Branson MO, June 2017

                                                    Branson MO, June 2017

With the sun shining we left Toad Suck COE for a trip of 135 miles to Branson MO. We have reservations for 5 days at Branson Ridge TV Resort. We did extend for two more days. Blog on this park in another post. From here we move this the Escapees RV Park called Turkey Creek. We will blog on this park in another post.
   Now on to Branson. We have been here before and really enjoyed the town and area. This time we saw a couple of different shows. We saw the magnificent show Moses and the super show The Haygoods. Of course we didn't know how much to we would enjoyed them. But we had a little insight into Moses. It is in the Sight and Sound theater  which we are familiar with, as there is one in Lancaster PA. We had attended a few shows there and they were super. So we expected the same here in Branson. I wanted to see Moses part the red sea. It was done thru special effects . Looked like water. It was, and I am only guessing, some type of smoke. Unfortunately you could not take any pictures. It is one of those many things you have to see for yourself.

Front of theather

Beautiful statue in the lobby

   The Haygoods was a super variety show with everything from country to gospel to blue's to blue grass to rock and roll with a little dance thrown in the mix. Wow that was a long sentence. The group is made up of six brothers  and one sister. We were thoroughly entertained for about two hours. The show is in its 25 year and voted Brandon's number one show. The group has put on over 7000 shows.  Branson has quite a few theaters with some hosting a few different shows. We really enjoy Branson and the area.

The one brother is sitting down, you'll see him in the next photo, he had a broken knee

 The sixth brother sitting down

The banjo player on his motorized cooler

       Another day  we went to  the College Of The Ozarks for lunch. We were blown away by the looks of the Keeter Center where lunches and dinners are serve. We knew nothing about the college other then it was there. Well we where very impressed with the college and the meal. I could go on and on about all we learned about the school, but I'll just give a few details about the school. Its nick name is Hard Work U. See www.cofo.edu for more information. What really impressed us was no students pay any tuition , and the wonderful meal. Each student works 15 hours a week plus 40 hours a week during the summer. So much to tell. Here is what impressed us most, students Don't pay Tuition. They Work for an Education, Graduate without debt. It is a Christian school. Very interesting about the school, so if you want to learn more go to there web site and you can see over 100 different type jobs available to the students. Every student we met was super polite. What a wonderful feeling for our youth.
      We did tour the military museum at the Keeter center plus the mill, the greenhouse, the wonderful tractor museum, the bakery and the jelly kitchen. the Keeter Center where lunch and dinner are served, much of the food from vegetables to pork is raised on the campus. A true farm to fork restaurant. Again so many pictures it hard to choose just a few.

The dinning room

The copper plated ceiling

The front of the Keeter center. It is a restaurant, hotel, small museum, conference center and log construction

The mill where much of the flour that is use in  the bakery and restaurant is use. There is also some for sale

Weaving is one of the jobs

 inside the bakery

A chef going fresh pasta made for the restaurant. Some of the baking fruit cake tins. They make over 25,000 fruit cakes a year for sale. They are very good, not like the ones you regifted many years ago. This also where they make many flavor jellies in this kitchen. We couldn't leave without a large jar of apple butter.

The chapel is beautiful both inside and out.

The picture doesn't do the stain glass justice

      We also did the nice river walk at the landing, it must be about a mile long. There are over a hundred shops. The Bass Pro Shop is one of the anchor stores. There are also a few hotels and many restaurants. Hannah enjoyed the walk. Historic downtown Branson is a short walk from the landing . There is also a 5 and 10. Remember them. Not sure you can find much for 5 or 10 cents.
     Hannah did keep us from doing as much as we would have liked to see. Being so close to our neighbors in this park cause her to develop some bad habits. On one side there was a group of people who practiced singing and playing instrument for hours most days. That seems to be what set her in her bad habits. We did take her to see a veterinarian. A comming pill and a tranquilizer prescriptd. So far only tried the nerve pill. Seen very little effect so far. Maybe Linda and I need to take them. Really upsetting to our RV lifestyle. A least the money we are saving can go toward the vet bill and the drugs.
       The Shepherd of the Hills hatchery is a fun tour.  I don't recall the exact number of fish they take rise and release, but I was somewhere around half a million. This hatchery raises only trout. A result of the cold water release from Table Rock dam. We did get see trout from the fly stage to adult breeding size. They are released in the area when of mostly legal catchable size. Most of the trout raised are rainbow trout.