Family Vacation

Hello from Branson. This time our family vacation includes Everett's sister Margie and her husband Ken, and sister in law Dorothy and her sister Marguerite Hubers. We are having a wonderful time, and are already planning where to go next year. We met last Wed. in Ankeny, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, and stayed at a Country Inn and Suites for the night. When we arrived at about 6:30 it was time to eat and we all walked across the parking lot to the Chips restaurant. We made a few detours as we made attempts to enter back doors, and also dodge all the goose poop, from the geese in the pond, but the place was super, as well as the food. After supper we kept our tradition of playing cards. Our new favorite game is ripple golf. We have lots of healthy competition, and that night was fun even though I could not get a minus score to save my neck!! We had a delightful stay there, a wonderful full breakfast, all which has proved to be the best hotel so far, and likely will keep that rating.
We left Des Moines early Thursday morning and headed down I-35. Our first destination was Carthage, MO and the Precious Moments chapel and museum. On the way Margie began her quest for the the best price in pecans. We stopped in two places and picked up snacks at the Osage Pecan store. We arrived at PM at 4 and only were able to go through the chapel, as it closed at 5. It was a very warm 90 degrees, so we were thankful for the A/C and the wheelchair for Marguerite as it was a bit of a walk to the chapel. We made a quick stop at the gift shop, and I left empty handed. Margie did better, and I believe Dorothy added to her magnet collection. We went to our Econo Lodge which was lower end, but noticed the other choice, a Best Western was closed. Lack of competition does not improve things!! It was a pit to say the least. After we checked in we took a drive through the town of Carthage. We were not aware that it was the site of a Civil War battle, which had left the town in ruins. Many of the older homes were lovely, but they had some areas that looked like they had not improved much since the Civil War. We went to the town square and took some pictures of the stately buildings. We had parked in the shade and as we walked around noticed a restaurant nearby. It was an Italian place called 311, the address of its original location. It was delightful and we had wonderful food; great steaks, I had a chicken dish with mushrooms, and Ken had all you can eat spaghetti and meatballs. That evening we did have some time to play ripple Golf, which we play with Scip-bo cards, and had a great time. I had an especially good time with a -131 score. That made up for the beating I took the night before in Des Moines. The others were all around the 0 mark so plotted what they could do to me the next night.
We left Carthage on time Friday morning, and on toward the Ozarks and Arkansas. It was a lovely drive through the hills/ mountains as we headed toward Eureka Springs. We had lunch at the Rowdy Beaver which was an interesting place with good food- hamburgers, soup/salad. We drove into town and found the Passion of Christ site, where the passion play was to be held that night. We went to get tickets and for $47 each we could see all the museums, take a tram tour of the Holy City, see the passion play and have a buffet dinner. It was a very hot day, and I was having a bout of dizziness, but the tour was interesting, and quite authentic. After the tour we were just in time for dinner, and enjoyed good food in a big room that seated 375 people. There was some gospel singing as we ate. After dinner we all got in the car, and checked into our hotel room, at the Stonegate Inn, That was an all time low!! No alarm clocks in any of our room ( no clock at all), no hair dryers, towels were like our car washing rags, light bulbs that were burned out, and the supposed non smoking rooms smelled of smoke! That was the only bad part of the day, because we all slept well in spite of that. As you can tell bad hotel/motel rooms are one of my pet peeves!! I guess you could say I am a bit anal about it. Brenda knows what I mean!!We drove back to the Passion play site and were so fortunate to have the handicapped sticker (thanks to Johnny) and Marguerite's handicap, because we were able to park right by the gate. The Passion Play began at 7:30 and was amazing. They had great sets and wonderful actors.

We got up on time Saturday, and left the motel about 7 AM so we could get to Branson on time to get tickets and see the Yakov Smirnoff show. We stopped at a MacDonalds on the way and had a quick breakfast. The Yakov show started at 9:30 AM and we had made it there just in time. It was just great and we did a lot of laughing. We got out shortly before noon, and found a Chili's restaurant across the street, where we had lunch. We then headed into Branson

We drove up and down the strip on '76' and saw lots of places. Wow I have not been here before, so the town was interesting, and busy. We checked into our Quality Inn, and it is decent. We had some time before supper, so we went to the breakfast room and played cards. I again did quite well, with a -97, and the plot on me continues to grow.

We freshened up a bit and got in the car to cross the street. It is close enough to walk, but unless you are very quick you will be dead, and not all of us are quick. We had supper at the Baldknobbers Restaurant, and then went next door to the theater. It was a good meal and we had some time to kill before the show. The pre show started at 7:15, and went quickly. The Baldknobbers was a good show, and funny, so we had a relaxing time.