Branson - At the Start (Thursday and Friday)

Brent's parents, Leo and Edna, have loved going to Branson year after year just about since the day Leo retired, I think. Leo was the tour guide and they'd always go with a bus load of friends. If they weren't friends before they went, they definitely were by the time they returned.

So when Dan was hired to open a new Hampton Inn in Branson, it only made sense for us to share a trip out there together. Those plans all came to fruition last Thursday, Aug. 19, when we caught a Delta Connection from Salt Lake City to Kansas City, and then drove the rest of the way to Branson, which is set right down in the beautiful Ozarks near the Arkansas/Missouri border.

These are the views we were greeted with from our room Thursday. The flowers were from Dan. Isn't that just the sweetest? The grass in the middle of the trees is fairway on the golf course.

Thursday night we went to a show featuring two aging musicians from our teen years: Paul Revere and the Raiders; and Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers ("Unchained Melody" from Ghost was one of his big hits).Above is a picture of us waiting out intermission - Leo, Edna, Brent, and me. (Dan's behind the camera.)

To the right is a picture of Paul Revere and his silly Met support table. Brent drove a car like this when he was a teenager.

Paul Revere was a little bit of a disappointment. My mind wanted to see the youthful singer we grew up with. But instead we got an 80-some year old man with a goofy sense of humor in tights. Go figure - while we've been aging, so have all the celebrities we grooved to as teens!

Bill Medley was a little better. However, we do have one warning. We found out in a hurry what to expect from every show: the entertainers seem to use every opportunity to sneak in a commercial break to promote their special merchandise.

The good things we found, though, were 1) you can also count on every show having at least one patriotic number in which all the Vets in the audience get to stand and be recognized; and 2)the importance of God and Family was also emphasized in most of the shows we saw.

Friday we spent the morning at an Urgent Care finding out that Edna has an infection in her foot. She ended up spending the afternoon taking a nap while we went with Leo to the Branson Belle Showboat. This turned out to be quite a fun time and I even found a Branson Belle Bell to add to my collection.



The Branson Belle is like a floating stadium. It's amazing to me, as large as it is, that it could move away from the dock. But as dinner started so did our trip out on Table Rock Lake.

After we ate, we got to go up on deck for a little while and enjoy the views from the lake. Then they treated us to a fun show with numbers from Broadway and a ventriloquist who used live dogs instead of puppets.




Let's see: Showboat = good food, live band, talented performers, and great scenery. I just kept wishing we hadn't had to leave both Edna and Daniel at the hotel (Dan was working).

Friday night we were all together for the Hughes Brothers show. This was one Leo made sure we got to. Edna was feeling a little better, and Dan was off work.

It was a fun show, and Leo got to stand again.











What was interesting was seeing the same performers during church on Sunday - giving talks, participating in lessons, leading organizations. The patriotism and faith of the performers in the Branson shows are traits that draw so many Americans to this beautiful city.

Anyway - this is what happened last Thursday and Friday (Aug. 20-21) while we were in Branson.