Branson by Way of Fantasy

My mom took a trip to Branson some time ago, with the bus travelling group from Holliday park. From what I can remember her telling me of it, she had a great time. My reason for always wanting to go is explained by the color purple. Purple has always been my favorite color and I think it is because Donny Osmond wore purple socks.

He and David Soul (sp.?) from Starsky and Hutch were my big childhood crushes. As an adult when I heard they ( the Osmond Brothers) would be performing in Branson, I told myself one day I would go. But it hasn't happened yet and I don't know that it ever will. Luckily Donny and Marie now perform in Vegas often and there is a much better chance of me going there at least a couple of times a year.

But play along with me as I take a fantastical trip to Branson, maybe one day it will actually happen.

We start our trip at the Hilton Promenade at Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing and Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel both of which offer guests access to shops, boutiques, restaurants, a river walk and other attractions (like the Osmond Theater). Hilton has an awesome service that I have not seen offered by other hotel chains. You can go online and order extra amenities ahead of time. I know I am going to need extra pillows, even when staying alone I need extra pillows, you can request addition towels to be placed in your room. Perhaps your flight is arriving at an innopportune time and you know you're going to be hungry? You can even make the request to have certain food items awaiting you. Planning ahead is one of my favorite travel activities (isn't that right Erika?).

Walking down the main strip you can stop in and see everything from the Titanic Museum to the American Bandstand Theater (with lunch at Dick Clark's American Grill), You can veer off over to Yakov Smirnov's Theater (how many of you are old enough to remember him?), and continue on to see the Ripleys and the Wax Museum and Finish with dinner at the Hard Luck Cafe.

Image by ishane via Flickr

Of course the Osdmonds can't be the only show we see, we will have to stay a couple of days to take in the new Peter Pan show with Cathy Rigby. And the 12 Irish Tenors show definately looks like something I would enjoy. During the day we can head over to Silver Dollar City and check out the 1880's themed attraction, take in some shopping at the ultiple outlet malls and as most of my days revolve around the eating of food, there are plenty of places to satisfy those cravings as well.

Thanks for coming along on this fantastical trip with me, hopefully one day it will no longer be "fantastical" and will actually be a reality.

Are You Worried

Swine Flu or H1N1 or Mexican Flu or Pandemic Flu, whatever you wanna call it, it's here.

I was online with Erika earlier and she got notification of a confirmed case in her area. At the sametime, I saw a confirmed case at the Marine base in San Bernadino. My friend has reservations for a family reunion at a resort in Cancun and her entire family is in limbo over whether they should go or not. The airline will not refund the miles used to purchase the tickets. I told her to just go and stay in the room. She could also use swine flu kits for everyone for the trip to and from on the plane.

For normal everyday care, I would just be sure to keep washing your hands regularly and stay out of places with recycled air as much as possible. If you must use public transportation or travel somewhere then swine flu kits could be a good idea for you as well.

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Where did I leave you?

Oh yeah, last Sunday I was driving down from the UP back to South Bend. We made it home in time to put Jackson to bed and that was directly where I went as well.

Monday morning, Erika and Jackson took me to Chicago to see the Field Museum. I have read about their many trips here before and asked to tag along. Jackson is a fountain of information when it comes to the dinosaur exhibits. He is 4 years old and was pronouncing names of these beasts without a care in the world. He informed me that he knew them and wasn’t just reading the sign because he “can’t read yet but he is learning”. At one point he was discovering bones that were surreptitiously buried in the play area. When an employee asked J if he could identify the bone, he knew right away that it was a tooth from a T-Rex because T-Rex is a meat eater and it has big teeth, but the plant eaters have little teeth so it couldn’t be one of those. DUH! The employee was sufficiently impressed. A little boy – about 8ish – came over to play and said to no one “I wonder what bone this is?” Jackson answered him. The kid looked at the employee and said “No, really, what is it?” The employee backed J up 100%. Dinner at McD in the basement of the Museum (those smart people). And then back onto snowy icy roads for the 2 hour drive back to Indiana.

Tuesday was a relax at home day for me. I lazed around, did some laundry and shopped for the dinner I was making for the Zynda’s and their friends on Thursday. During all of this, I met Erika and her co-worker Sue (she may be a Cubbies fan but we like her anyways) at the Mainstreet Grille for lunch for the Casino debriefing. While making dinner I also cooked the stew for Thursday so it would have a couple of days to marinate.

Wednesday was back to work with Erika to finish up the project she had assigned to me. Time to put up the Christmas tree! I did nothing but watch as Erika and Jackson did all the work. It is a little wonky but still very cute.

Thursday brings the dinner party. There is not much more that I enjoy than cooking a big meal for a bunch of appreciative people. I made Irish Beef Stew and served it in Bread Bowls along with a side salad. If I can judge by the number of times people went back to serve themselves more, then I would proclaim it quite a success. (the recipe will be tomorrow’s post) Some of the friends of the Zynda family I had met before and some I had just lived in their house for a few weeks. But good times were shared by all and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Friday was back to work this time to screw up Erika’s Holiday cards (LOL). Unfortunately E was without a car most of the day and needed me for that part as well (well not really, but I like to feel needed so let’s just go with that ok?). In the evening I was set to babysit J while Erika and Lyle went to dinner and a movie. As you can see by Erika’s post we made cupcakes (to which J said “What’s a cupcake?”). They were (and still are) a big hit and the pictorial she has shows that if you organize it right baking with kids can be fun.

Travelling with Murphy

Murphy and I had a flight that was leaving at 12:20 am on Saturday night. I have known about this flight for months, heck I booked the damn thing. But by 9 pm that night was I packed all the way? Nope, still had stuff in the dryer even. At 9:30 I finished my packing and brought out the scale to weigh my suitcase. Dammit 64 lbs. I grabbed a bunch of stuff out and figured I had room to carry it on and got the weight down to 49.4 (or so I thought).

Kathy gets me to the airport by 10:30, I have plenty of time, all is good. I use the automated machine to check in my luggage (I printed my boarding pass at home the night before) and even get a chance to get a “premium extra charge” seat for NO extra charge. Feeling pleased and impressed I let the attendant know I was ready for him to take my luggage and up on the official scale it goes….WTF? 54 lbs! Are you kidding me? Who slipped something in my suitcase when I wasn’t looking? Attendant not so nicely reminds me the limit is 50lbs and tells me to remove something. I hate people like me so I quickly open up the suitcase, ascertain that removing my toiletries bag will do the trick (don’t get ahead of me here) and it fits snuggly into my second carryon. I get it to weigh 50lbs EXACTLY and Mr. Smuggy Pants, directs me to the security lane.

I have traveled plenty since 9/11, I have heard horror stories about security lines and yet have actually inwardly laughed at everyone’s stories because I have never had a problem. But when you travel with Murphy there is always a problem. The security line took almost a half an hour. By the time I got through and to the gate it was 11:45 and they were beginning to make announcements for boarding my flight. But let’s get back to the security line. I am very proficient at security, I wear easily removable shoes, I know how to run the laptop through (in it’s own bucket), I usually end up with 4 buckets with all my stuff. This time was no different, well it was though because remember that toiletries bag? Yep, it was full of shampoo, lotion, hair gel, all things I no longer own. I got pulled aside and they went through the bag and disposed of all of them. They did relent and let me keep the Bengay since it is medicinal.

I am so glad I got there as early as I did.

Murphy decided to stay in LA, on my first flight I was very comfortable in my Exit row seat, with so much leg room I didn’t even notice when the person in front of me put their seat back. And the ONLY empty seat on the plane? Yep right next to me! I was able to curl up or spread out, and actually slept for the majority of the flight, over 3 hours. The second flight was of course on the other side of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport but I hightailed it and made it in the nick of time. I thought I was late because the waiting area was pretty empty. I heard the desk attendant tell the flight attendants as they were boarding that they had 415 passengers. I looked around me and thought there must be another flight coming in cuz there isn’t 415 people here. We boarded and I found my teeny tiny seat and got buckled in and as comfortable as possible. A few more people trickled in. AND THEN THEY CLOSED THE DOOR! The 415 turned out to be 4/15 4 first class 15 coach! 15 people on my flight! I asked the attendant if I could move and she approved so I jumped into the empty exit row, flipped up all the armrests and laid down to go back to sleep! Unfortunately this was a fairly short flight but the nap was nice.

I arrived in Chicago more than a half hour early ready and rarin’ to go. Well, maybe not as ready as I thought. Let’s backtrack a little. Remember when I changed my seat at the very beginning? I had to get a new boarding pass for that and relinquish my old one (yep that’s when Murphy was still around). When I got to Chicago, I realized that my rental car reservation paperwork was with the relinquished boarding pass and I had NO clue which company I rented from. I tried calling my sister, you know, the one who says “Call me when you land!” Yeah that one, the one who didn’t answer her phone the 6 times I called her. I found a courtesy phone and proceeded to call all of the rental car companies and explain my plight and they all very nicely declined my reservation until the 5th one finally Budget had me listed. I get my beautiful Ford Escape (that’s a whole ‘nother post) and head out on my way.

I have by now finally reached my sleepyhead sister and have the directions from the airport to her hotel (she and Lyle stayed in the city overnight). Unfortunately there was no hotel name on the directions and I guess our illustrious President Elect was going to be in the city because all available street parking was filled with police cars. After circling the block multiple times, I decided to pay the piper and valet at the hotel.

Breakfast was beyond yummy, not just because by now I was starving but it was really good. I didn’t catch the name of the restaurant but it is attached to the Club Quarters hotel. Lyle went off on his own adventure to a record store (I swear he and Adam are more related than just by marriage) and Erika and I headed off on our own.

(to be continued)