Friday, April 10, 2009

Day 32 & 33 - Ann and Ken Watson, Forsythe (Branson), Missouri


Today we arrived at the home of Ken and Ann Watson. Sandy worked with Ann – they were both Postmasters in Iowa, and Ken was in High Society Big Band with Joe. They moved to the Branson area about 2-3ish years ago. We can see what drew them here – beautiful mountains – their home is nestled in them, much entertainment, great restaurants. Ken is a dispatcher with the Branson police and Ann found a Postmaster position in a small town near their home.

We picked up lunch at Ken and Ann’s favorite fast food place (Backyard Burgers) and made our winding way to their house. After lunch we took a driving tour around the area, including a stop at Ann’s Post Office in Powersite. We went back home where they grilled steaks, potatoes and salad – another case of we ate too much! That evening we went to our first Branson show which just happened to be the Branson’s original show on the strip – the Presley’s Country Jubilee. What a fun show – it was a solid 2 hours of music and slapstick comedy. The Presley’s covered 4 generations of talent. After the show they made themselves available to the audience. Joe was pleased to talk to84 year old Lloyd Presley, the family founder and the person that opened the first musical theater in Branson. More food: after the show we stopped at Andy’s Frozen Custard – yummie! It reminded us a lot of Drew’s Frozen Custard that that we visited while on Route 66 in St. Louis.

Now we need to backtrack a little: let us tell you about the trip from Arkansas to Branson. Bridget (our GPS, we finally named it), took us on the “Scenic 7 Byway”. It was a beautiful route, but Sandy was terrified most of the way. This was through the mountains, up and down, hairpin curves with no guard rails and 2000 foot drops off the side of the road. We went much slower than the posted speed limits. With all that said, it was beautiful. We took a break about half way through. We stopped at the Rotary Ann roadside rest area, the first rest area ever in Arkansas. This site provided an excellent observation deck with a spectacular panoramic view of the mountains and the Ozark National Forest. We were all alone so Joe pulled out his pocket trumpet and played as loud as he could. Even with his best efforts he could not play anything as majestic as what we were seeing.

The next day Ann fixed a breakfast casserole – a great way to start a day of shopping in Branson. We started with Dick’s 5 & 10 – an old variety store that brought us back to our childhood. You could find most anything you wanted in this store, not to mention the stuff that you didn’t know you wanted! LOL! We had lots of fun taking our time going up and down the aisles. It took us most of the morning, so we went for lunch at Danna’s where we split a baked potato that was topped with butter, sour cream, coleslaw, beans and pulled pork. We can’t believe that Ann ate a whole one all by herself! We were full splitting one!

From Danna’s we toured Table Rock Lake and took a look inside the Chateau at Table Rock, the showcase of the John Q. Hammon hotels. We would LOVE to stay at this place someday – it was a cross between the Embassy Suites and the Hotel Patee if both of those were on steroids! Stunning! We finished the afternoon shopping at an Amish Sore, the Mountain Man Food and Nuts shop, and the Branson Mill Craft Store. And then returned home for a supper of a chicken casserole. It was outstanding!

That evening we took in another show: The Dutton Family show—an “America’s Got Talent” top 10 finalist. We had seen them on TV and really enjoyed them, so we were pleased to be able to see them in person. Tonight's show proved to us why they got has far as they did -they are a very talented family – 3 generations of them. They had the youngest generation singing a song from the Wizard of Oz and it was way too cute. They commented that these young upstarts were their retirement plan and we don’t think they need to worry! After the show we again went out for dessert, to a place called Cakes n Creams. We were served by waitresses in pony tails and poodle skirts. Joe had pecan pie and Sandy had the peach cobbler (warm with ice cream).

We had such a nice time – but it was once again time to hit the road. One more stop before home. What a fantastic five weeks!

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