Branson, Missouri
Mid west USA to be exact and the people here are just as entertaining as the place.
I love accents so when locals speak it's quite a hoot.
Missouri is just above Arkansas and I think one of the best southern accents is from that area.
I'm in the Ozark mountains. Not peaked mountains like the rockies but equally as tall and let me tell you the roads departments didn't make any concessions for the fact that you have to drive up and down these suckers! Wheee!
The good old Equinox has only struggled once, and that's getting out of the hotel parking lot up a 25% grade when she wasn't warmed up. It's no wonder you don't see many transport trucks around here. They'd never be able to make it!
Branson is known for it's live shows. Of all kinds.
Music, circus, comedy, anything. There are over 100 possible shows that you could see. Of course being me I have picked a weekend that things don't run quite as often because many of the shows are switching over to their Christmas programs. Never fear there is still tons to choose from.
I have gone to The Acrobats of China with the New Circus of Shanghai which was a typical Chinese circus show, a real difference from Cirque du Soleil but really cool because it was typical of another country. Being front row centre didn't hurt either, it was fun to make eye contact with the performers.
I have gone to Presley's Country Jubilee. This has nothing to do with Elvis and everything to do with a country variety show that is a throw back to the "old days". The Presley Family Show started Branson. It was the first one out on this little dirt road called 176. This is now the "strip" of Branson. It was a fun show with singing, comedy and some awesome guitar work and a guy that played the banjo like there was no tomorrow. It was GREAT! This is one show that everyone should see. The home made cinnamon pecans they sell in a little paper cone were fantastic too. Yee haw!
This afternoon (yeah, there are shows at 2 pm, 5 pm or 8 pm) I plan to go to the Rat Pack which is a bunch of guys who sing music of Sammy, Dean, Frank etc and that era. Or I might find something else to do. I have gone to the Wax museum and had a hoot there but there is a Veteran's museum that I might check out and then there is the lake and dam area that is pretty.
Later this week the Veterans start to arrive for nearly a month of celebration and honour. This town is VERY military friendly, as it should, and the whole place goes nuts for the armed forces. The hotel I'm staying in practically empty but in a few days the 400 rooms may all be full with military personelle. Good on them. The economy is hitting this area just as much as the others.
So Branson has been fun, if not quiet which is OK by me. This is the last part of the journey, the next nights will be "sleep stops" as I head back through a few more states. I have seen the colours change (yay!) in Branson, saw some of the devastation in Joplin Missouri that got wiped out by a tornado in May, seen snow on cactus' and driven through hail in Arizona! (Yikes)
And that's all in the last few days.
What I won't miss (the list is quite short actually):
- styrofoam plates and bowls for breakfast
- weak coffee in styrofoam cups
- really bad soap in a some hotel rooms
- trying to remember what hotel room I'm in as the numbers are all running into one
- the feeling of being a nomad and living out of the beloved Equinox
- getting dressed for breakfast
- trying to find a place for dinner or late lunch
- worrying if the internet connection will work so I can skype or blog
What a pilgrimage.
Wow!
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