Branson, Missouri

We hit the road for the winter on Saturday, November 15. After final packing, a last-minute check of RV tires, and readying the house for winter without us, we hit the road. We went as far as Osceola IA. We intended to stay at a RV park near a casino just outside of Des Moines but found that it had closed for the winter (it used to be open year-around) so they called ahead for us to make sure the one at Osceola was still open. We made it to Branson the next day and settled in at Treasure Lake RV Park.

I found out that Danny O'Donnell was performing here - we have just missed him several times - so I called immediately to see about tickets. We were able to get tickets for Tuesday and absolutely loved his show. He is an Irish singer who has done several programs for public television. He is very charming and has a beautiful voice. He had a female Irish singer performing with him - Mary Duff. They will be taping a new show for public television this coming Monday so I would urge you to keep watch on public television for him.

Wednesday was a beautiful, warm day so we headed out to Silver Dollar City. We never did go to the truck for our jackets - it was in the mid-60s most of the day! We headed right down to see their production of A Dickens' Christmas Carol. It was an hour-long musical production with special effects, beautiful costuming, excellent voices - really well done. We also watched a cute stage show that gets the little ones involved - Frosty the Snowman. We browsed the shops, watched the evening light parade and watched the music and light show including a five-story Christmas tree on Main Street. We will probably head back out there again on Wednesday to see a couple of shows that we didn't get to last week and buy our season tickets for 2009.

Yesterday we headed up to Springfield and stopped at a big antique shop and spent some time at the huge Bass Pro Shop. We got gas on the way home for $1.58 9/ per gallon - the lowest we've paid so far.

I think we will go downtown today and walk through Branson Landing. There are lots of bus tours in town this time of year to see Ozark Mountain Christmas and to shop at the outlet malls.

More later . . .
Linda