Our trip Review 3/28-3/31

[julieeileen]

FRI: We left home in the afternoon and made it to Branson around 6pm. We went straight to our room. We stayed at Stillwaters. We had stayed here once before in a motel room, but this time we stayed in a 1BR condo. Our original plans were just to stay Sat. and Sun. nights, but DH was able to get Fri. night off too, so I called and unforunately the room I had already booked was taken for Friday. I asked if they could move our reservation to another condo. The clerk said he'd look, but that they were almost booked solid (I guess due to the Christian weekend at SDC). Anyway, he finally found me a room for 3 nights so we wouldn't have to move our luggage around. Very nice to have helped us. We stayed in building K, 4th floor. An elevator was a must for me (big & pregnant!), plus DD loves riding elevators! Elevators are in several buildings, but not all of them, so he found one for me. Our room had a fireplace, which was nice since the evenings were cool. It also had a whirlpool tub. The one I booked was for an oversized whirlpool, but this one was not, which was fine. I didn't expect to get everything I originally booked since we had to change rooms. Overall, the room was very nice and we will always check SW's rates when booking a Branson trip.

After we left the room, we drove down the strip and down to the Landing for dinner. We walked into the White River Fish restaurant, but there was a pretty good wait (45 min), so we went over to Garfields. DH had a steak, which he liked. When ordering, the waitress asked him if he would be needing any steak sauce. DH's reply was "I shouldn't". That's his steak test. If he doesn't need sauce, then it was good, otherwise, sauce means it wasn't up to his taste! Anyway, he didn't need any steak sauce, so it passed his test. I had the Garfield's sub/club. Turkey sandwich with bacon and lettuce, tomato. I really, really like it. Would definitely have it again. DD had the mac/cheese and fries. She ate it, so it passed her test too, I guess. Our bill was less than $30 (not incl' tip), so it wasn't bad for a good dinner.

Then we headed to the Fountain show. DD always wants to see it. Then it was off to the Disney store briefly and then DH and DD wanted some custard, so we went to our favorite custard place. Glen's at the Grand Country store. We've gone to Andy's custard once before to try something different, but we found out we liked Grand Country's better. DD had a chocolate shake and DH had a plain cone. I just tasted theirs. Being pregnant and starting to really get some size on me, I discovered I just CANNOT overeat. It makes me miserable. We headed to Jubilee's to buy some groceries and then by the time we made it to the condo, it was about 10:30pm. I was tired!

I will post Friday now, and work on our Saturday a little later........

[LadyDrifter]

Good review so far... keep it coming!

[Branson Queen]

Thanks for the review. Sounds great so far. I agree....keep it coming.

[CHRISTISAM2001]

Sounds like a good time so far...

[JoLaLaLa]

Sounds great so far-- thanks for all the details. Will be looking or ward to more posts when you have time!

P.S. I am right there with you on the pregnant belly/overeating thing! I have overindulged way too many times to count lately and suffered for it all night. You'd think I'd learn! I definitely won't miss that once the baby gets here. LOL

[fordarama]

Good review girl..........
I really enjoyed it...........
I am glad you guys had a good time,
I don't know when I will get back to branson,
We are going to the beach soon........

[Critter]

We will be waiting for the next review!! Sounds like you all had a great time!!!

[julieeileen]

Sat: We got up and it was raining. We had hoped to play mini golf at some point today, but due to rain we decided to drive to Springfield instead to go to Bass Pro. We have been before and went to their museum, so we thought this would be a fun "indoor" activity. We got there and both their museums were under construction. We still stayed a while, as there is still lots to see. DD liked looking at the "sparkly" boats and DH too! They have the little turtle exhibit which DD loved and the big wall fish tank. Lots of animal scenery. Love the one of the huge bear for a photo op. Anyway, enjoyed even though we were disappointed the big museum next door was closed. Ate lunch at Arby's before we headed back to Branson.

Next we went straight down to the Landing. DH wanted to check out the Branson cruises. By this time it was about 3pm and the next cruise was I think at 5 or 5:30. Ticket prices (if I remember correctly) were about $50 for an adult and $40 for a child. This includes a dinner. I think the 8pm cruise was more. The pictures just seemed a little fancy to take a 5 year old on, so we passed. Maybe on an adults only trip!

Then we saw Ronzo the Clown! DD had a balloon cat made. He was busy, even though it was very wet and somewhat cold. He was very funny. DD liked him a lot! Got their picture. I may try to post if I can remember how........ From there, we made our very first visit to Build a Bear! What a great experience....for us and our DD. She made a cat. Really cute. Kinda expensive, but really cute. I think we ended up spending about $40 on the cat, outfit, and shoes. But it was the neatest process.

At this point, we leave the Landing and DH decides to see if we can't get to the Showboat Branson Belle. I couldn't remember the show times, but I told him I thought it was 4pm, which would be pushing us making it. I am a planner and he is not. I told him if I had known it was a possibility we might go, I would have looked it up and also brought his and DD's season passes for a discount! Either way, it didn't matter, we pulled up as they were pulling away! The rain really effected our original plan of things. We drove by mini golf (Pirate's Cove) on our way back into town and they were closed (or at least it looked that way). Things were still really wet.

We headed back to the room for a little while and rested. Then we used the game room at Stillwaters. Their token machine was either broken or a rip-off. We put in $1 and got 2 tokens. Thought it was messed up, so we did it again. Still just 2 tokens. Most of the games took 2 tokens which was $1 per game. Pool, was 3 tokens. I called the front desk and he said he actually didn't know and would try to get a hold of their game guy. Couldn't reach him. Anyway, there was a sign on a pool table that said tokens only, but I tried 3 quarters, instead of 3 tokens and it worked, so we used quarters the rest of the time we were there! Not sure if SW's actually runs the room or if it's someone else, but that seemed a little off to me......

From there we went back into town for dinner. We went to Red Lobster. Wow, we had a really great dinner. Our waitress was one of the nicest we've ever had. Her name was Jamie. Part of it may have been attributed to that they were not extrememly busy, but she was very nice and attentive just the same. DH had crab legs and shrimp and I had crab linguine alfredo. DH always gets crab legs there when we go and he said they were the best he had ever had. Still very warm, easy to crack and get the meat out. DD shared with us both. Very, very good meal! No dessert (yet). Just too full from dinner.

We went back to the room and stayed in the rest of the night. Big day tomorrow. SDC! Later we put an apple pie in the oven for dessert. Yum!

Will post Sunday, our SDC day, sometime later or maybe tomorrow......

[Staci16]

I was wondering how your trip went......glad you had a good time!!!

Staci

[lovemycondo]

Sounds like you were still having fun even though the weather didn't cooperate. We were there at the same time. We had my aunt along and the weather really made her nervous. Rain and clouds got kind of old and really does change your plans quickly. Were you still their when the tornados were in the area. They kept cutting into her soaps with storm warnings which she wasn't too happy about.

[julieeileen]

Originally Posted by lovemycondo

Sounds like you were still having fun even though the weather didn't cooperate. We were there at the same time. We had my aunt along and the weather really made her nervous. Rain and clouds got kind of old and really does change your plans quickly. Were you still their when the tornados were in the area. They kept cutting into her soaps with storm warnings which she wasn't too happy about.

I don't think so........I don't remember any tornado warnings. We left early Monday morning.

[adair iowa]

Glad to see you had fun despite the moisture.

[julieeileen]

Been busy the last couple days, so now...........

SUN: Listened to storms most of the night and thought to myself we won't be going to SDC today. DD came into the living room early (I was getting the weather) and she had heard the storms too and said 'we're not going, are we?' It really made me sad. I told her probably not. They were predicting rain coming in all day, showing at 9am, noon, and 3pm--so I'm thinking there's no way we can do SDC. By 8 or so, DH got up and it had quit raining, so he said as long as it's not lightening and storming--we're going!

We ate breakfast in the room and by 9:30, it had not been raining for a while, so we got ready to go! Got to SDC and they hit Thunderation right away! DD loves that ride. She's only 5, but she squeals so loud I can hear her! We continue walking down hill and she rides several more things throughout the morning. No rain, until around lunchtime. We find a place to wait it out and then go eat lunch at the Lumberjack. DH had chicken strips; I had a burger; and DD had a corndog. All was really good.

We let her ride several more rides, but by then I was getting really tired and my back was cramping. It felt somewhat like labor, that it kind of had me slightly worried. I never did have Braxton Hick contractions with my DD. I was thinking to myself it was too early, but sometimes babies come early! Both my sister's pregnancies were extremely early. Her twins were 7 weeks early and her last was 8 weeks early. So I knew it wasn't impossible. It did cross my mind "oh my goodness, our baby may be born in Branson!" So we started up the hill and I rested a few times. DH wanted to get a funnel cake and I wanted some cinnamon bread, so he got some while I rested on a bench. It started to rain again, so we sheltered in the SDC jail and ate some funnel cake! I was still hurting occasionally, but I figured I'd just walked too much over the past couple days.

Anyway, we headed to the gift shop and got DD a little stuffed toy and walked to our car. The trolley's were really backed up. Everyone was thinking the same thing--the rain was coming more and it was starting to thunder. It was around 2:30, I think.

We went back to the room and stayed there the rest of the night. I soaked in the tub and DH and DD napped. I felt better and the pains had stopped completely. Just too much walking I guess!

We put in a frozen pizza for dinner. Watched Ocean's 11 on tv and played dominos. It was a nice family night in. Sometimes those are the mose enjoyable!

We did do some laundry too and pack most of our stuff up since we'd be leaving the next morning. It's nice having a washer and dryer in the room. Although they were not large capacity. It helped me a lot for once we got home and I was exhausted! We headed to bed and waited to see what storms were coming for Monday.

MON: We woke up and fixed breakfast fairly early. Finished up our laundry and ran the dishwasher. Storms were headed our way, but not sure when, so instead of heading into town (like I had wanted), we decided to get things packed up and head south. We had about a 3 hour drive and wanted to miss the storm. Hail was a possibility and I didn't want my car getting any damage!

I was hoping to go to the Zales outlet this morning. DH is planning on buying me a diamond band ring to go with my 3 stone ring he got me when we were having our first DD. I've had my 3 stone for over 5 years now, and I wear it as my wedding ring, but with no band. He knows I've been wanting a band for a while now, so now that I'm pregnant with baby #2, we thought it'd be a great time to get one and we'd have a story to tell the kids. Plus, when I pass down my rings, the girls will each get the ring I was given while pregnant with them.

That was off the subject, but thought someone might know whether or not I missed out of anything by not getting to go to the Zales outlet?

Anyway.......we made it home safe. No hail, or rain for that matter, on the drive home. Our dogs were happy to see us and we were them too!

We HOPE to come back during the Christmas season. That will be our first trip with the baby! I hope maybe my parents and possibly my sister's family will come too and we can make it a big family vacation.

Hope you all enjoyed and didn't mind all my details......

[preacherman]

Thank you julieeileen. I enjoyed all the interesting details of your trip. So glad that you did get to enjoy SDC! Really like your idea of giving the rings to the girls too. What a very precious gift that will be

[biscuitcreek]

Thank you for all of your review installments; I really enjoyed reading them!