First Anniversary Trip - Branson, Missouri

We went to Branson, Missouri this year, right after our first anniversary. Here is what happened!

Monday July 13th
-Drove to a campsite in Iowa. We ate lunch at a Wendy’s along the way and ate dinner at Cici’s Pizza in Des Moines. We also did some grocery shopping in Des Moines.
-We camped at Nine Eagles State Park in Southern Iowa. We got there kind of late and had to go out for some fire wood. The gas station didn’t have any and the lady there didn’t know where we could get some. There was an Amish guy eating a chili dog who told us about his friend who had a lumber mill. We decided to drive a quarter mile to the hy vee with a garden center. We got there right before they closed and had to convince them to let us buy fire wood. (The next morning Tom informed the gas station attendant, who was there again, that Hy Vee sells fire wood and she said she thought they might, but wasn’t sure, so she didn’t want to say anything – grr.)
-When we got back to the campsite, it was dark. It was hard for Tom start the fire, especially with the raccoon that wouldn’t leave us alone. Erin had to steal the lantern to scare him off. We ate in the car to stay away from the raccoon. Yes, we are wimps.

Tuesday July 14th
-Woke up to a Thunderstorm. Made it very messy to clean up the campsite and impossible to start a camp fire. We looked at the radar and figured out that we were in basically the only part of Iowa that was affected by the storm. We had some fast food, since we couldn’t make breakfast at the camp site.
-We drove the rest of the way to Branson. We arrived at Red Bud Cove B&B (which is really in Hollister, MO) and Erin was surprised to find red roses in our room! Tom had arranged for them to be waiting – so romantic!
-We ate dinner at Devil’s Pool restaurant, which was part of the resort near our B&B.

Wednesday July 15th
-We had our first breakfast at the B&B. The food was great and we had a great time each day talking to other couples that were staying there. We got recommendations for the shows in town that they really enjoyed.
-We went to Branson Landing, and outdoor shopping mall area. We ate some Gyro’s, bought some show tickets for a discount (without a timeshare pitch, because we were apparently too young – yay!) and enjoyed the fire and water show down by the boardwalk.
-Saw the show “Broadway” – a show with a variety of big Broadway numbers. Good show, but it would have been better if the background singers had not been lip syncing.
-Went to Mount Pleasant Winery for a Wine tasting.
-Visited Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum.
-Ate dinner and enjoyed the entertainment at Ernie Bigg’s Dueling Piano bar on Branson Landing. It was an all request dueling piano show. Really, none of the 3 pianists knew any Ben Folds or Ben Folds Five? Oh well, Journey will have to do…

Thursday July 16th
-Breakfast at B&B
-Did some planning and ticket buying online.
-Ate lunch at Fall Creek Steak and Catfish House – home of the tossed rolls. They literally toss the rolls across the restaurant at you. The food was great and we bought a great souvenir photo here. They took pictures of you everywhere and charged a ton for them. This was the most reasonable price - $12 for the picture and a nice glass frame (not a cardboard folder).
-“Six” – a show of six brothers who sing a capella. They not only sing, but simulate an entire band. This was one of our favorite shows!
-Ate at Andy’s Frozen Custard.
-Visited the World’s Largest Toy Museum. There must not be much competition – it wasn’t that big, but every corner was FULL of toys. It was fun and made us nostalgic!
-Went on the Showboat Branson Belle. It was dinner, a cruise and a show. This was one of our other favorite shows of the trip! There was singing, dancing, and a dog ventriloquist (real dogs with movable mouths attached to their chins). We bought a smoothie in a souvenir mug after dinner. We found out that the same company owns Silver Dollar City (which we were planning to go to on Friday), so we could get cheap refills of the mug there, too!
-As we were leaving the Branson Belle we realized that the headlights on Erin’s car were out. Tom tried the fuses, but that wasn’t the problem. They both apparently burned out at the same time. We had to drive back to the B&B with our brights (and hazards) on. Luckily we were on back roads without many cars, so hopefully we didn’t annoy too many people.

Friday July 17th
-Since we know how difficult it can be to replace the headlights on Erin’s car, we had to look up the nearest Hyundai dealer, which was in Springfield, MO (about a 30 minute drive).
-After breakfast at the B&B, we drove up to Springfield. While we waited for our appointment, we went to the Battlefield Mall and walked around. While they worked on the car we walked to McDonald’s for lunch. With $50 less in our pockets and working headlights, we headed back to Branson to try to salvage the rest of our day.
-When we got back to Branson, we headed to Branson Landing to do some shopping (now that pay day had come). We bought Phase 10 and Munchkin (card games) at the game store. We went to check out an outlet mall and got some great deals on more camping gear at the Coleman Outlet. We wanted to be prepared for our second night of camping!
-As part of the anniversary package that Tom got through the B&B, we got gift certificates to Andy Williams’ Moon River Grille. We dressed up and headed there for dinner. There was great food at a reasonable price. We had to order 2 desserts (to go) in order to use up our gift certificates! To our surprise, Andy Williams himself actually showed up and ate dinner there only a couple of tables away from us! The lady at the table next to us was a huge fan and got very nervous and flustered. She wanted a picture with him, but was too nervous, so she made her daughter be in the picture and made the waiter take the picture because she was shaking too much. It was so cute! (For those too young to remember Andy Williams [like us], he sang Moon River and the Hawaiian Christmas Song and had a variety show in the 70’s).
-Went to the Kirby and Bambi Magic Show. It was fun even though there were a lot of kids there. Live magic is fun even if you kind of know how it works. They even made a helicopter disappear!

Saturday July 18th
-Breakfast at B&B
-Spent most of the day at Silver Dollar City (since it was $50 each for admission we decided to make the most of it). One of the first things we did was the cave tour, which was very cool. The cave was the original tourist attraction upon which the amusement park was built. We also went on some great roller coasters and ate some succotash.
-We had a break from Silver Dollar City when we went to Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede at 3:00. That was a fun dinner show. It was basically a rodeo competition of North vs. South. We sat on and cheered for the North side. We had a whole chicken and no utensils. Thank God for wet naps!
-After our afternoon at Silver Dollar City, we returned to our B&B to enjoy an evening there. We ate some leftovers from our dinners and desserts. We played the new card games that we had bought and watched some movies. We went out to watch the sunset over the water behind the B&B. A very nice relaxing last night!

Sunday July 19th
-Last breakfast at the B&B – going to miss those homemade breakfasts everyday!
-Drove back to the campsite in Iowa. Stopped at Osceola Cheese and ate lunch at Subway on the way.
-We got back to Nine Eagles much earlier than the last time, with plenty of firewood. We were pretty much the only ones there, so we got our first choice of spots. We had a really great night! We had wonderful burgers and Ricky (the raccoon) only came to visit us while we made s’mores (which we never got around to making the first time). We played some card games in the tent and had a great night’s sleep (with no rain in the morning)!

Monday July 20th
-Made a huge breakfast over the campfire – chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, and pepper bacon. YUM!
-Cleaned up the campsite and drove home. Sad to be heading home, but satisfied that we had a wonderful trip!