Welcome to Branson!

Monday, 19 November.  Arrived in Branson, MO for our Thanksgiving respite early this afternoon after an uneventful day of traveling.  We left our campground near Benton, AR (just outside of Little Rock), a little before 10am and continued north on I-30.  We skirted Little Rock using the 430 Loop that let us pick up I-40 West toward Fort Smith.  We picked up AR Hiway 65 at Conway and stayed on 65 all the way into Missouri and Branson.  Today’s drive took us thru some beautiful scenery of the Ozark Mts, although for those of us who grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the shadows of the Cascade Mts and Mt. Rainier, the Ozarks are more like hills.  Still, this time of year with all the fall colors (even if we were maybe a few days late for the really brilliant colors) made for a lovely drive.  We had excellent directions to our campground (not always the case, BTW), America’s Best Campground (ABC), located just north of downtown Branson on MO 248.  We checked in, received TONS of info on Branson shows and activities, and also received two free tickets to see The Haygoods holiday show, one of many in the area this time of year.  This brother and sister act was voted Entertainers of the Year so we’re hoping to see a really good show. Will let you know in our next blog since we’re going to see them tomorrow night.  

Our campground hosts are very friendly and went out of their way to make sure we knew about their camp-sponsored Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.  They’re providing smoked turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes, and each camper attending the feast is to bring a side dish.  Believe Lynette is making a mixed fruit salad for us.  We’re anxious to see what Branson has to offer since we’ve heard so much about this place.  

View of the "strip" in Branson

View of Branson

The weather here in Branson is cooperating with our visit and we're seeing lots of sunshine and fall-like temps.  Today we saw a high in the mid-60’s with a low in the high 30’s.  No rain is in the forecast except for Turkey Day (go figure), but then only 30% chance.  Maybe we’ll luck out and find ourselves in that 70% of no rain!