Our Little Vacation

My husband and I went on a little vacation this past week. We flew to Kansas City, Missouri. We stayed there over night then drove the next day to Branson.

We stayed there for two nights. While in Branson we ate at Fuddruckers. We hadn't eaten at one in a very long time. It was a great hamburger. While down in the south central portion of Missouri, we drove through some very beautiful country side. We visited Thornfield, Gainesville, Dora, Drury, Vanzant and Ava. About five hours after we left Dora, a tornado roared through.

We experienced a little rain while other parts of MO were experiencing tornadoes. Here is the driveway in front of our motel room. Within a very short period of time it was completely dry and you couldn't even tell there had been a river running down the parking lot.

A water and fire show on the Boardwalk in Branson, played to music

A water wheel on one of the back roads

Some of the beautiful country side we enjoyed

We then went to Springfield. We stayed at the BEST Best Western hotel we have ever stayed at and we have stayed at quite a lot of them over the past 30 years. It was the Best Western Coach House Inn. I would recommend this for anyone who stays in Springfield. The service was awesome (thank you, Davita for the great service you gave us). While we were in Springfield, we visited a battle field, Wilson's Creek. It was the location where the third battle of the Civil War took place.

Ralph next to a civil war cannon 

(he would have liked to take it home, but it wouldn't fit in his suitcase)

A small cabin built over 150 years ago on the grounds of Wilson's Creek

(we didn't know the civil war was fought that far  west). We attended the Baker Creek spring festival. There were people selling all sorts of things, such as homemade soap, (even demonstrating how to make it), plants for the garden, trees for the orchards, there was a blacksmith demonstrating his trade, canned foods for sale, and LOTS and LOTS of heirloom seeds for the garden. There were speakers who spoke on such topics as GMO's and how to avoid them. We picked up a book by Doug Oster called "Tomatoes Garlic Basil". He even signed the book for us. It was a lot of fun. We also visited Seymour, Mansfield (where the Laura Ingles Wilder museum was supposed to be, we never found it), Macomb, Mountain Grove, Hartville, Bucyrus, Raymondville and Licking. While in Springfield, we ate at Chick-fil-A. This is the BEST fast food chicken ANYWHERE! The food is great, the service is better than some non-fast food restaurants. We had very lovely young ladies come to our table asking if we wanted our drinks refilled, cleared our table and even opened the door when we left. We also ate at Buckingham's BBQ. It was finger licking good.

Here is what a plate of food looks like at Buckingham's BBQ

After our time in Springfield, we drove back to Kansas City, not the high point of our vacation, then flew home the next day. After the flights home I was reminded of one of the reason's I really hate flying. We had a LOT of turbulence on both of our flights. I was a nervous wreck and poor Ralph's arm probably has permanent indentations on it. God reminded me when we got home that I didn't need to worry, all I had to do was trust Him. I sure wish I had been listening when He was trying to tell me that while we were experiencing the turbulence.

We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to returning some time real soon and bringing our girls with us..