We decided to road trip to Branson for our family trip this year. It's just an easy, low key spot with lots to do, we knew we'd have fun. We love being around nature, exploring, & also love touristy activities. Branson covers all of that and much much more!
And we're off....We set the alarms for 3 am because the kids wanted to go back to sleep in the car, hoping to make the drive feel shorter. Lex didn't mind, so that's what we did.
It took us around 13 hours, so we arrived around 4 pm. We stayed in a condo in West Branson that had some hiking trails and a lake with a fishing dock. We checked out the property on the first night, went to Walmart to get some groceries and then headed to dinner.
Monday morning we decided to hit up Silver Dollar City, it was going to rain later that day but we figured we'd take our chances and get there early enough to ride as much as we could.
Catching the trolley to the entrance...
Watch out people, don't let these kids out of jail!
The old west theme is my favorite part, it's like your stepping back in time!
We rode all the small rides first, Boat Ride where you shoot at the targets to get points. Lex won of course, LOL!
The kids rode lots of spinning rides, so we opted out of those! What we didn't take into consideration was that the rides start shutting down even if there is lightening anywhere in the near distance. The weather looked fine to us, but everything started shutting down around lunch time. So we watched the dog show, those are some impressive dogs! And the Saloon show, which was a little cheesy. I had read online you can get a rain check if it rains for an hour and a half during your stay, so we were going to wait it out so we could come back another day. Then we overheard someone say, you can get your rain check if the rides have been shut down due to lightening for an hour and a half. So we got our rain check and left, hoping to come back on Friday! It was a good morning and we were tired anyway, so we went back to the condo and rested till dinner.
Our favorite dinner of the trip was at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, MO. Lex read up on it and the reviews were outstanding, so we had to try it out. We loved it! Homestyle cooking and kind of family style. You order a full meal, but then they bring you hot rolls (that they throw to you from across the room), fried okra, black eye peas, and cream corn. We were so stuffed when we left!! Delish!
The next day it was pouring all morning, but we had planned to go to Dogwood Canyon, one of our favorite things we did in 2020. Looking at the radar, Lex figured it would clear up around 10 am, so we hopped in the car in the pouring rain to get there at 10 and lo and behold, it stopped and we basically had the place to ourselves! It was so nice! We rented bikes and explored for hours!
We made it all the way to Arkansas! Here the kids are half way in Missouri and half way in Arkansas :)
When we got back, Katelyn went out for a run (and Lex and Levi followed her on their bikes). While Kyler and I explored the big treehouse!
Nothing like a who's stronger competition....
That evening we had tickets to see Queen Esther at the Sights and Sounds Theater
We weren't quite sure what to expect, but we were completely amazed at how good it was!! We had heard good things and seen clips online of their plays but my goodness it was the best live performance we've ever seen. The set was incredible, the actors were professional, the singing and music was amazing, the story was biblical, we all loved it so much! And even better, was how helpful and kind the staff were and how humble the actors were. There was no bowing at the end, no biographies of who they were in the program, just a call to those who may want to know more about Christ at the end, like a church service. So cool! We can't wait to go see another show one day!
Wednesday we had breakfast on the porch and enjoyed the view. It was actually a little chilly after the rainy days, I think it got down to 65 or so, which was so nice!
I didn't take a lot of pictures this day because we spent it at the waterpark, White Water. It was a small park, but we had a great time!! The lines weren't too bad in the morning but got pretty busy later in the afternoon.
We headed out mid afternoon, took some downtime at the condo, and then did some souvenir shopping at the original 5 and Dime in downtown Branson. It smelled like a nursing home, but the boys couldn't stop looking at ALL the things!
Kyler ended up picking out this little skillet and loves having his own skillet to cook in now. He couldn't stop talking about all the things he can cook in it. So many ideas!! :)
Thursday we had reserved a boat at Rocklane Marina on Table Rock lake. It was the best day! If you ask the kids what their favorite thing we did, they'd all say tubing at the lake! Lex was almost convinced to buy a boat after this day! We had the boat for 4 hours, which was the perfect length of time.
Quote of the trip, after I asked Kyler if he wants a turn by himself...
Hesitating...."But there's no one to talk to out there by myself."
The whole trip, we kept having to ask him to stop talking so someone else would have a chance. He has a lot going on in his brain and he's just got to tell someone, immediately :)
The lady at the marina told us where to go around the lake and mentioned this cliff jumping spot. We dropped the kids here and they swam over, climbed up and jumped! The smaller of the two spots was probably around 10' tall and the bigger was around 20'. It was fun to watch them conquer their fears. Levi was the most fearless surprisingly, Katelyn got into it, but it took a little while. And Kyler's first attempt, he was contemplating jumping really hard, and then Levi pushed him, haha! Kyler claims he was about to do it himself. That's what brothers are for, I guess :)
And my favorite restaurant we ate it was this Tiki Bar. I am a sucker for eating outside with a view of the water. My burger was amazing too!!
Thursday Night we had tickets to see the outdoor Shepherd of the Hills show. They have some fun activities around the property you can do before the show, so we got there early and played a short round of putt putt, the kids climbed on all the things and we settled into our seats for the show.
The story is of the Shepherd of the Hills, it started off a little slow and corny. But once they brought out the gun fights and the love story unfolded, it turned out to be pretty good. Overall, we're glad we went but probably don't need to see it again.
Friday we decided to cash in our rain check to Silver Dollar City and didn't think twice about the weather since it was our last day. When we got to the counter to cash them in, the lady made sure to let me know that we can't redeem rain checks on a rain check, should it rain. I was thinking, oh no worries, it looks like a beautiful day....fast forward 30 minutes when we are walking around and everything is closed because it's lightening and then it starts raining, hard. We ducked into a few shops, got some famous Silver Dollar city Cinnamon bread and coffee, etc. By noon, the rain wasn't stopping, so we headed out. We didn't get to have a true experience at Silver Dollar City, which was disappointing, but we would try again if we had the chance. We loved the atmosphere and think the rides looked like a lot of fun! haha!
Entertaining himself while we waited....
We did get to go into this wonky house, slightly haunted, slightly off balance, very strange. LOL
We decided to make the most of the day and headed to Branson Landing for lunch and shopping. We had a great meal at Bricktown Brewery and got a few more souvenir's.
We headed back to the condo to rest a little, the kids played on the playground, apparently barefoot...
That evening, we decided to "hike" a little. We stopped at a lookout spot, where you took a short walk to a lookout tower to get great views of the city. I finally got to wear my hiking shirt, although it was a short but sweet hike :)
Then we headed out to do some night putt putt at Pirates Cove. This was a great little putt putt place, you can't come to Branson without going putt putting!
When we got back to the condo, we saw fireworks in the distance. It must have been Silver Dollar City.....maybe we should have gone back for the evening to catch a few rides, but we were way too tired at this point. We were ready to go home.
Saturday morning we got up leisurely (not at 3 am) and got on the road. The kids played on the playground for a few minutes (with shoes this time) and we packed the car. 13 hours later, we were so happy to be home. We had a great trip and made lots of great memories!!
