Hitting the Road: Branson, MO...more than we expected...First 3 days were amazing!!

It was vacation time...we were headed to Branson. We've heard lots about Branson, so we decided it was time to go check it out for ourselves. We flew into Springfield, rented a car and headed south for our 1hr ride. Were not far down the road before we found Lambert's restaurant...famous for the "thrown rolls"...we were both hungry so was perfect timing. We had a short wait, but was well worth it. We looked at the menu and had a few questions...what are Pass Arounds???
Well, these are items they bring around in HUGE pots and you can have as much of them you want...wow, never seen this before.

We ordered...then we waited and watched...thsese rolls were soooooo good.

They also had carts of cinnamon rolls and brownies...wow, all looked awesome.

Our lunches were huge...we left with go boxes that provided dinner during the week....Pork loin and fried chicken....yum.

What a cool place...

After a great lunch we headed to Branson...was about a 1hr ride, very scenic. We were a long way from the beach, no palm trees here.

We found the condo check in fairly easy and got that done...went across the street and picked up a few groceries and headed to our "home" for 7days. It was a nice 1bedroom unit. A little older, but nice and clean, and a great location. Had a gorgeous mountain view, we were set. We decided to just hang at "home" the rest of the evening and get settled. We found a church to attend the next day so we were good to go.

After a good nites rest, good sleeping bed, we headed to church. It was a lot like our church at home. They held service in their gym, it must have been used as a multi-purpose area. We met a super nice couple that were moving out of Branson and back to a home in GA on Lake Lanier...all the folks were super nice, very glad we went. They were honoring their graduating class of 2018 and gave them all really cool walking sticks for their strolls through thee woods for some quiet time. A cool idea. After church we were off to Chateau on the Lake...just beautiful, and the weather was perfect.

Been to lots of brunches, have never seen oysters before..this was a VERY good brunch, and wonderful piano playing in the background...it was so nice

And our view of the lake was gorgeous....after dinner we drove over to Table Rock Lake and the dam.

Table Rock Dam

The other side...several of the "shoots" were not open, but some were.

This was so cool...

After this we decided to go down to the Branson Landing Boardwalk on Lake Taneycomo. We sat in these great chairs near the water for a while just people and animal watching.

Never saw a black duck before.

We watched folks zipline across the lake

and we kept seeing something shooting fire and smoke, but was too far to know what it was, so we went further down the boardwalk to see what it was.

We found the Water and Fire Fountains ....sooo cool. We sat there over an hour watching each show. Chatted with some folks that frequent the area and got some good ideas of things to do, then we headed home.

As it got darker lights also came on and changed color...this was really an amazing show...for free!!!

Found this cool Moonshine store, I wanted to taste it, but didn't have my ID...so we skipped that part, oh well, they probably missed some sales...

After the brunch we had, we just needed a snack at home for dinner....after another great nites sleep, we got up, fixed some breakfast and headed to see some wineries. (after a quick but awful timeshare showing, my fault, never again)

The ride to the time share was nice, just the rest wasn't...lol, what a waste of time...

In the distance we could see the dam where we'd been the day before ...and we could see a fisherman too...

We stopped at about 3-4 wineries and really enjoyed them all. Bought some tasty bottles along the way to bring home. Tonight we had a reservation at The Keeter Center for dinner. This is on the College of the Ozarks campus. This is one amazing college, the students work on campus the entire time they are in school, but do not pay tuition and do not come out with a loan...only a great education...an amazing concept. We got there a bit early so we could tour around the campus a bit. It has been nicknamed Hard Work U,,,pretty cool.

The entrance to the Stained Glass shop...and then some of their work for sale.

Lots of hot houses for growing....

Then on to the tractor museum...so neat.

All kinds of barbed wire...who knew there were so many....there were LOTS of these to look at

Info about the 1883 Corn Planter

Then on to Cow/Milking barn

They used the milk in the restaurant, at the creamery and for the students and sold the rest. The students did lots of things that produced income for the school.

She is filling baby bottles to hand feed calves...for sanitary reasons they do not let the calves nurse, but they get fed just fine.

Next stop, the chapel. Yes, all this and this is a faith based college where students are required to participate in church and/or lectures....what a great foundation. Maybe more colleges like this one will catch on.

The chapel was beautiful

Built in 1933 with a $75,000 donation

These stained glass windows were in the balcony...at this time of day the light was coming in so the picture is dark, but the windows were gorgeous.

Right out side the church was a beautiful cross and stone tablets with the 10 Commandments on them...so nice.

It was time to head back to the Keeter Center for dinner...

The dining room was very large. Not too busy tonite, was nice. I had a meat combo dinner and Denny got beef, both, very good. One student was playing the piano all evening, was delightful Students cook, serve, bake and sell at the bakery and creamery...they do it all.

On the menu that is on the table you can read all about the college

We had a unique dessert, a sampling of their hose made ice creams, and waddled out

The Keeter Center is huge and on one end is a store/display area of all the things the students make that you can buy, and the other end is a huge display honoring those that attended the college but went on to serve the country...all of Branson is VERY serious about honoring those that have served. Lots of patriotism and memorial in lots of places.