had a good meal (first time in a few days!!) and headed up to Branson Landing, a waterfront shopping district. They have a huge set of dancing fountains down by the waterfront, and we got to watch them a while. We got several pictures, one of which has been posted. We even made a short movie clip, but 2 issues - first off, I can't download it, because the camera battery is deader'n a doornail, and secondly, I'm not sure how to get a movie to play on the website yet. I may just have to invoke my PhotoBucket account, but I'll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, we may just email it around, so y'all can see it. The fountains dance to music, with bursts of flame, and lemme tell you, even way up on the top tier of seating, the fire is hot! They are just beautiful and a bit mesmerizing to watch.
We were so enchanted by them, we brought Sunny back to the camper (after her little buggy ride around Bass Pro Shops, where she was certainly the QUEEN, and EVERY little child HAD to pet her (one even threw a full fledged tantrum because her parents wouldn't let her)) for a rest, while we went back up to watch the 10 pm show! We made friends with the trolley driver and he agreed to watch for us in the coming days, so we don't have to walk all the way across the parking lot every day. He has a big bucket labelled TIPS, so I guess we'll need to drop him a dollar or 2.
Tomorrow promises to be busy - we should be getting our badges, and we agree, first order of business should be a Duck ride. Have you ever been on one of them?? Most big cities near water have converted WWII amphibious vehicles into "Duck Tours" where you drive around the streets, get a history lesson, then "dive/drive" into the body of water and "drive" around the lake or river for a bit. Well, Branson has its own Duck Tours, and we chatted with one of the operators tonight. We'll be making our own splash as soon as possible. After that, we'll probably see about finding the Wal-Mart and maybe a cache or two and trying to get a handle on what streets go where and what shows play which theater. I tell ya, it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
Wow - it's 11:36 at night - I guess time really DOES fly when you're having fun!! Hope your days are as short and exciting as ours!! Till next time...
Branson, MO
Well, FINALLY, we're home!!! This morning dawned bright and early, with both of us eager to get where we were going. Too bad, now that we have packing up down to a fine art, and it's generally accomplished within 20 minutes, we won't have to do it anymore! At least, not for a couple of months!!
Jim's advice was sound yesterday, and we found Rt 65 to be a pretty good road for most of the time. There were a couple of occasions, though, were the truck sort of strained under its load - these hills are STEEP, and there was one downhill stretch that was hairy. A 7% grade for 2 miles. One run-away-truck ramp, midway. Thankfully, we didn't have to use it!! But, my palms were sweaty at the bottom, and I know Dick's were too.
We followed our directions to the letter (THANKS, Terry & Jim!!!) and had NO problems finding our way. Nor did we get ourselves into a jam or stuck under a bridge. We were welcomed with warm smiles and hugs (even Sunny got her share of pets!!) and were given our choice of several sites. We picked one and were set up with the A/C cranking in about 15 minutes. Honey, we are HOME.
Back up to the office for a short orientation and pictures (for our "city-employee" ID badges) and we were on our own. Walked around the park for a bit, watched a guy feeding the ducks, and read our literature. Had a good meal (first time in a few days!!) and headed up to Branson Landing, a waterfront shopping district. They have a huge set of dancing fountains down by the waterfront, and we got to watch them a while. We got several pictures, one of which has been posted. We even made a short movie clip, but 2 issues - first off, I can't download it, because the camera battery is deader'n a doornail, and secondly, I'm not sure how to get a movie to play on the website yet. I may just have to invoke my PhotoBucket account, but I'll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, we may just email it around, so y'all can see it. The fountains dance to music, with bursts of flame, and lemme tell you, even way up on the top tier of seating, the fire is hot! They are just beautiful and a bit mesmerizing to watch.
We were so enchanted by them, we brought Sunny back to the camper (after her little buggy ride around Bass Pro Shops, where she was certainly the QUEEN, and EVERY little child HAD to pet her (one even threw a full fledged tantrum because her parents wouldn't let her)) for a rest, while we went back up to watch the 10 pm show! We made friends with the trolley driver and he agreed to watch for us in the coming days, so we don't have to walk all the way across the parking lot every day. He has a big bucket labelled TIPS, so I guess we'll need to drop him a dollar or 2.
Tomorrow promises to be busy - we should be getting our badges, and we agree, first order of business should be a Duck ride. Have you ever been on one of them?? Most big cities near water have converted WWII amphibious vehicles into "Duck Tours" where you drive around the streets, get a history lesson, then "dive/drive" into the body of water and "drive" around the lake or river for a bit. Well, Branson has its own Duck Tours, and we chatted with one of the operators tonight. We'll be making our own splash as soon as possible. After that, we'll probably see about finding the Wal-Mart and maybe a cache or two and trying to get a handle on what streets go where and what shows play which theater. I tell ya, it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
Wow - it's 11:36 at night - I guess time really DOES fly when you're having fun!! Hope your days are as short and exciting as ours!! Till next time...
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