Our Branson Trip

Last week, the kids and I took a whirlwind trip to Branson, Missouri that was very unexpected.  My amazing parents were supposed to go, but since my dad has been sick they graciously offered to let us go in their place.  What a blessing!  The kids and I had such a great time!  We absolutely love Branson.  This was our third time to go, and my oldest said that this was the best Branson trip yet.  Ahhh, momma likes to hear that.  :)

We arrived in Branson Saturday afternoon after an 8 hour car ride (including multiple pit stops).  That evening we went to Mickey Gilley Theatre to see the show Six.  If you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend it!  All the sounds that you hear come from the voices of these six brothers.  Amazing!  Yes, I bought the show DVD, and their gospel CD.  Love!  Here's a link to the show if you're curious:  http://www.thesixshow.com/

The next day, we went to Silver Dollar City.  This was our first time there so we really didn't know what to expect.  My kids are thrill seekers (I guess their mom is, too...maybe just a bit) so, of course, we headed to the biggest roller coaster first.  It's called Wildfire.  You can see a pic of it from the parking lot here: 

It was really fun!  I think we rode it three times that day.  There were absolutely NO lines at this place.  Since the kids and I are used to waiting a very...long...time to ride rides at Six Flags over Texas, this was a very nice surprise. 

Next, we headed over to the second biggest roller coaster, Powderkeg.  Well, guess what folks, it was closed.  What a bummer.  Good thing we had tickets good for two days!  So, we looked at the map and saw that The Giant Swing was really close to where we were.  I had no idea that this ride would absolutely terrify me.  Oh my word!  I'm beginning to discover that I have a little fear of heights, especially when I'm horizontal to the ground swinging way above the tree tops.  I had my eyes tightly closed and was saying a prayer the entire time. I was so glad when that ride was over, but the kids loved it (what???).  Mom took one for the team!

After that bit of fun (haha), we headed over to Thunderation.  For those of you who have been to Six Flags over Texas and have ridden The Mine Train, Thunderation was a bit like that, only a little better.  When the ride was over, we all said that it was more fun than we expected. 

Finally, we headed over to Marvel Cave.  I LOVE caves.  I've been to several in Texas, and one other one in Missouri.  They are just so amazingly beautiful, and each one is so different from the others.  We waited about 30 minutes in line, and then we listened to the spiel about how the cave tour was a strenuous tour, about 600 stairs, and you go 500 feet below the surface before you ride a cable train back up to the other side.  So, we head on out to start the tour, and I start to get light headed.  So much so, that I had to sit down.  Did I mention that it's over 100 degrees in Branson, and that we didn't eat lunch?  Hmmm...probably not such a great idea to take a strenuous cave tour at this point in time.  Sorry kids.  Instead, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the condo.

Since we didn't have lunch, we decided to have a nice dinner.  We headed over to Big Cedar Lodge and ate dinner at Devil's Pool Restaurant.  Let me tell you, it was magnificent!  The boys got ribs, and the girls got pasta.  We ended the meal with a scrumptious chocolate cake.  Yummy! 

The next day we headed back over to Silver Dollar City.  I decided that we needed to do the cave first thing, before we got hot and tired.  Let me tell you, I am so glad we went back and did the cave tour.  It is the most beautiful cave I have ever been in.  Spectacular!  If you ever get the chance to go see it, go!  I took a few pictures with my phone, but you really have to be there to appreciate the beauty and majesty of this place.  Breathtaking...

Waterfall

View from the bottom looking up

After the cave tour, we headed back over to Powderkeg to see if it was open.  Luckily for us, it was!  If you've ever ridden Mr. Freeze, this ride does a similar thing at the beginning.  It shoots you straight out at 50 mph.  Fun!!!  I think this was my favorite ride at the park.  After another go on Wildfire, and getting doused at Fire in the Hole, we left the park to have lunch before our next big adventure...zip lining.  Oh my.

Upon our arrival at Vigilante Zip Lining, I had pretty much decided that the kids could do the zip lining, and I would simply observe from the tower.  So, when I went to purchase the tickets, I told the lady just that.  She looked at me and said that it really wasn't that bad, and then she proceeded to point to a picture on the wall of a 100 year old woman who had zip lined three times.  Oh, really?  Well, if she can do it, so can I.  (Have I mentioned that I have a bit of a competitive spirit?)  Anyway...I purchased four tickets.  Oh my goodness.  What have I done???

Here's a view of the zip lines from the observation tower:

So, at this point, I'm praying (again) and I'm really not that nervous, yet.  When it was our turn, we headed down the stairs where they proceeded to strap us in the harnesses (getting nervous now).  They told us to lift our feet off the platform (is it too late to change my mind??).  They opened the gates, and WHEEEEE down we went!  I was holding on really tight to the harness strap and I don't think I moved...at all.  But folks, it was an awesome experience.  I would definitely do it again.  Here's some pics of us coming down the zip line:



Ryan takes the lead!

Pretty hard to top our zip lining experience, but after this we went go kart racing.  What an amazing day we had! 

The next day, we finished off our Branson trip with a little shopping at Branson Landing.  Then we headed back home.  What a great trip!  Making memories with my kids is my favorite thing to do. :)