On my last post I mentioned that my daughter and I were going to Branson for her spring break, well, it didn’t last long, but that is exactly what we did. After I picked up my daughter in Springfield, we decided to go first to Branson Landing. There we checked out the stores for about an hour before heading to drop our stuff at the room.

Our Room at the Victorian Palace Hotel

We arrived at our hotel at 3 pm on March 9. We arrived early enough so that we could drop off our suitcases to head off for the show we planned to watch that night.

The Dixie Stampede

We arrived at the Dixie Stampede for the 5:30 show which actually started at 4:40 with a pre-show of jugglers. The show reminds me of what Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was like. There were horses, wagons, funny stunts, cowboys, cowgirls, Indians, animal races and the like. We had soup, a cheesy biscuit, a whole small chicken, pork loin, corn on the cob, baked potato, and an apple turnover all which we had to eat with our fingers. The think that the best part was the fact that it was so interactive. We all had a great time! After the show, we went back to our room where we got an early night so that we could conserve our energy for the following day’s events.

The Titanic Museum

Our only other scheduled activity was to go to the Titanic Museum which we did on Tuesday. We each got a card at the beginning of the tour telling of one of the passengers of the ship. We were to discover whether or not our person survived. I was a young mother in second class and Boni was an older woman in first class.

One of the many things that we learned that I found coincidental was that lifesavers candies was invented the same year that Titanic sank. Titanic was considered unsinkable and there were not life boats for all of the passengers on the ship. Clarence Crane, Chocolate maker first invented Crane’s Peppermint Lifesavers in the summer of 1912. Round life-preservers with the hole in the middle for tossing to a passenger fallen overboard were just beginning to be used. But that was only half of the story. Chocolates were hard to sell in the summer, so Crane decided a mint would help increase his summertime sales. At that time, most of the mints came from Europe and were square-shaped

At the end of our tour, we discovered our Titanic person’s fate. My daughter’s woman survived and so did my person as well as her husband and child. .

Branson Landing and Tanger Outlet Mall

At Branson Landing, we shopped, ate ice cream and a pretzel and shopped some more. We did the same at Tanger. Last night after a long day of shopping, we were both exhausted and didn’t feel like eating out so we stopped at the grocery store, bought a bunch of junk food and vegged out the rest of the evening in the room.

People We Met

Probably the best part of the trip for me was meeting the people. Because the tourism isn’t in full swing in Branson, the people who worked there were not all that business so they were able to stop and talk. At our hotel, I met a man from Belize who worked there. He had also worked in Doniphan and in Mammoth Springs which was not far from where I live. He had been to my town and knew the Mexicans who worked with one of my brothers. Small world, wouldn’t you say? He also had worked in Mammoth Springs where one of my current co-workers used to work. He didn’t know the people that I knew, but he knew people that knew people that I know. Which made me think about the theory of the six degrees of separation.

Another person that I found interesting was a young man who worked as a cowboy at the Dixie Stampede. I didn’t talk to him much, but just enough to discover that his name was J.R. (No, his last name was not Ewing).

At the Titanic Museum, one of the workers in the gift shop had heard me commenting on the fact that my person’s husband and child also were survivors. He was from London, England. He handled me the book based on this family. He chose the right person. I love books. I decided right away to buy it.

I talked quilts with the owner of Branson Quilts at Branson landing and had a long conversation about food with the lady who worked at the As Seen on TV Store. I told her about Bobbi Flay’s waffle french toast which she Googled. We talked a long time with Lisa at Victoria’s Secret where we bought matching sweat shirts.

Headed Home in the Morning

After several Krispie Kreme donuts and coffee, we headed home yesterday morning. Boni was home at about noon and I was home three hours later. It was not a long vacation by any stretch of the imagination, but it was loaded with memories for both of us.

Cygnet Brown has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. Her upcoming book A Coward’s Solace will be available soon. Click here for more information about Cygnet Brown and her books.