Something to Talk About
I am writing this blog in a couple sections since it’s been a while. Hopefully it will be easier to follow this way.
New Photo Sets
Branson 2007
Many Faces of Alex
Ouch!
I think I pulled a hang nail a bit too far. Just before vacation, my finger began to get sore. It starting turning this bad shade of red and well, I think you know the other stuff that comes with an infected finger. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see a doctor before vacation, so my finger hurt the first couple days. Lucky for me, it started to get better after the first couple days. When we got back into town, I went to the doctor to get some antibiotics, and it’s actually starting to look much better.
Vacation
We are back from our trip to Branson, Missouri. We had a pretty good time in the Ozarks. It’s been about 15 years since I’ve been, so it was a good time to go back and see how things have changed. As I mentioned in a previous post, we loaded up the car with my mother, my sister Cheryl, her husband Jason and their son Christian. With Alex, Audrey and I it made for quite a full car. It was about 3 1/2 hours from Bartlesville to Branson, but we had a nice break along the way.
On the way to Branson we stopped at Lambert’s — home of the Thrown Rolls 
. If you haven’t been it’s a popular restaurant outside of Branson that serves you large meals, but more importantly, they throw rolls at you. Christian and Alex enjoyed watching them throw rolls to people throughout the restaurant. What I found most interesting was that they brought your food out in a skillet. Mom had the Chicken Fried Steak, and they brought the CFS and Potatoes out in one big skillet.. and it was HUGE!
We got into Branson and checked into our cabin. The first night everyone was pretty tired, so we played Liverpool Rummy. The next morning, we got up early and headed into town. Christian, Jason, Alex and I all went to ride the Duck. Armed with our quackers, we toured Branson and then it was time to enter the water. The duck captain asked if we wanted to enter the water like a turtle, duck or ‘like the Dukes of Hazzard”. Everyone shouted “Dukes of Hazzard” so the captain threw the duck into drive and we splashed into the water at 35 mph! Alex’s eyes about popped out of his head, but he really enjoyed it. He even got to drive, and has a photo to prove it!!
Once we got back to the cabin, we sat in the Hot Tub and enjoyed another quiet night playing Jooble and Liverpool Rummy (mom cheated). We stayed up way too late, because the next morning was a little difficult. We had a big day, too.
We spent the morning at the Titanic Museum. This was probably one of my favorite things to see. It has over 400 actual artifacts from the Titanic. They have built a version of the Titanic, and inside is the Museum. The person greeting you at the gate was dressed as they were in 1912. When you board, you are given a boarding pass of someone that actually sailed on Titanic. I was Fifth Officer Harold Lowe . There were some really cool relics in the museum. Near the end, there are some interactive displays such as a bowl with water in it the temperature of the Atlantic that night. In addition, they had several decks at different angles to allow people to see the tilt of the deck as the ship was sinking. At the very end we came to a wall. The wall showed those who lost their lives and those who survived. Of the 2200 passengers on board (1517 of them perished), our entire party survived. If you are ever in Brason I highly recommend this attraction.
After the Titanic Museum, we grabbed some lunch then went back to the cabin for a swim. Indian Point Lodge has heated pools, so it was really nice to be able to go for a swim on a day it was only 65 degrees. After some rest, we decided to go back into town to allow the kids to ride some rides. We found a cute little amusement park along the strip especially for kids. Alex and Christian rode a train, a ferris wheel, some rabbits, tea cups and swings. They had a really fun time, but it was difficult getting them to leave. Tuesday evening, we went to a show. The talk of the town said that the Dixie Stampede was the best show on the strip. The show is actually called, “Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede”, but she only has her name on it. In the 2 years its been open, Dolly has only attended the Grand Opening.. too bad. The show was really good as it kept the kids entertained. During the show, they served dinner which was more than enough.
The next day, I took one last trip down to the lake to allow Alex to throw more rocks into Tablerock Lake. The cabin was wonderful. It sat within rock throwing distance from the lake, so Alex and I were out there every day. If it were up to Alex, Tablerock Lake would be full of rocks. He really enjoyed himself.
Weekend
The weekend was for some house work, yard work and recuperating. Some of you may not be aware, but our fence blew down in a wind storm several weeks ago. We got it repaired, but I needed to get some top soil to level out the ground where the new poles were installed. I also mowed and edged the lawn.. gasp.. Audrey and Alex cleaned up some of the flower beds around front and helped by sweeping up the clippings.