Branson . . . Here We Come Again!

Branson, Missouri

A destination/vacation spot

for the Midwest

But not limited to the midwest for travelers from all over the country come to Branson

It was a quiet sleepy town in the area known as the Ozarks known for fishing because  first of all for the White River and then for

Lake Taneycomo which was built early in the last century for power

A snake of a lake, Branson is one of the towns that dot this lake made from damming up the White River

It is bookended by Corps of Engineer Lakes

Table Rock to the west

And Bull Shoals to the west and down into Arkansas

The Shepherd of the Hills attraction has been here a long time

For in the 70s it had a different sign

"Old Matt's cabin" and other things from the book written by Harold Bell Wright about this area of the Ozarks, brought tourists to the area.

And "Shepherd of the Hills Farm" was born.

They have a gift shop (of course) and nightly do a Shepherd of the Hills Play

and have for almost 50 years!

The most famous attraction, however is . . . 

Silver Dollar City

It's been entertaining folks for 56 years

And to think it all started because of

Marvel Cave

The third largest cave in the United States

To entertain those who were waiting to go through the cave,

they built a street and would have gunfights . . . 

It wasn't long before Silver Dollar City was more of an attraction than the Cave

that started it all.

Like Vegas, Branson has a Strip

76 Highway runs through Branson and into the Ozark hills and on to Silver Dollar City

Also known as "76 Country Boulevard"

for years, it was the only way to get from Branson to Silver Dollar City

And along "The Strip", artists opened theaters, motels were built to house the tourists who came to the shows and restaurants were built to feed those tourist.

When the shows got out in the evening,

it was bumper to bumper traffic

creeping along back to your motel

Branson realized the problem and because of better technology was able to build

roads around Branson -- called the "Green Loop", "Red Loop" or "Blue Loop"

Whichever loop you take, it allows you to go from Silver Dollar City to Branson without inching along!

And, of course, growth with more theaters, restaurants and hotels along these

routes.

And then there is old fashioned Downtown Branson

Dicks 5  & 10

A must see downtown

An old fashioned "dime store"

full of an odd assortment of merchandise

And I don't see how they ever do inventory --

the store is that packed!

A normal downtown with "tourist" shops --

not T shirt shops but stores filled with merchandise that tourists

would like.

At one time, Branson was the "Craft Hub" of the Midwest

but on this visit I noticed that the craft part was not as prominent as it had been on

earlier visits.

It's still there, but just not as much!

In order to lure more upscale visitors, they built

Branson Landing

Full of tonier shops and restaurants

Stores that you see in most metropolitan areas

anchored by Missouri's own, Bass Pro Shops

Branson Landing

used to be just shoreline along the Taneycomo

Forty-three years ago!

Not far from Branson is the small village of Hollister

 I'm not sure why, but they decided to make Hollister an English village

and their main street looks like a village in England

For years, it was Branson's poor relation but on this visit,

I noticed that more store fronts were filled.

Branson is known for it's food

For years, it was "home cooking" Mom and Pop type of restaurants

with a McDonalds being the only chain

Biscuits and gravy and chicken fried steak were on almost every menu.

But Branson is more upscale now and more restaurants are chains

than Mom and Pops.

On the way down, we stopped at Smith's in Bolivar.

We've been eating at Smith's for years in Collins, Mo.

but the realignment of Highway 13 caused the restaurant to move to Bolivar

 One breakfast

And we shared!

We were so full from breakfast that for lunch we decided on a bowl of diner chili

Billy Bob's a Branson tradition

Their hamburgers are good but we were too full to even have a burger!

And a visit to Branson isn't complete without fudge!

There are fudge shops everywhere!

A throwback to early Branson tourism

This morning we had breakfast at

Billy Gail's in Reed's Springs

And yes, this, too, is one breakfast

And yes, indeed, we shared

Look at those pancakes!

When Branson got more touristy and those outer roads were built

to enable traffic to move more freely, three "Outlet Malls" opened

One has closed, one is partly open and the third seems to be booming

With the number of tourists and half of them women, outlet malls to me made a lot of sense

But it didn't work!

We did hit the one that is booming and I found a Vera Bradley store

With a great sale

I felt that I needed a new tote

It's really a good size for an overnight bag

but I'm going to use it for my needlepoint

For whenever I'm in the car, that's what I do . . . 

My newest canvas

Cherries from Cleopatra's Needle

Jim and I have been coming to Branson since our honeymoon

(although it was closed since it was November)

but we went back the following year and have made many trips.

It is fun to see how it's grown

And to remember