Day 1 & 2 – Branson, MO
It’s about 11 PM on day two of our big summer vacation. Yesterday was just a drive day, we went about 530 miles from Chicago to Springfield MO in about 11 or 12 hours with plenty of stopovers. Now we’re watching the Olympics before we go to bed, ready to make the trek from here to Dallas in about seven hours of driving (ten with stopovers).
Today we went to Branson, which is about 45 minutes south of Springfield. For those from Illinois, Branson is a lot like Wisconsin Dells. There is a main strip, and a lot of family activities. The main differences I noticed:
- More shows in Branson than in Dells. But I’ve noticed that more shows are opening up every year in the Dells. I think they (the owners in the Dells, like Tommy Bartlett’s family) are taking their cue from Branson
- More water parks in Dells than Branson. There are one or two, but not nearly as many as in the Dells.
- In a stunning development, Branson has better go carts and tracks than Dells. The Dells used to be famous for this, but now the only way to ride a go cart in Dells is to buy in to a huge theme park that happens to have them. Here, you can still go to *just* go cart tracks, and there are about five or six of them.
Aside from that, we’re loving the food and swimming a lot. Aaron has developed quite a taste for southern food, especially BBQ. He is really going to love it in Texas. Well, at least I hope that Dallas has good BBQ.
Now it’s time for bed. I’ll post more later, and maybe some pictures will come soon too.
Oh, speaking of which, I owe you readers some pictures from the Special Olympics (last June) and the Bears game we recently went to (late July). As soon as we get back home :).