Monday Sept 19

Happy Anniversary to Al and Linda Tischer and happy birthday to me today.

We left Rapid City, SD to visit Mount Rushmore.  We stopped to wash the corvette at a car wash before leaving town and had an unusual experience.  If you are interested in finding out what happened ask us when you see us in Calgary.  I'm sure you will be truly amazed.

We drove 25 miles to Mount Rushmore and it was a beautiful warm day.  We enjoyed the time here and at the town of Keystone nearby so much that we didn't continue our way home until 2:00 pm.  If you have not been to see this amazing monument and learn how they built it, it is well worth going to see some day in your travels.

We did a short walk to the base of the mountain.  Each head is 60 feet in height.  Amazing technique was used to get them to look like the four presidents,  Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln.

90 per cent of the carving of the heads was done with dyanmite. 

The following photo is the last surviving man to have worked on the monument.  He started working in the cable shed and then was one of the drillers that hung over the side of the monument with a drill.  He is 90 years old and worked from 1938 to 1941.  He worked on the heads of Roosevelt and Lincoln.  A very delightful man to talk to and he was enjoying the attention he was receiving for his book which we purchased.  He also gave us his baseball card from when he played on the Mount Rushmore worker's team.  Nice to chat with someone of his age that still has all his faculties.

We continued our journey through South Dakota and Wyoming and we spending the night in Billings, Montana.  Our hope is to be back in Calgary tomorrow---unless we find something really interesting on our way.

Sunday Sept 18

Today we continued our journey home through South Dakota and stopped at two touristy places that we have been at before but not since 1993.  The first stop was at Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the famous Corn Palace.  This is a large building that houses a large basketball court and viewing stands but is also used for concerts and large events.  Since 1892 they have been covering the outside of the building with murals that are made of different coloured corn.  The murals are changed every year as birds eat the corn over the course of the year.  The town owns 100 acres where they grow the corn for the palace.  Inside the corn palace they have photos of each year's murals from when they started.

Below are some pictures we took of the Corn Palace:

Had to add  this photo because not every day can you get your picture taken with a large ear of corn!!!!

Our second stop for the day was in Wall, South Dakota at the famous Wall Drug.  The unique thing about Wall Drug is that you can't help but stop because of the billboard advertising that bombards your senses for hundreds of miles no matter what highway you approach it from.  South Dakota has to be the King State of the U.S. for billboards----they are everywhere.

Wall Drug was started in 1931 by a local pharmacist and was famous for offering free ice water for anyone who stopped which they still do.  Doesn't sound like much of a drawing card nowadays but in the 30's,40's50's it was a welcome relief for road weary travellers.  It is now definitely a high class tourist trap.

We ended our journey today by staying in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Mount Rushmore is 25 miles away so we will visit there tomorrow.

Heading Home Sat. Sept 17

A good day to leave Branson as it was raining quite heavily.  The whole day was cloudy and rainy.  As we approached the Iowa border the rain let up but it was a dull and dreary day.  We headed straight north from Branson.  Branson is just north of Arkansas by a few miles and it took us most of the day to get to the northern border of the state.  We were driving on I 29, a freeway that is on the east side of the Missouri River.  At the town of Rockport, Miss.  we had to start a detour because of flooding.  It turns out that the flooding started in June and has not subsided as of today.  The pictures you see below are of the many farms we saw along the way that are totally underwater.  It is really strange to see farmhouses and barns and silos sitting on islands in the middle of what looks like large lakes.  The other amazing thing is that the farms in these pictures are 5 miles from the Missouri River.  We probably put on at least 120 miles of detours because the freeway has been flooded and impassable at different points.  The Highways Dept of Iowa wanted everyone to go east to Des Moines Iowa and then north to I 90 and then west.  This would have added at least 200-300 extra miles of driving to our trip.  Luckily we headed back towards Council Bluffs, Iowa and decided to try to find a shorter route.  I went into a service station and the young lady showed us a 45 minute detour that would bring us to I 29 and there were no further detours.  She said she thought the Highways Dept. of Iowa was just trying to keep all the big trucks off the smaller rural roads.  Fortunately her advice was correct and we ended up staying in  Sioux City, Iowa.  We had wanted to end today in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  We will make that destination in about an hour tomorrow and then head west on I90.

The pictures below hopefully show some of the immense devastation to farmland in this area.

The picture below shows an example of all the roads that normally go from Missouri and Iowa to Nebraska.  They have all been closed.  If you want to get to Nebraska you had better own a boat!!!!!!

The best part of this kind of trip is the unexpected. 

Branson Fri. Sept 16

Our last day in Branson and only one show today at 5 pm.  A tribute to George Strait.  It was in a small theatre and it was very entertaining.  We were in the second row and could almost reach out and touch the entertainers-----almost sounds like a song!!!!!  You're probably tired of reading this but the talent in this town is amazing. 

Before we went to the show we went to eat at the big chicken place.

Now you have to admit that is one big chicken.  The food was very good.

The following pictures are from our last show in Branson.  Tomorrow we start the trek home.  We are going to head straight north through Kansas City to Sioux Falls, SD and then start heading west eventually to Billings Montana to Great Falls and then home.  We're not sure how long it will take but look forward to getting home.

Hope everything has been well with everyone while we'd had our adventure and hope you found some interesting things to read in our blog.  We have enjoyed our time and look forward to our next trip.  We'll try to keep a short update on our trip home.

Branson Thurs. Sept 15

Not much to blog about today.  We are relaxing this week and enjoying the 2 a day shows.  The trouble with relaxing is your immune system seems to relax as well and we are still fighting our sore throats and dry cough--though they seem to be getting better daily.

Today we went to see the Clay Cooper Show in the morning and the Presley's(no relation to Elvis)in the evening.  The Presley show is the granddaddy show of Branson.  They were the first to build and open a theatre in Branson in 1967.  They now have 4 generations entertaining in their show.  Again, both shows feature extremely talented people and are certainly entertaining with their mixture of country, rock and novelty acts and comedy.  The Presley's seem to be more country, blue grass and gospel oriented than the other shows we have seen. 

On Friday we are seeing one last show---the tribute to George Strait.  Andy Williams and Ann Margret have opened a show together this week but we opted not to go to that one.   If you ever decide to come to Branson you will not be disappointed with the number of shows and the variety of entertainment.  Unlike Las Vegas there are no casinos and no alcohol sold at the shows.  Popcorn and soda seem to the the main staple for the older crowds that come to the shows.  The Clay Cooper show today had a motorcoach from Ontario as well as motor coaches from many other states.  The people unload very slowly.  I've never seen so many canes, walkers, wheel chairs  and oxygen bottles.  Vicky and I feel like kids at these shows.  The best part is I can beat 99 per cent of these old guys to the restroom at intermission and get in before the line ups start.  I think the only reason they have intermission is because of the age of the audience.

No pictures taken today.

Branson Wed Sept14

Today was our first rainy day in the Branson area.  The temp has dropped about 30 degrees from the high of 99 yesterday.  Unfortunately Vicky and I have picked up some Missouri germs that our systems haven't had before and we have sore throats and dry cough.  We are going through Hals to soothe our throats and carrying on.

Today we went to two shows.  In the morning we went to see the Brett Family--Mom/Dad/28 yr old daughter and 26 yr old son.  A younger son is doing church work in South America.  Again,  an extremely talented family.  The daughter is a classical pianist/dancer/choreographer---Dad has a beautiful tenor voice and plays many instruments--Mom has a beautiful voice and writes and arranges music---and the son is the consummate entertainer---sings,  dances, comedy and seems to be the main focus of the entertainment.  We enjoyed this show immensely.

Mom and Dad singing together

This is the son doing a couple of his routines.  An extremely talented young man.

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In the evening we went to see the Dutton Family.  Again, superb entertainment.  Mom/Dad/5 of 7 adult children and they even managed to fit in most of their 23 grandchildren ranging in age from 14 yrs to 2 months.

This family finished in the top 10 of America's Got Talent a number of years ago.  Hard to believe that one family can play such a variety of instruments.  Again,  one of the sons seems to be the main focus of the comedy side and dancing.  I think these are the children that were ADHD as children.  They have so much energy

Today two more shows.  Let the entertainment continue!!!

Branson Tues. Sept.13

Another hot day in Branson but we enjoyed the day by going to two shows---one in the morning and one this evening.  In between we did some shopping.

The first show was the George Dyer Show.  This guy is an incredible singer--everything from opera to love songs to rock.  His 22 year old daughter is also an exceptional singer.  These shows are very entertaining with lots of audience participation and comedy thrown in.  Of course our Vicky got picked to go on stage with 2 other ladies and of course she was thrilled.

This is not the main attraction guy in this picture.  This is the keyboard player in the group with Vicky.  All five guys in the band were exceptional musicians and entertainers.

This picture below shows the handsome and talented George Dyer plus two other ladies with Vicky.  He did a musical skit that kept the audience in constant laughter

As you can see the ladies had a great time on stage and the audience seemed to enjoy the fun.

In the evening we went to see the Hamner and Barber show.  Hamner is a fabulous illusionist and Barber is a ventriloquist.  They have known each other since they were kids and their acts compliment each other.  These shows last about 2 hours with a fifteen minute intermission.  We are seeing 2 shows each day for the rest of the week.  It may seem like a lot but they are a lot of fun.  Plus, Vicky and I feel like kids compared to most of the audiences.  This is definitely not a place to bring kids unless you want to show them what they will look like if they don't eat their veggies and exercise on a regular basis and use lots of sunscreen.

The weather is suppose to cool down a bit to the 70's over the next few days which we will be a welcome change.

Branson, Sept.12

Another beautiful day in Missouri.  High temp today was 93 degrees. 

We started the day by driving across to the south side of Lake Taneycomo.  It looks more like a river than a lake to me but when in Missouri take them at their word.  I love the Missouri drawl and turn of phrase when they talk.  They all seem to come from a background of story telling because there doesn't seem to be a quick answer to a question---there is usually a great use of the language with an innuendo thrown in.  Hope that makes some kind of sense.

The pictures below were taken from a scenic view stop and are looking toward Branson.

Our next stop was at the Silver City dinner cruise site.  They have a full size Mississppi River boat that does dinner cruises with entertainment.  The lake in this area seems to be a great recreation area with state parks with campgrounds and lots of boats running around.

Just around the corner from the river boat was the Table Rock Dam that was built in 1957.  This dam is responsible for the lake and recreation area shown in the above pictures. 

We drove across the dam and back into Branson.  We decided to stop and do a tour of the Stone Hill Winery in Branson.  Apparently German people of Pennsylvannia came to a town named Herman north of Branson in the middle 1800's and started to grow grapes and then started a winery.  They did very well until Prohibition was institued during the 1930's.  After the Prohibition era they started the winery again and are doing very well.  Our tour guide Tony was quite the character and with his Missouri drawl and sense of humour he kept our tour group entertained.  His cousin worked in the winery as well and his name was Bobby Orr----not the hockey great as he looked more like Fabio than the great number 4 for Boston Bruins.

During the tour we went in a room where a person makes their spumante wines.  Now I know what Santa Claus does during the summer months.  He doesn't do any of the toy making at the North Pole at all.  He's enjoying nice weather in the hills of southern Missouri---who would have thought!!!!!

This gentleman explained the bottling process for spumante wine and had a very slow deliberate manner of speaking and a very quick wit and dry sense of humour.  We then went into the testing room and got to taste about 8 or 9 different wines.  It could have been more or less but after 4 I lost count due to the enjoyment of imbibing that much wine-----Al Tischer and Rick Rappel eat your hearts out!

By now it was time to return to the Colonnade where we are staying as they were having a free dinner and a variety of acts from the theatres in Branson.  This is a most unusual timeshare.  We get a free continental breakfast each morning of our stay which we have never had before in any of the places we have stayed.  The show lasted two hours and featured 15 different acts from the various venues.  What they are doing is showing you what is available.  The level of talent in this town is phenomenal (if I spelled this word incorrectly its because of the wine tour).  The show was hosted by a comedian named Harly Worthit.  He was absolutely hilarious.  Dennis-I know where you can get work if you get bored!!!!!!

We made the mistake of sitting close to the front and when he found out we were from Canada we then became the focus of many of his jokes.  If you're interested when we return home we will fill you in on the things he said.  Vicky lost most of her mascara from laughing at his jokes.

Now that I look at the picture we had taken with Harly I can see why our friend Dennis would do well in Branson,  you look a lot like Harly---but then again maybe it's the wine blurring my vision.  It does look like I've sniffed and drank a few too many wines.

Even though the performances were short they showed how talented the entertainers in this area are.  There are so many shows to choose from but you can't go wrong going to any of them.  They had draws for prizes throughout the evening and Vicky won a free ticket to one of the shows.  Tonight we're deciding which shows we'll take in over the rest of the week.

When driving down the strip and looking at the marques I was a bit dubious about the quality of the entertainment.  After our show tonight it seems like Branson has much talent entertaining.  They may not be the big name stars but they certainly seem extremely talented. 

Tomorrow the entertainment blitz will begin.

Branson, Missouri Sept11

Today was another beautiful sunny day in this part of the world.  The anniversary of 9/11 is very prominent on all the TV channels.  Hard to believe that 10 years have passed since that fateful day.

We went for a long walk this morning as we have not been doing enough walking for our health.  You can see from the following pictures that Branson is very much geared to the tourist industry and to the Boomer generation.

After our walk we decided to drive to Old Branson along the lake.  It again is very touristy but they have done a wonderful job of making it tourist friendly.  There are over 100 shops, restaurants, fountains and entertainment.

This is Dick's Five and Dime Store.  There was nothing for 5 or 10 cents in the store---how disappointing!!!

Vicky is standing by a fountain that is in the middle of the shopping area.

In the following picture it looks like a river in the background but they call it a lake.  It does open up farther west into what looks like a real lake.

Before leaving Old Branson we stopped at Waxy O'Shea's Irish Pub for a beer.  The young men at the next table were musicians or least budding musicians and they were practicing some songs. We had some impromptu entertainment.

Tomorrow the resort we are staying in is having a free dinner and entertainment for the guests.  The rest of the day hasn't been planned yet.