When I got up this morning, the plan was to see the Down Home Country breakfast show starring Splinter Middleton (yes, that's his name) and then begin the long journey to eastern Iowa. Iowa is directly north of Missouri, but I was in southwest Missouri. Getting up to eastern Iowa was going to take at least eight hours.
The Down Home Country show is at 10am central time. It comes with a free breakfast buffet. However, by the time I arrived (about ten minutes before the show started), they did not even bother to give me a breakfast ticket because I wouldn't have been able to get into the show in time.
The show was very nice. "Harley Worthit" was there, doing the comedy. I didn't realize some of the comedians were shared between shows. There were a number of country songs sung both by Splinter Middleton and other singers. One woman had an incredible voice, though I don't remember her name.
During intermission, my plans changed. I overheard a man talking about Harrison, Arkansas. I talked to him and he said it's a great place to live. This is the closest decent sized city (bigger than Branson in terms of population) in Arkansas. In this trip I had planned to make time to see Harrison as a potential place to live so I could be close to Branson without living in Branson. But, as time went on I decided to skip it. There was no way I could squeeze a visit to Harrison, AR going south and then head northeast to West Liberty, Iowa (where the next hotel was located). But, I calculated the days I had left and realized that I could reasonably stay an extra day and still get home in time to turn in the rental car by May 22nd.
At the end of the Down Home Country show, they announced that if we showed our ticket stub, we could get $10 off the Grand Jubilee show which takes place at 8pm. I wanted to see the Grand Jubilee but originally figured I'd have to save it for a future visit to Branson. But, since I decided to stay another evening in Branson, now I could see it.
In purchasing the ticket for Grand Jubilee, I asked about my breakfast ticket. I was given a ticket for a free breakfast buffet the next day at the theater. This was definitely going to be much better than the free breakfast at the hotel which consisted of nearly rotten bananas and lots of high calorie donuts, biscuits, gravy, etc.
After leaving the theater, I headed to Harrison, Arkansas. I thought it would take an hour, but it really only took only about forty minutes. The GPS had its usual problems going through the Ozarks again, showing me floating through space off the road, etc. But, road signs were clear so the GPS was not necessary until I got into the city.
View Larger Map
The city of Harrison is like most other cities with lots of shopping and the usual services you find in a suburb. There are around 12,000 people living in the city. But what I liked was the "downtown." It was a square and looked like one was stepping into the past by a few decades. The courthouse was in the middle and small shops surrounded it. It was a quaint spot and I felt totally safe. The people in Harrison seemed very friendly.
The Arkansas primary was taking place on Tuesday, May 18th, but there was a sign at the courthouse saying "Vote Here." Perhaps they allow early voting in Arkansas.
After spending a little bit of time just taking things in, I decided to quickly visit one of the smaller towns (population below 500). I chose Bellefonte because it was the closest. It has a population of around 400. There were a few businesses along the main road but not much. I turned around and headed north back to Branson to spend some time at the hotel before the next show.
When I got back to the hotel, I was assigned room 202. This was the same exact room I stayed in when I visited Branson in November, 2009. I've stayed at this particular hotel on three different visits in 2008, 2009, and now 2010. It's the only hotel anywhere in the country where I've stayed in three different trips.
The Grand Jubilee was definitely worth it. I would consider that one and the Baldknobbers as the two best shows out of the five I saw. The Grand Jubilee is an elaborate show complete with comedy, lots of songs, imitations of famous groups from the 1960s and 1970s, etc. One of the violinists from the Down Home Country Breakfast show was performing in this show. The show primarily included New South, which is a quartet of young men who sing both Gospel and contemporary music. There were also two other singers who appeared at various times. There were constant costume changes. All the performers sat down and talked with audience members during intermission and after the show.
Overall, the Grand Jubilee was a great ending to my visit to Branson. I can't wait to return for more. There are several other shows I want to see.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment