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Branson -- Thursday, day 10
We had a nice visit with Les and Sharon at our RV last night, and
we planned out parts of the rest of our stay here. We're glad
we're going to have at least three full days here. Armed with
phone numbers and directions, we made our way into town and
dropped Mom off for a hair appointment and then drove around some
of the Branson roads. I've been here before, and I knew we
couldn't get lost. All roads here lead to Branson.
We wound our way down to Table Rock Dam and enjoyed the very,
very windy view. The dam has developed some stress cracks, and
the Corps of Engineers is working to divert the lake
while the cracks are fixed. There's a lot of construction going
on.
The Branson area is beautiful and reminds me much of where I grew
up. We are enjoying the variety of green and the many wild
flowers and bird song.
Later, the five of us went to the show on the Branson Belle, a
paddle boat once owned (at least partly) by Kenny Rogers. It was a great show with some talented young people.
Particularly good was Todd Oliver, a ventriloquist who not only
had the standard dummies, but had worked with his vet to create
an illusion with his dog and then solicited two members of the
audience (who were wonderful sports) who he used as dummies. The
host of the show was Steve Grimm. He has a marvelous voice and we
enjoyed him very much. Our meal was prime rib. It was too windy
to actually cruise, so our showboat experience was spent in the
harbor.
Les tells us that the "other tourists" we saw at the lake (the
Canadian honkers) aren't welcome guests here. They have outstayed
their welcome -- they're here year round. He says the debate is
whether to call it open season on them and eliminate the nuisance
influx. Hope they don't get tired of us, too. (Smile.)
To the right of the picture of Table Rock Dam, we see a large
building on the hill. This is a resort lodge owned by the same
family who owns Bass Pro Fishing near Springfield. Bass Pro
Fishing is a sports and fishing store, but from all accounts,
it's also a prime tourist attraction.
Tomorrow, we'll take in a morning and an evening show, and then
we'll make plans for Saturday. Les is a supreme host, as usual,
and our three days here will speed by much more quickly than we
intend.
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