Yesterday was my day to run all over town and get my free birthday meals. That meant a trip into Branson which is about 25-30 minutes away. There are two parts of Branson, MO. The most well known is where all the theaters and restaurants are located. Then there is downtown Branson. Think of Las Vegas the town and Las Vegas the "Strip".
We first headed to the theater area and Denny's for breakfast. This is twice we have been here and both times it was pretty busy even though there doesn't seem to be many tourists. I guess it is like it is in Florida, busy with snowbirds in the winter and busy with locals in the summer. Up here in Branson I guess the seasons are reversed.
After I filled myself with more breakfast than I should we drove west out of Branson just to see where the road went. Not too far down the road traffic stopped dead so we made a quick right turn and wound up on a stretch of highway that seemed to take us out into the middle of nowhere. The road eventually took us right back into Branson. I guess all roads here lead to Branson!
We headed back east toward Branson proper because Mary wanted to go to Dick's 5 and 10 in downtown Branson. It was probably an old five and dime in it's day but is now a tourist attraction. Dick's is now primarily a tourist town gift shop with everything Branson. It was kind of neat to see some of the old time gifts, toys, games, and candies that brought back memories of my youth. Some of it just reminded me of how old I am.
We didn't buy anything. There was nothing there that we couldn't live without and the tourist stuff was your typical tourist trap trinkets. If you have been anywhere you know what I mean. The magnets, key chains, hats, shirts, are all the same where ever you go, just tweaked to reflect the area they are promoting. Whether it is from Daytona Beach, NYC, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, or a hundred other places the junk is all the same "made in Japan" crap!
After walking around a while it was time to find me a free dinner. Back to "touristland" Branson and a nice meal at Ruby Tuesday. The sun had gone down by now and the temperature was dropping so we put on light jackets and enjoyed the cool clear evening before heading home.
I am starting to get used to the narrow, winding, unlit, back roads around here....especially at night with the sun gone and total darkness by 5:30pm. There just seems to be too many hours between sundown and bedtime this time of year.
Well I am going to get busy outside since the weather is beautiful today. The high will be around 60 degrees and sunny so we are going to enjoy it while we can here in our home in Forsyth because.....
Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary
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