Sampling the Midwest

We hit the road about 5:30 this morning, with a couple of goals in mind: 1. Check as many states off our list as possible, with the hope of ending up in Wisconsin, and 2. Have a Progressive Dinner of sorts, in order to sample some of the dishes those states are known for, which basically amounts to various meats on various buns. We managed to hit five states--Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin--and sample iconic foods from two of those, plus we added in the Nebraska food, even though we haven't made it there yet. (The reason for this is that the restaurant we wanted to try doesn't appear to be on the western side of the state, where we will be later, but there was one in Kansas City, right across from the place we were already planning to stop for the Kansas BBQ.) We collected our food samples from all over and then saved them up for a picnic lunch at a lovely park in Des Moines. We laughed at ourselves the whole time and made such fun memories! Oh, and lest you think us to be true pigs, we only ordered a couple of each sandwich and then divided them six ways.

Before our official food tour even started, we stopped for a good ol' Southern breakfast in Garden City, MO

Kansas: burnt ends on a bun

Iowa: breaded pork tenderloin sandwich
(Those are Jeff's hands, to give you an idea of size.)

Nebraska: The Runza, a German hamburger with beef and cabbage and various toppings

Picnic in the park

Spoiled on Mother's Day

I was completely spoiled today by my people, on our last day in Branson! They took me to a wonderful brunch at Level 2 Steakhouse and then indulged my every whim, which included visiting the Butterfly Palace, a tour and wine tasting at Curling Vine Winery, dinner at Pasghetti's, and the Patsy Cline tribute show this evening. Oh my goodness, we had so much fun! I am so thankful for those who call me mom! I am also thankful for my own mom, my mother-in-law, my grandmother, and all the other mothers in my life, whether related to me or not, who encourage and inspire me. Happy Mother's Day!

We love Branson!

Mother's Day Brunch with my people

This lovely lady first made me a mom

Bountiful Butterflies

The butterfly aviary is a happy place!

Curling Vine Winery

The Patsy Cline show was awesome!

Silver Dollar City

 Part county fair, part historic village, part theme park, and part variety show, Silver Dollar City is all fun! And, we were fortunate to get to visit during the Bluegrass and BBQ Festival, which meant good food and great music were easy to come by. Additionally, the kids got to ride all kinds of thrilling rides, and we got to watch some artisans, like glassblowers, blacksmiths, and woodworkers do their thing. It was such a wonderful day!

Just a swingin'

That time my seemingly innocent son unbuckled his seatbelt while the ride was in motion "because it was a slow ride, and there wasn't really a reason to wear a seatbelt," which caused the operator to shut down the ride, call park management, write up a report, recheck everyone's seatbelt, and restart the ride, and almost caused me to lose it from the other side of the fence.

The boys got invited into one of the food kiosks to help make succotash. If only they had had some big pans to work with!

The boys loved watching the blacksmith work.

Frog Races

A hand-powered ride

I'm pretty sure someone is going to get wet!

At the last show of the evening, the kids were invited up on stage to dance with the performers.
When Clay saw them break out the hula hoops, he made a beeline for the stage.
However, he reversed just as quickly when he saw all the hula hoops were already taken. 

Breakfast in Arkansas, Dinner in Missouri

We got a nice early start leaving OK this morning and drove through the rain for a couple of hours until we got to Granny's Kitchen in Huntsville, AR, where we stopped for a delicious breakfast. The menu offered traditional homemade Southern favorites and a few surprises, like biscuits covered in chocolate gravy, which we had to try. The dish was essentially homemade biscuits topped with homemade chocolate pie filling, and, while it was tasty, it was a bit too rich and sweet for most of our group.

Granny's Kitchen

After breakfast, we drove through the rain for another hour and a half to our destination: Branson, MO. We arrived at our campground early, but they had our spot ready and allowed us to go ahead and check in. We were all desperate for a shower, since we had missed the last couple of rounds, due to unusual travel circumstances, and we all felt more alive and ready to explore when that little bit of business was taken care of. Plus, we were really ready to stretch our legs, and the rain had stopped, so we set off on foot to see what the town of Branson had to offer. I can tell you, it has plenty to offer, and each attraction is a little more wacky than the last. Our wanderings brought us through the kitschy town and dumped us out at Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area, where we got to experience a beautiful hike. It was my favorite part of the day! Our eventual goal was to make it over to the Dixie Stampede dinner show. Everything, from visiting the stables, to the bluegrass band pre-show, to the amazing horse riding, to the dorky humor, to the efficient food service, was so much fun! We loved every minute! Afterwards, we walked the two miles back to our campground and settled in for some playground time and a mean game of Skip Bo before bed.

Kitschy Branson

Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area

The Dixie Stampede

Skip Bo