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| The show began as REZA and his motorcycle appeared from nowhere |
Our next show was a magician,
REZA. It was a terrific stage performance as he made motorcycles and helicopters appear out of nothing as well as bewildering illusions and unbelievable tricks.
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The marvelous finale was the grand appearance of
the helicopter with a beautiful assistant inside! |
With a day off from stage shows, we decided on two very different performances. First was the Bass Pro Shop Headquarters in Springfield, MO. As most of you know the wonderful displays presenting fishing and outdoor living in each Bass Pro Shop location, just imagine what HQ is like! Yep, outta this world! I was amazed at the many aquariums for such a variety of fish, alligators, gars, turtles, etc. I was particularly enthralled with how the fishing and aquarium displays had me thinking I was living under water, looking up at the undersides of the fishing boats! And the stuffed game animals were so well done and life-like.
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| Bass Pro Shop HQ, Springfield, MO |
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| Bass Pro Shop HQ, Springfield, MO |
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| Bass Pro Shop HQ, Springfield, MO |
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| Bass Pro Shop HQ, Springfield, MO |
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| Although there were many different bucks, this one is a sculpture in bronze, much larger than life |
The second performance was our second opportunity for "Throwed Rolls!" They have a location just south of Springfield, so we got a kick out of the staff throwing rolls and the huge portions, which fed us for a couple days after!
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| Karen enroute to Pond Island |
We paddled our kayaks for a few hours on Tuesday, the 23rd. The boat ramp was a mile or so from the campsite, so we trailered the kayaks behind the RV and launched them from the ramp. We saw a small island named "Pond Island" on the chart, so that became our destination. On arrival, we discovered numerous plastic flowers and small stone cairns plus a cross and wreath stuck in the pebbled beach. It is our guess that these were memorials remembering the souls lost when the
duck boat capsized in Table Rock Lake in 2018.
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| Memorials to Duck Boat Accident, 2018 |
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| Memorial to Duck Boat Accident, 2018 |
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| A beautiful day on Table Rock Lake |
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| Theater hosting "Samson" |
Our show this evening was Samson. This is the familiar Bible story where Samson has superhuman strength, but loses it when his hair is cut. The production is huge in every way with an enormous stage that wraps around both sides of the audience, massive sets, live animals, actors and animals performing in the spectator aisles, superb singing and even full size temples crashing down! Big in every way, it just seemed too much. It was a grand spectacle and worth the experience, just not our favorite show.
For a change of pace, we played tourist in Downtown Branson, the older part of town. It was fun as we explored
Dick's 5 and 10 (More stuff in more aisles, lots of planes, trains and auto models, games, etc, etc.) and were awed by the "
Fire and Light" display of fountains, fire and light show on the Branson Landing and boardwalk along Lake Taneycomo. The "Fire & Light" show was so impressive that we attended several shows, as they use different music and choreography each hour.
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| Fire & Light |
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| Fire & Light |
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| Blues Brothers |
Our last three shows were "Legends in Concert," 'The Presley's," and "Dolly Parton's Stampede." All were fun and felt worthwhile with "Legends" bringing back fun music memories with songs by Johnny Cash, the Blues Brothers and Elvis (among others).
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| Dolly's Stampede |
"Dolly's Stampede" was an impressive presentation of how the west was won with horses, wagons and even an Indian maiden flying like an eagle.
Dolly's Stampede
But our favorite and what we modestly claim is best-fitting for Branson, was "The Presley's." It is three generations of family entertainment with slapstick humor, good fiddlin', guitar pickin' and excellent singing. Although neither Karen or I am fans of Country Music (we recognized very few of the songs!) the presentation was fun, entertaining and well worth the time and dollars spent.
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| Cecil & Herkimer |
