The first photo in this post was a picture in the master bathroom of the condo we rented. (Sorry about the shadow. I turned the flash off and it still had a shadow.) The phrase is what should happen when you go on a vacation. The first day of our vacation, however, was hectic. The change oil light had been flashing on the dash the last week or so, but I had been ignoring it because the oil wasn't due to be changed until August - at least that's what it said on the label on the windshield. We pulled out of the driveway and a warning flashed on the dash - Get oil changed now. The husband and I thought we would just go ahead and drive, but as we were driving down the road, he thought that just maybe we should go and get the oil changed. The dealer we bought the car from was on the way to Branson, so we stopped by to get an oil change. The service advisor looked at the oil level and said that we had no oil in the car. Thank the Lord we made it to the car dealer (or somewhere on Hwy. 44) without the engine exploding.
The oil change put us about an hour behind on our trip. We stopped at Culver's in Eureka to eat lunch instead of St. Robert. I looked at the Hardee's next door and wished I had brought my fast food coupons. I then realized that I forgot to bring my folder with all of my printed vouchers for the shows we were going to attend and the voucher for Grand Country Buffet. This getting old and forgetful thing is not a good thing. How was I going to reprint my vouchers? We were staying at a condo in the Falls and hubby recalled they had a business center with computers and a printer in the main building.
We stopped at Buc-ee's in Springfield. Buc-ee's didn't open until after our Christmas trip, so we had to wait until this trip to see it. The store had 100 gas pumps and so much stuff and food in the store! I did purchase a Sprite fountain soda. Buc-ee's is the only place I've seen Sprite in a fountain version. It was crowded even though it was a Monday - I'd hate to see how crowded it would be on a Saturday.
We finally made it to the condo after we stopped at Walmart to get supplies. The condo was in Building 30 in the Falls, which was very close to the road you take to the marina. When we entered the condo, there was a really musty smell like someone (the cleaning crew, perhaps?) had been smoking. Ugh! We got everything unpacked and made supper. There was a small kitchen, so there wasn't much in the way of cooking gear. I realized I would have to go back to Walmart and purchase a cookie sheet.
After dinner, I drove up to the Falls' main building to see about printing off my vouchers for the shows and for Grand Country Buffet. I signed into my Google account (where I have a folder called Branson 2023 with my vouchers, lodging confirmations, etc.) but I couldn't get the printer to work. So I went to the front desk and explained my problem to a nice young lady named Tabitha Reyes. She had me email the voucher emails to her and she printed them off for me. We discussed this blog, its Facebook page and our many trips to Branson and our stays at the Falls. Thank you so much, Tabitha! In fact, everyone I've ever spoken with in the Falls main building has been very nice and welcoming.
I drove back to the condo, where my hubby informed me that the bathtub faucet didn't work in the master bedroom. I tried to get it to work but wasn't successful. The three of us had to take showers in the second bathroom the whole trip. I reported it to the condo owners, but no one ever came to fix the bathtub faucet in our bathroom. Our condo did include a voucher for 2 free tickets for a show at the Hughes Brothers Theater. We hadn't yet seen the ReVibe show there, so I called and made reservations for the 2 PM Tuesday show.
When we woke up on Tuesday morning and got on our phones, we discovered that over 8 inches of rain had fallen in southwest Illinois where we live and the dam had failed in one of the small towns. Thankfully, our house has a crawlspace and not a basement, so we escaped the basement flooding that plagued our next-door neighbors.
We went to the Doug Gabriel show on Tuesday morning. Doug has been performing in Branson for many years but we have never gotten around to seeing him. I saw an ad on Facebook for the show for only $15.00/ticket. That was a great deal, so we took advantage of it. It is still available as of this writing; when you go to Doug's website to buy tickets, enter the code SUMMER for the discount.
Doug's show was excellent. Since this was Doug's 30th anniversary in Branson, there was a retrospective of Doug's entire career. If you are of a certain age, you will remember Doug's "mufftar" guitar made from a car muffler by his dad. Doug did a wonderful Elvis tribute and I really enjoyed his version of "Malaguena." Whoever does the lighting for Doug's show is a genius. During "Malaguena," the lights changed every time Doug played a new chord on the guitar. I also enjoyed the duet he performed with his wife. And Doug spoke about his faith in Jesus during a part of the show. This show was worth more than the $15.00 we paid for each ticket.
After Doug's show, I had a voucher from OzarksDeals.com for Grand Country Buffet to buy one buffet and get one free (no longer available), so we went there for lunch. The wait staff were friendly, but I think Golden Corral and Pizza Ranch have better buffets. I would have liked to look around the gift shop at Grand Country, but we had to leave to get to the Hughes Brothers Theater to pick up our tickets for the ReVibe show.
ReVibe features the Hughes Brothers' kids and grandkids. They performed songs from the 1940s through the 2000s. The choreography and the song selection were excellent. However, some of the kids' voices were not mature enough to sing some of the songs. The three teenage girls singing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" by the Bee Gees was especially cringe. Their voices were too thin, and did they ever have broken hearts?
After the show, we returned to Walmart to buy a cookie sheet to make breakfast the next morning. However, when we got to Walmart, there were a whole lot of people and Walmart employees standing outside the front of the store. The power was probably out. So we went to Price Chopper instead, where we bought two foil cookie sheets for cheaper than what we would have spent at Walmart. We then returned to the condo to make supper and relax for the evening.
On Wednesday morning, we awoke to a big rainstorm. In fact, it had been raining most of the night. There was a small ravine between the condominium buildings, and the rain filled the ravine and came up almost to the patio area. Branson ended up getting 8 inches of rain that day. It flooded the RV park near Branson Landing, and RV's and campers had to evacuate. We had planned on going to Branson 2 for 1 Tickets to buy vouchers for the Wild West dinner show at Shepherd of the Hills. However, we were unsure whether the show and the park would be open due to all the rainfall. So we decided not to go. We'll try again next year.
On Wednesday afternoon, we went to The Grand Village shopping center. We enjoy going through most of the stores. We discovered a new Christian bookstore there called Fig Tree Books and More where the Thomas Kinkade store used to be. The name was certainly correct as there were not only books, but t-shirts, Bibles, mugs, tumblers, and jewelry. I purchased a metal tumbler with some of the words to one of my favorite Fanny Crosby hymns ("Blessed Assurance") and a Bible word search book for my hubby. I could have spent more time here, but my guys were ready to go to Andy's Frozen Custard. We got to Andy's just in time before a big group of people arrived. After Andy's, we returned to the condo, made dinner, and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.
On Thursday morning, we went to Branson Landing to visit Bass Pro Shops. We browsed but didn't buy anything. The son bought a few items at Bass Pro. We walked down the sidewalk and I purchased a new St. Louis Cardinals decal for my Jeep Cherokee at On the Ball Sports. I really wanted the City Connect Cardinals license plate holder, but I will put that on my birthday/Christmas list. On the Ball Sports has not only baseball items, but NFL football and hockey items as well. The sports fans in your family would like this store.
We walked to the town square to see if it had been affected by the flooding the day before. There was water in the base of the fountains, as you will see in the photo below.
We went back to the condo to have lunch and freshen up before our last show of this visit. We went to the Dustin Tavella - Now I See show with a voucher from OzarksDeals.com, which is no longer available. Dustin is an illusionist who won America's Got Talent in 2021. He is a friendly, outgoing guy who did some amazing illusions, interspersed with storytelling. For one illusion, he had people call out numbers and had everyone add up the numbers on their phone calculators. I don't know how he did it, but the sum was the same number as the 8-digit number printed on everyone's tickets. Later, he changed the serial number on a dollar bill. How did he do that? Toward the end, he mentioned how he ended up in Branson. He said he and his wife adopted two boys and during his residency in Las Vegas, he had to cover their eyes so they wouldn't see the debauchery that takes place in Vegas. He was looking for a new, family-oriented place to hold his show and so he found Branson. Dustin also talked about his Christian faith. This was my favorite show on this trip. I would highly recommend this show.
After we left Dustin's show, we went to Danna's BBQ for dinner. Hubby and I both had the yummy Piggy Melt with French fries. The son got nachos with only cheese. As mentioned before, he is a picky eater. We then went back to the condo to pack up to return home.
We didn't do as much this trip as previous trips, but we enjoyed getting away anyway. We are still debating about a Christmas trip this year. We've seen almost all of the Christmas shows already.
Don't forget that this blog has a Facebook page where I post Branson deals and articles about Branson. Here's the link: Branson on Your Budget. Click the follow button so you'll get the latest deals right away.
Thanks for reading! See you next time!
Diane
