Touring Branson

The Marriott offered a bus tour of the town, so we took them up on it this rainy day. Turned out to be very interesting. All the day's photos start here.

Table Rock Lake Dam

College of the Ozarks

Old town Branson

Great lunch at the White River Fish House.

From the Fish House, fire balls on the hour!

Turn Down Cookies at the College of the Ozarks.

On to Branson...

We got into town a few hours earlier than expected. No problem, they had plenty of places to recommend for killing a little time, including Saint City's Sports Bar and Grill. The resort had a little moonshine tasting - which we enjoyed! Pecan Pie was the best. This day's photos start here.

 

Marriott Resort, Branson, MO

This bar and grill was recommended to kill
a little time waiting for our room.
It worked!

We're headed here on Wednesday!

Roasterie, Arabia, and Seasons 52

We visited the Roasterie today, the Arabia Museum, and Seasons 52 for dinner. All today's photos start here.

That's a DC-3.

World War 1 Museum

The first stop in KC today was the National World War 1 Museum. Then on to Crown Center for a quick look around, followed by dinner at McCormick and Smick's. All the photos for the day start here.

The Chocolate Bag at McCormick and Shmick's!

St. Patty's Day in Kansas City

A beautiful but cold morning on the Plaza. Then off to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art where Jamie's sister, Vickie, joined us, including lunch in Rozelle Court.  We spent several hours there and left plenty to come back to see. After the art gallery, we did a little Foster nostalgia drive around the Westwood, KS area where Jamie and Lynn's first two houses were, and Velvet Creme Popcorn! We finished the day with dinner and a show at The New Theatre. The show was "Condo-Monium" starring Barry Williams (from the Brady Bunch). Pretty cool venue. All the day's photos start here.

Sunrise on the Plaza

Boy with Thorn freezing in the snow.

Union Station, Missouri Star Quilt, and Chaz

Following breakfast at Andre's, the boys split up from the girls for most of the day. At Andre's, Lynn got a bit reacquainted with the Mom of a girl Lynn had in the preschool she taught at Village Church, about 45 years ago! From there, the boys went to Union Station (there's a lot there these days) and the girls went to Missouri Quilt Company which is all of Hamilton, MO - a hotbed of quilting - everywhere in town, everything in town. And yes, the girls came back with several quilt projects. Then we met up at Chaz (restaurant in the Raphael Hotel) with Vickie and Rob for a wonderful dinner complete with live music. We went to bed with snow falling! The day's photos start here.

Finally, a Napolean at Andre's! This is what Lynn searched
for in France and never found...

Union Station (one small part).
The model railroads are at the far end of this hall.

Quite the model railroad display at Union Station.

Finally got to experience Pierpont's,
the fancy restaurant at Union Station.

Private rooms downstairs.

Snow!

Hamilton, MO is quilt-town USA.

The Springs to the Plaza

Nana and Papa took off yesterday morning on their Kansa City - Branson - St. Louis trip. The I-70 Diner in Flagler, CO was "temporarily closed." Who knows how long "temporarily" is. As luck would have it, we stumbled onto Handi's in Stratton, CO. Great burgers, and as it turned out, great pie, too. It was Pi Day after all, and their pecan pie a la mode was quite good. We made it to Junction City on Tuesday, stayed at a Marriott there, and enjoyed a great little sushi dinner at Tokyo. We got up this morning and headed to the Kansas City airport to pick up Bob and Sandy coming in from California. Not 30 minutes out of Junction City, however, we stopped at Alma Creamery in Alma, KS. What a hoot, and the cheese curds were fun, too! We managed the airport pickup with aplomb and got to the Raphael with plenty of time for a nice little dinner at Chaz (in the hotel) and a very relaxing evening. All the photos start here.

Tokyo

Very comfy lobby at Junction City's Marriott.

Our KC home for a while - the Raphael

Cool painting in our room, The statue is out front of
the Raphael Hotel, the light reflects the lights out front, too,
and the background building outlines are of the Plaza!

View from our 5th-floor room.

Good start on a puzzle. The green cloth under the Chivas
is a little St. Paddy's Day runner Lynn made by piecing
together the two bandanas the dogs got at their grooming.