Lookin' For Branson: Part Deux

As I mentioned in the previous post, we're back home after a mini vacation to Branson (read about last year's trip to Branson here), and still recovering from a few days of colds and travel.  Once I got out from under the huge pile of laundry that always accompanies a family trip somewhere, I was eager to get back into our normal routine.  

Traveling with a two-year-old wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, although my child refuses to sleep in the car.  She rarely sleeps when we go on longer trips, besides the occasional 15 minute snooze.  Note to self:  Invest in a portable DVD player.  While in Branson, we made a few stops at our favorite spots from last year but mainly took Katherine to see new attractions that she (and we) had never seen.  I won't bore you with the minute-by-minute replay (you're welcome!), so I'll just overload you with photos.  

So....here's our trip:

I will say that Katherine's favorite thing about the trip was visiting the fountains at the Branson Landing.  Starting at noon, there's a water/fire show every hour on the hour and we went back to those fountains every.  Single.  Day.  

We also took part is such tourist activities as: Ride the Ducks, Grand Country Indoor Waterpark (a favorite from last year), and the Dixie Stampede.  

{We did not stop to pose in front of a beautiful creek with water fall.  We stopped to pose in front of a green screen at the request of the Dixie Stampede ushers.  You can't really go to a cheesy dinner attraction without a cheesy souvenir photo.}

All the while, in between these fun activities, we still visited the fountains.  I'm not even kidding.  Best free entertainment ever.  Until we started letting her throw pennies into it.  Then it started to get expensive.  

No trip to Branson is complete without a mini golf tournament between Jason and I.  We're very competitive when it comes to putt-putt.  Nothing starts a fight faster than a close game of mini golf. 

 

We ended up winning one game a piece and calling it even.  

On the way out of town on the last day, we stopped at Lambert's Cafe (which is my favorite place to eat ever) for Katherine's first "throwed roll." 

It seems like everyone we know always stops at Bass Pro Shop when they're in the area.  Even though we have a Bass Pro Shop in St. Louis (that we never go to) and we're not an outdoorsy family (we don't hunt, fish, camp...the list goes on and on), we decided to stop in Springfield at Bass Pro.  When in Rome.  Katherine liked seeing the fish, turtles, and glamorized taxidermy, so it was a good stop.  I think we were the only ones in the monstrosity that weren't actually shopping for merchandise.  

 

We had a great time, but I'm glad to be back home.  There's really nothing better than that first night back in your own bed.     

What are some of your vacation (or day trip) spots?  Do you go back year after year?