Lil Blue Hits Branson day 1...Arriving in Branson

     We finally made it.  Got off at Main ST, and headed west to the hotel.  We haven't been here in a long time.  Last time was when my son Logan was a wee lad and we had a pop-up camper rally here back in 2002 I think.  I forgot how congested the main drags are.  The speed limit is 35 in town, but I don't know why they posted it because you can only do like 5 mph.  If you've never been to Branson, picture a combination of a hillbilly Vegas, without the casinos, and the town the movie The Great  Outdoors was set in.  Tons of Vegas style shows, miniature golf courses, indoor water/laser tag/small theme parks, and expensive souvenir shops.  Another thing is Vegas is in the desert, so lots of room to spread out.  Branson is in the hills, so they crammed every type of building in every space there was, then kept adding buildings.  It was like a city planner just went insane and this was his creation.  They do have routes that on maps (that you can get pretty much anywhere) that are red, green and yellow, showing where everything touristy is, but since none of the roads are painted as such....didn't help much.

     Driving in town, you really need someone to navigate for you, look for key landmarks (ours was a giant chicken that was a restaurant next to the hotel) and road signs.  Driving, you really want to watch not only the road, but the person in front of you who'll brake suddenly, and people pulling in front of you to either get across, or get into the road at the slightest sign of a gap.  The majority of the drivers were elderly (I commented to Lori that, even with me at 46 years, and her being 29 for 22 years, we felt like babies compared to all the other drivers), and seemed overwhelmed by the volume of traffic to deal with while looking for whatever destination they needed to get to, and upon finding it suddenly, will either stop suddenly to turn, or cut in front of you to turn left.  You need a good navigator, and lots of patience.

     Lori spotted our landmark, the giant chicken, which is an all you can eat country buffet style

 place, but also advertises all you can eat lobster and crab legs in the back.  Now, I won't eat seafood in the midwest.  Odds are it's been frozen, and doesn't taste like the fresh stuff on Cape Cod.  I especially don't want to sample sea food that you have to go in the back side of a giant chicken.  Our hotel is the Windmill Inn and Suites which is only 50 bucks per night total for a room

                                     
 with a king sized bed.  The room is nice, but simple.  Cable, 4 cup coffee maker (need to ask for more packets since they only leave one regular, and one decaf), the basics.  No fridge, but we didn't request one, but we did get a smoking room, which is getting rare these days.  They do have suites if you come with a family that have kitchenettes I think, but a bit more expensive.  Though a lot of the hotels here allow your 4 legged free loaders, this one doesn't.  The front building has an elevator to reach the upper levels, but the back building, which we are in, does not.  We're on the second floor, but since we're on a hill, the second floor is actually level with the parking lot, so no stairs for us.  The front desk clerk was pleasant enough, but he was busy and trying to be efficient with everyone.  They had everything ready, so check in was fast.  The bed is a bit soft for my tastes, but from the sounds of Lori's snoring..she's happy with it.  I brought my squishy pillow from home which helped a bit.  A lot of stuff is within walking distance, though I don't think I would risk crossing the street on foot here without wearing protective gear comparable to a defensive tackle on a professional football team.  There is a go kart track right next door too, 

which looks fun, and it's a lot bigger than the picture portrays, but we're trying to do this trip on the cheap, and things here are fairly expensive when you're poor like us.

     After settling in, we need nourishment, and finally decided on a place to go eat.  We're a bit steaked out, and Lori had a hankering for catfish, so we decided on Fall Creek which was only a couple of miles away, but took us like 45 mins to get there due to traffic.  Ok, maybe not that long, but sure felt like it.  There was like a 10-15 minute wait due to a tourist bus being there, but I think there's always a wait so you have to browse the ample gift shop in the hopes you buy something.  We got the potato skin appetizer which was good, and free with a coupon which made it better.  Lori got the all you can eat catfish plate, which she only finished 1 of the 2 catfish, and I got the BBQ sampler plate which consisted of half rack ribs, bbq'd beef, fries (my choice), and baked beans.  The beef was a bit dry, but the ribs were good.  Sampled Lori's catfish which was really good.  They also toss dinner rolls at you.  A guy walks around, and from half way across the room, tosses them underhanded.  This was why Lori wanted to come here.  The food was average for the most part I would say, but the portions were huge.  We couldn't finish it all, and with no fridge didn't bring the left overs back.  We could've just ordered my dinner and split it.  The service was ok, but they never cleared the table of dirty dishes really (appetizer plates and such), even when they brought our dinner out, which annoyed me and cramped the table a bit.  They have a lady that walks around taking pictures of people, than comes back later and tries to sell you the picture she took of you.  She stated it was half off that night (good marketing gimmick) and was only 10 bucks.  We politely declined.  Dinner came to 40 bucks (50 with tip), which was cheaper than I though considering the huge portions, everything we got, and the type of place it was.

     From here, Lori wanted to cruise the strip with the top down since it was a nice night, on the way back to the hotel.  We first stopped at a 2 story souvenir shop and browsed (they had fudge).  It was neat exploring, and managed to get out of there only buying a variety of fudge.  I resisted the temptation of buying the pirate themed wind chimes, and other things.  We then stopped at a flea market/consignment store on steroids.  This place was huge, so many things to look at, but nothing really caught our eye, and we didn't go thru the whole store.  We were tired and sore, it was getting late, and it was a bit overwhelming.

     I racked out early watching PBS, and Lori stayed up looking for things to on saturday, so I'm not sure what she has in mind...she did mention doing a zip line, so I'm a bit concerned.  We shall see.