Goin’ South – Part 12 – A Day In Branson – Taking In The Sights

Still continuing on with our busy day in Branson, after spending time in the Memorial Gardens, we had a lot of time left to take in the sights before heading off to dinner and our last show. Branson is a very family friendly place to visit, and has a lot of theme parks and kid friendly adventures. We did not go to these, but it was fun to see them as we drove by. The thing we found very odd about Branson though was just how empty it was. The streets had traffic but most of the restaurants and attractions were empty. Kids are all out of school now, but hardly anyone was partaking in the adventure or theme parks. We also found a lot of places are now shuttered permanently. Is the allure of Branson wearing thin? Is Branson becoming a ghost town?

We also toured the outside shopping mall too. We are not usually into a lot of touristy shops, however, we do like bringing home little mementos from everywhere we go. Every year we host our annual ornament exchange party, so often times we bring home Christmas ornaments from our travels. We usually buy an ornament for us and one to place in the ornament exchange.

Larry is good about letting me indulge in purchasing materials and stones for my new found love of jewelry making. There was a stone shop not to far away, so we paid it a visit too. Of course I came home with new stones for new projects. Currently I have more projects and ideas in the que than I have time for. 🙂

We also found a winery that we had to try as well. It was called Ozark Hills Winery. Not only do they make wines, but they also make different whiskeys too. You can try both, but neither of us are whiskey drinkers, so we only tried their wines.

When we first entered, it was pretty quiet. No one else was there. But as we sat down to do a tasting flight, other people joined in and we were all visiting with each other, telling about our adventures and what we had done.

Adam was our wine guide. He was hilarious and had us all in stitches with some of his stories.

The wines were good and the stories were fun. Wine tasting is always a fun experience, no matter where we go. 🙂

Ozark Hills Winery is located at 601 State Highway 165 Branson, MO 65616. You can just pop in and join the fun or you can give them a call to set up something special at (417) 334-1897. You can also check them out online too at hoot@ozarkhillswinery.com.

After our wine tasting, we decided we needed to find a place to have dinner before our last show. I will feature our dinner location in a bit. Our last show was called Anthems of Rock. it was a similar show to Rock of Ages, with big songs from the 80’s and dance routines choreographed around all the songs. All the performers were very good. The guitarist was one of the same guitarists we saw earlier at the Simon and Garfunkel show. He can literally play it all. He can play ballads one minute, then shred the guitar with the likes of AC/DC, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, or Queen the next minute. He is doing some Van Halen here. I can tell by his finger tapping harmonics style. That is an Eddie Van Halen trademark technique and style. The show was very good and very entertaining. We really enjoyed it a lot.

As you can see, we did our best to pack in as much as we could in our day. We had a very fun, very busy day indeed. Life is short. Live life to the fullest and make the most out of everyday. Enjoy the ride, and listen to the music. Have a great day and make everyday great. ‘Til next time.