We headed a bit south for Spring Break this year and drove
down to Branson, MO, stopping in St. Louis along the way. We spent a night in St. Louis where we
checked out the Gateway Arch and went to a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium. It was a beautiful night for a ball game and,
without doubt, one of Alex’s favorite parts of the trip.
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| Gateway Arch |
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| Checking out Busch Stadium |
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| We were the only ones not wearing red! |
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| Beautiful night for a ballgame! |
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| We couldn't cheer for either team! |
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| Playing a little pool at the hotel. |
Branson, MO is known for their shows so we tried to see as many as we could. The first night we went to Hamner’s Unbelievable Variety show and it did not disappoint. While we were getting seated, one of the performers asked Alex to assist the Magician during one of his tricks. So Alex was called onto the stage in front of a few hundred people. He had to lie down on a board supported by two ladders. The magician removed the two ladders and left Alex floating in mid-air. He even passed a hula-hoop around Alex’s body to show there was nothing attached to him. It was pretty cool to watch!
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| Show Time! |
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| Alex earned $5.00 Magician Bucks for assisting :) |
We found some yummy restaurants in Branson. Danna's was a favorite. The resort we stayed at had a mini-golf course on property and a swimming pool, of course. We swam every day.
The boys loved it!
Unfortunately the outside pool wasn’t opened yet but Alex and Sean didn’t
care. Dave was our chauffeur for the entire trip and did awesome! The narrow
roads and steep hills were insane at times.
One sign said, “Caution, stay to the right” because you could
not see the road in front of you until you got over the hill. At one point, we were literally driving
in the clouds and could actually see clouds outside our windows.
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| Best Burgers in Branson! |
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| Yummy shake! |
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| Mini-golf time with Sean! |
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| These boys had such a fun time together! |
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| Seanie loved the pool. |
We picked the most beautiful day to go for a hike and take
in the scenery at Lakeside Forest. We
picked the trail with 380 steps but it was totally worth it. The boys enjoyed the hike and found some
caves along the way to explore. The
views were breathtaking!
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| Ready for our hike! |
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| Stunning views! |
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| We made it to the top! |
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| I was a little nervous with so many rocks and steep hills! |
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| Found a cool hideout! |
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| My two handsome boys! |
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| Going down was a breeze! |
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| Having fun on the trails :) |
Checking out the Branson Landing in downtown Branson....
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| Now that's a big Rice Krispie Treat! |
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| Seanie found the biggest gummy Rattlesnake! |
We decided to go to Silver Dollar City Amusement Park which
turned out to be a really rainy day. We
made the best of it though. A lot of the
rides were shut down but we found some that were working and they super
fun. We took a few breaks to get out of
the rain and saw some cool shows. We
were wet, cold and miserable at times, but the boys were troopers and we ended
up staying at the park over 6 hours. We saw The Haygoods perform in the evening
which was an electric show featuring a musical performance by six brothers and
their sister. So much great talent!
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| Silver Dollar City |
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| We are soaked but still smiling! |
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| Delicious HOT cinnamon sugar pretzel made us feel better! |
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| Look who's in Jail!!! |
Another rainy day on Friday so we planned some indoor activities. We checked out the Titantic Museum which we all thought was interesting. The boys watched the movie before we went on our trip so knew the history behind Titantic which sparked a lot of questions. It was a really neat museum that we all enjoyed. We touched an iceberg and felt how cold the water was on that tragic night. There were so many artifacts from the sunken ship and so much history to explore at the museum. We were all given a boarding pass at the beginning of the tour with a passengers name and their story. At the end of the tour, you find out if that passenger lived or died that day.
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| Titantic Museum |
We also checked out the Talking Rocks Cavern and took a tour of a really fascinating cave. We
went about two hundred feet below the ground and enjoyed hearing all about the
history.
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| Talking Rocks Cavern |
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| There were quite a few "drippies" along the way! |
We broke up the drive on the way home as well. We stopped at the City Museum in St.
Louis. I have never seen anything like it
before. It was crazy and amazing at the
same time. They had so many unique structures
to climb on both outside and indoor. So
many fun slides too including a 10 story high slide. We all did the 5 story high slide instead. It was the perfect way to spend two hours to
stretch our legs and run around before we headed home.
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| City Museum |
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| Testing out the fun spinning top chair! |
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| Five Story Slide |
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| Having fun in the ball pit! |
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| So much to explore! |
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| Climbing high up in the sky! |
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| Craziest Museum I have ever seen! |
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| The boys having fun together! |
We had such a fun vacation!
It was a great way to bond as a family and make special memories along
the way that we will forever cherish!!!
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| Until the next Road Trip!!! |
