Bruce and I just came back from a few days in Branson - not our normal vacation destination, but we tacked on a little sightseeing to a conference I was working. When we hit town, we fought our way through the traffic on Hwy 76 to Andy William's
Moon River Grill, which also happens to be right across from the Outlet Mall (hence the crowds and congestion). We heard that this restaurant was supposed to serve "home cooking just like Andy's mother used to make." After lunch, Bruce said he could see why Andy Williams was always so skinny. I thought the quiche and soup were OK, but Bruce said the meatloaf was better at Cracker Barrel.
We went back the next night to Andy William's theater to see the show
Oh What a Night - a tribute to Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. We left the hotel about an hour early thinking we'd have to fight the traffic again, but since we were going to an evening show, most of the seniors were already in bed for the night. We had the highway practically to ourselves. The four gentlemen singers were really quite good with lots of dancing and jokes sprinkled in. They said they would be working for Norwegian Cruise lines after this gig.
We actually stayed in downtown Branson, right next to Branson's Landing - a restaurant and shopping area right along the water. I'm not exactly sure what this waterway is called, but it connects Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock Lake (probably so this dinner paddle wheel boat would have somewhere to float). Every time the paddle boat got across from this fountain, spray would shoot up and fire balls erupted from the top of the metal tubes. I tried and tried to catch the fire balls in a photo, but no luck.
We got up early one morning to do some geocaching before the crowds arrived. In a place like Branson, you've got to get up REALLY early to beat the seniors. There was some morning mist on the water as the sun was coming up that looked like smoke - very pretty.
Bruce and I found a great place to have breakfast called
Clockers. I had the Clockers' Special with 2 eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast. Bruce had the same thing only he got 2 dinner-sized pancakes instead of toast. Both breakfasts together were cheaper than one breakfast at the Hilton.
We browsed through a few antique stores. Two really popular ones were consignment shops divided into tiny little stalls with individual owners - mostly junk, but once in a while we saw something interesting. We actually bought some old
Saturday Evening Post covers with Norman Rockwell artwork. Not sure if they are truly originals, but they were only $2.50.
