Hillbilly Heaven

Branson.  Ahhhh, Branson.  Where do I begin?  I guess with why we decided to go there.  We try to see as much of the area we are living in as we can.  On our way down, Jasen and I decided that one of the hobbies we share is exploring where we live.

Part of the reason we went there is that we have two friends who live near there: Jorge, one of Jasen's fraternity brothers from TSU, lives on a horse farm about an hour away and the Hoeprichs, Army friends who are nearby at Fort Leonard Wood.  So, we could see Branson, Table Rock Lake, and friends.  Branson it was!

I went online and ordered a book about Branson and learned we could go to a show everyday, twice a day if we wanted.   There were some names that I knew and knew people who would be interested: Andy Williams, Ann-Margaret, and The Oak Ridge Boys.  There were some people I didn't know: Shoji, along with Dorothy and Christina (you know them, right?), Clay Cooper, and The Duttons.  Oh, and let's not forget Yakov and Dolly, the Baldknobbers and Kirby Van Birch.  Once you get a little south of Springfield, you begin to see all these billboards, touting all the big names in Branson.  Jasen and I spent the last bit of our drive laughing like crazy at the billboards and where we were spending our spring break.  Neither of us ever thought it would be Branson!

At some point, Jasen and I had a discussion regarding who would be performing in Branson.  Jasen's vote was Christina Aguilera.  I thought maybe the Backstreet Boys.  Then, we thought better of those two choices.  Branson might not be happening enough for those artists.  Jasen offered up Carrie Underwood, since she has the wholesomeness that Branson likes to pride itself on.  But I like her; I don't want to see her end up there!!  Do you have an idea about who will be there in 30 years?

Before we went down, we found an awesome cabin online.  It was a little out of our price range, but once I saw the jacuzzi tub, I knew it's where we had to stay!  We were able to get them to come down on their price and we reserved it.  When we arrived, we were concerned because it was a little further out than we thought and it was at the back of trailer park.  But once we went inside, all of our fears were alleviated.  The cabin was AWESOME!  And beyond the back porch: NOTHING!  Just what we wanted.


Grace, Davis and the view from our back porch: nothing!

There was a porch swing and numerous Adirondack chairs on our porch.  If it had been a little warmer, I would have spent a lot of time out there!

A family picture on the porch swing

Coming in the front door of our cabin

Can you see Grace posing?

Can you believe the kids enjoyed the tub before I did?

Before we made the trip to Branson, we decided to see the Dolly Parton Country Stampede.  Dolly has three of these across the country (well, they are all in the south) and we read online that everyone loved them.  So the first night, we headed out to the Stampede.  Everything was quite Dolly and quite hillbilly.  There was a gorgeous butterfly floral arrangement out front.  But in true hillbilly fashion, they were fake flowers.  Inside, there was all kinds of famous pictures redone in true hillbilly style: the human faces were replaced with horse faces.

The Stampede preshow was a very talented juggler who claimed he was the son of the plate spinner from Ed Sullivan.  I haven't checked that yet, but I need to.  He was very good.  During his show, Davis yelled "That's impossible!"  Too funny!  The Stampede is very much like Medieval Times, for those who are familiar with that.  You have no utensils to eat your food and you are separated into two groups.  Can you believe the Graham family had to be on the North side?  We got so tickled when they asked where everyone was from in the audience and most people were from either Oklahoma or Arkansas.


Can you imagine my sadness when I found out the flowers were fake?  So completely bummed!

When we received our food, we were pleasantly surprised with how good the food was.  We had sliced pork loin, a small roasted chicken, half a tater, corn on the cob, and a quite tasty roll.  Poor Davis was completely overwhelmed by the whole chicken.  Jasen broke it down for him but I think Davis ate maybe two bites.  Davis was quite happy with the Pepsi Jasen ordered him.  Davis said it had "great flavor" (that's a quote, I promise!) and deemed Jasen the best dad ever.  Good to know.

Grace was quite taken with the horses and the dresses the girls wore.  When we arrived and left, we were able to see the stables with the horses and she loved that part.

The next day, we woke up late and then went into town to enjoy that other fabulous redneck past-time: go-cart racing!  We had such fun, chasing each other.  One time, Davis rode with Jasen, the other time, he rode with me.  The first time, we were on a "regular" course, with just one bridge portion.  The second time, we went on a three tiered course.  Davis and I were bound and determined to catch Jasen and Grace, until we came down the hill from the top of the course and got a little airborne.  Then we decided to just enjoy our ride and not worry with racing!


Our friend, Braden's "Flat Stanley" joined us on the trip to Branson.  Here he is in front of the Titanic museum/exhibition.  Why is there one in Branson?  Um, not sure about that.  Jasen and I decided there must have been a bunch of relatives of Missourians/Arkansasans on the ill-fated trip.  HA!  Oh, and the big exhibition in there right now?  A tribute to the animals lost on the Titanic.  I am not kidding.  Jasen and I hooted and hollered about that one!

Later that day, we went to the Butterfly Palace.  Did you know you can be afraid of butterflies?  I didn't, until my own children started freaking out about the butterflies.  Now, admittedly, the butterflies would dive bomb around, but hey, they're butterflies, right?  Not like you are going to be injured.  By the time we had spent 5 mins. in the place, our kids were ready to go, which really bummed out Jasen and me because we could have stayed much longer.

We headed back to the cabin where we hosted our friends, the Todds, for dinner.  Caroline is in Davis' class, Brandon is a Navy submariner in Jasen's ILE class, and Karla is a mommy and wife like I am.  Karla is from Connecticut and I love being around her.  Our time before the Todds arrived, we were so excited to see how Karla would react to all the hillbilly-ness around us.  Karla did a great job not being ugly about all the people around us at the various places.  Jasen and I weren't so nice.  The four adults did have a fun time picking out the Hoarders around us, though.


Here are Davis and Caroline.  She wanted to hold either his hand or Grace's the whole day.  Davis was over it before it began. I can't believe he is smiling here!


Awwww, my boy looks happy.  Not sure if he was or not!



The next day, we met the Todds at Silver Dollar City.  Again, the Graham adults were tickled driving into the park at how many old couples were in the cars next to us.  Once we were in the park, we were surprised at how many older people work at SDC.  We had a great time there.  Great rides and even better food.  They have your regular hamburgers and hot dogs, but they also have these great tater twisters and succotash.  And everyone's favorite: funnel cakes!


The first ride we went on was a roller coaster that we thought would be pretty tame.  So Jasen, Brandon, and I took the kids to ride.  After the first hill, I looked at my son, who was slunk down in the seat, holding onto the lap bar for dear life, and trying not to cry.  I felt awful for doing that for him.  Caroline was behind us, yelling a fun "WEEEEE," as her eyes communicated complete fear.  Needless to say, those two didn't ride any more coasters unless they were in the kiddie area.  Grace, on the other hand, did every ride she could!

That night, we went back to the cabin to get the dog (because we couldn't possibly spend money on four days in the kennel -- but I'm not bitter) and headed to our friend, Jorge's.  Okay, I haven't mentioned the terrain around Branson/Table Rock Lake.  Think windy and hilly.  The way to Jorge's think windy, hilly, getting dark, two-lane, lettered roads, not numbered.  Oh, and we'd never been there.  Never.  That was a long 1 1/2 hour drive.  But once we got there, all the stress melted away.  Jorge and Alycia were so sweet to wait 'til 8 (or 8:30?) to eat with us.  The kids were able to see some of the horses they have and we got to see the house that Alycia's great-grandfather built.  Jorge is one of those guys who is just calming.  Such a nice guy.  He killed us with some stories of the hillbillies they live close to and how they have treated the "Mexican next door."  Whew.  Crazy.

We got home at 1:30 a.m.  After a day at an amusement park.  Enough said.

The next day, we met the Todds again.  The girls went shopping, the boys took the kids to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, and then we met up again for lunch.  After lunch, we parted ways and the Grahams went home for a nap.

That evening, the Hoeprichs came for dinner.  Oh, I love them.  We spent only a few months together in Bamberg. But they were enough to cement a special relationship.  Ashleigh and Andrew were newly married and so sweet.  They are precious friends to us.  So our evening was WONDERFUL!

The next day, we hurriedly packed up and left our cabin.  We met the Todds at "Ride The Ducks" but weren't going to be able to ride them until later in the afternoon.  So we cut our losses, met them at IHOP in Springfield, then headed home.

We were tired, but had a great time.  I felt bad for being ugly about hillbillies. I mean, I am from the country.  I am not some great big city sophisticate.  However, the people down there seemed to be different.  I know redneck, I know country, but this was different.  When I talked to my dad about it, he pointed out that some people revel in their ignorance and love being ignorant.  Those were the people we saw around in Branson.  I now it sounds really arrogant of me.  And I don't mean to be.  There's just a difference and it was glaring.

We ended up really enjoying our time in Branson.  We don't have to do any more shows down there, but we'd definitely go back to see the terrain and enjoy our cabin again.

Good Week for a Baller

The Grahams had a great basketball week at the beginning of March.

As hard as it is to be a military family, we have been able to go to some really cool things, sports-wise.  One thing I have wanted to do was go to a basketball at Allen Fieldhouse.  For those of you who aren't big sports people, Dr. James Naismith was the creator of basketball.  He coached at KU and his protege was "Phog" Allen, who Allen Fieldhouse was named for.  With so much history there, you can see why I wanted to attend a game there.

Also, KU is known for it's basketball program and for the atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse.  Our family has seen the "Rock, Chalk" cheer at football games, but we'd been told that to hear it indoors was a completely different experience.  I was sold!

Jasen gave me the go ahead and I got tickets for the A&M men's game at Allen Fieldhouse.  It was my Valentine's Day present.  Jasen and I went early and had the best pizza in Kansas at a place in Lawrence.  Yum!!  Then we parked in the Islamic Student Center parking lot and hiked up to the fieldhouse.  Inside the fieldhouse, they have all kinds of memorabilia dedicated to all KU sports, but a lot of info on their superior basketball program. Did you know that Naismith was also the inventor of the football helmet?  He got tired of getting hit in the head, cut a football in half, and put it on his head for protection.  I couldn't resist taking some cool, yet cheesy photos.

A picture of the inventor himself, Dr. James Naismith

Think mine or Jasen's hands might measure up?

Think again!

Pretty sure it doesn't measure up to the current standards or cost!

Did you know Gale Sayers, of the movie (and book) "Brian's Song" went to KU?

Now, a little trivia.  Do you know who this young man with the large schnoz is?  Answer at the end of this post...

A nice security guy let me go take a picture right next to the court.  We also saw the Aggies run right past us into the dressing room before the game.  My pics were blurry, but we gave a big whoop and Gig 'Em!

Allen Fieldhouse isn't a very big place to watch a ballgame.  When you are used to Reed Arena (Aggieland), Frank Erwin (t.u.) and Bramlage Coliseum (K-State), Allen Fieldhouse is pretty small.  But that was great for us because, although we were sitting in the rafters (literally, look at the pictures!), we had a great seat.  I was just thrilled to be there.

So excited to wear our maroon at Allen Fieldhouse!

See, we're in the rafters.

To the right of us, there were only two rows past us.  Behind us, there were probably six or so rows, but they weren't long ones.

This was the view from our cheap seats, which were not cheap.  But we had a good view, regardless.

Before the game started, the Jayhawks did their legendary "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk" yell.  It was awesome!  And I'll tell you, those Jayhawk fans keep Allen Fieldhouse rockin'.  It was cool to see the A&M coach, Mark Turgeon, introduced because he played college ball at KU.  He got a standing ovation, which was cool.  Overall, though, I was disappointed to hear all the boo-birds in the place.  I am not above a horse laugh (you Aggies get it!), but I hate it when you boo the other team.  Cheer for your own, but don't be ugly in a loud way.  I mean, I'm ugly, but only whispering to my fellow attendee!

Here is a video of the "Rock, Chalk" chant.  It's not as loud on the video I took, but believe me, it gives you a little chill to hear it in person in Allen Fieldhouse. 
Before the game, they showed a video on the screen of the KU national championship teams.  It was really cool.  I had read somewhere that Coach Turgeon had told the Ags not to be intimidated, but to soak in the environment at KU.  It was neat to see the Aggies watching the video; I think it showed a lot of class.  Danny Manning is an assistant at KU, Larry Brown and Mike McCarthy (the GB Packers coach, whose daughter goes to KU) were also there.  Also, Billy Gillispie was there, the dirty dog (as he's referred to in the Graham house) sitting behind the KU bench in a blue shirt.  Traitor!

This would be a video of the KU fans "Waving the Wheat" at the end of the game.

That same week, the Big XII men's and women's basketball tournaments were held in Kansas City.  I would have loved to go to every game, men's and women's, but we're not making that kind of money yet.  However, they ran a special called "Daughter Date Night" at the women's games where the tickets were discounted and guess who happened to be playing?  The A&M women's team versus t.u.'s women's team.  Hello!  No question about who was going to be in attendance for that one!

Our girls standing for the National anthem

Grace, Davis and I went to the game.  I loved watching our girls play.  Run and gun, fabulous defense, and HUGE girl who can also shoot the three.  By halftime, I think Davis could have gone home, but his mama had to stay to the end.  During the game, Grace leaned over and told me she now knew what good rebounding looked like.  Thank goodness!  That night was the first time Davis had ever "Sawed Varsity's Horns Off."  At first, he was way confused, but he got into the spirit of things the second time we did it.  Our girls won and I was so proud of them, standing on the court, singing the War Hymn.  I am also happy to report that our cheerleaders/dance team did not have on maroon velour.  Thank goodness! 

Gig 'Em Aggies!  Whoop!

The next morning, Davis got in bed with Jasen and I.  He reported to Jasen that the girls looked like boys. Sad but true, son.

And the answer to the question...Dean Smith!  Did you know he went to KU?  Pretty cool, huh!  As soon as I saw his picture, I knew who he was!!  That nose is unmistakable!