July 31, 2015
We got up at 8:00. That seems a little late for us, but we had nowhere to go. We ate breakfast and did some chores while Auggie sat outside in the shade, keeping a lookout for squirrels that were tormenting him…staying away just far enough so he couldn’t reach them.
Two canine friends came by for a visit and he desperately wanted to play, but they would have none of it. Around noon, we left the campground to explore Branson and pick up our tickets for the show this afternoon. After leaving the campground, we crossed over the top of the Table Rock Dam.
From there we got a good view of Table Rock Lake.
We came into town on the main highway and soon found out that it was a big mistake. Traffic was bumper to bumper. All the attractions, everything you could possibly want to do, are on that road. We quickly cut over to another parallel highway that was less traveled. As we turned onto our alternate road, we caught a glimpse of the Titanic Museum attraction. It is a 1/2 scale reproduction of the ill-fated ocean liner on her doomed maiden voyage. I don’t know if we’ll have time to visit this exhibit, but we’ll see how things go. (It was highly recommended to us by our friends.)
We eventually found the Branson Tourism Center where we picked up our tickets. The highway we had been traveling on was the “Ride the Ducks” route and the “ducks” (restored WWII amphibious vehicles) were everywhere. These unusual vehicles are familiar to us since they are common in Wisconsin Dells.
We headed down to the waterfront to Branson Landing–an open-air mall with a backdrop of wooden slopes and serpentine Lake Taneycomo. We saw a “duck” in the water at the Landing.
We wanted to see the fountain show at 2:00 where water fountains shoot 120 ft. geysers into the air accompanied by fire, fancy lights at night, and music along the lakeshore boardwalk. We got to the Landing a little early so we were able to look around.
Bob wanted to check out the Pro Bass Shop with its giant mural and fish tank.
We also checked out the Missouri Mountain Moonshine Distillery/Store and bellied up to the “tasting bar”.
Bob and I tried a few flavors–Apple Pie (yum), Peach (yum), and Sweet Tea (not so yum)!
We had to get to the Landing where the fountain show was taking place, so that’s all the tasting we did. The fountain show lasted about 10 minutes and was ok. The fountains moved to the music and the puffs of fire were kind of cool.
I’m sure the evening show with the colored lights is much more impressive to the eye. We left the Landing at 2:15 to get to our 3:00 show about 5 miles away. Thank goodness we did because traffic was horrible. It took us 10 minutes to go 2 blocks. While we were waiting for traffic, we ended up being stopped in front of Dick’s Old Time 5 and 10 Store.
According to our tour book of the area, it’s a “must see” with narrow aisles packed to the rafters with 55,000 items. Maybe we’ll have time to check out the inside before we leave. We made it to the theater with a little time to spare.
The afternoon shows are less attended and we had great seats–fifth row center. We went to see Legends in Concert at Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater.
It is a live tribute show with celebrity impersonators. They do their own singing with a live band. Our show included the Country Western singers Brooks and Dunn, Adele, The Blues Brothers, Taylor Swift, Elvis, and Michael Jackson. Most of the performers were very good, but Elvis and Michael Jackson were outstanding!
The guy who portrayed Michael Jackson could really dance! He even did the famous moon walk and the zombie dance from the Thriller video. Both he and Elvis looked and acted like the real thing!
The show lasted 2 hours and we were on the road home by 5:15. What a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. We stopped at the marina on the way back to check on the boat we have rented for tomorrow.
We will have the boat for 4 hours to explore Table Rock Lake. In talking with the marina people, we did find out why Table Rock Lake is flooded. I guess they had a lot of rain recently in a short amount of time. If they let water out of Table Rock Lake through the dam, it would flood Beaver Lake and Lake Taneycomo which would, in turn, flood the surrounding areas, including homes. Keeping Table Rock Lake high, puts no one at risk and therefore, the water remains high. Makes sense to me. Back at the campground, Auggie was glad to see us and I sat outside with him, while Bob prepped dinner. We had pork tenderloin on the grill. It turned out to be a warm day, but at least there was low humidity. It would be another “full moon night”. These people pulled in next to us while we were away today. I guess they like red…..but it would make a great Badger mobile and trailer! (The “W” stands for Winnebago, but it could very well stand for Wisconsin.) How cool is that?
