2013 Birthdays

With Mike working in Kansas City and being gone for the entire month of April, I flew out on the 5th to KC and we drove down to Branson to celebrate our birthdays. We were both surprised that Branson had become less “country” and more Andy Williams style. Mike picked me up at the airport in Kansas City and we drove down to Branson (about 4 hours).

Our bed and breakfast, The Emory Creek Victorian Bed and Breakfast, was everything we could have asked for. Our room was top notch and better than 5 star hotels and the breakfasts were fantastic. Sammy and Bev were the perfect hosts. Sammy’s music on the piano brought us down to the absolutely out of this world breakfast and his entertainment lasted through our meal. Bev and Sammy then joined us for coffee and we talked for quite a while each morning. It was one of the advantages of hitting the rare weekend when we were the only guests.

After getting settled Friday night we roamed around for a while, had some dinner and came back to relax in the wonderful atmosphere of our room. On Saturday we headed leisurely for The Branson Scenic Railway headed up by the “Ozark Zephyr”. It is a heritage railroad. The trains depart from the historic depot in downtown Branson and operate in the scenic Ozark Mountains for an approximate 40 mile round trip.

As the underlying rail lines are owned by the Missouri and Northern Arkansas Railroad (MNA) and are still in use as an active railroad, MNA traffic determines whether a particular trip will operate northbound from Branson to Galena, Missouri, or southbound from Branson to the Barren Fork Trestle in Arkansas. We headed into Arkansas on our trip and over the Lake Taneycomo trestle.

After a wonderful relaxing train ride in the dome car we changed and headed for the Showboat Branson Belle. There we enjoyed dinner in the paddle room and a very entertaining floor show along with a night time cruise of Table Rock Lake. As an added note we had 220 prom couples on board. After the ship docked for the night they stayed on board until 1am for their prom party.

Back in Kansas City Mike was back to work and I ran errands picking Mike and Tim up some odds and ends for the apartment here. Wednesday I expected to go find some water fountains which I tried to do but it was pouring rain, our warm temperatures of Monday and Tuesday had gone and the fountains hadn’t been turned on yet … So I have pictures of ponds, geese and ducks.. Had a marvelous Chinese Lunch with Candace from the office and arrived back in time to collect Mike for the evening.

Flying home tomorrow without Mike. He’ll be home on the 30th. Not sure what his schedule will be after that other than our week with our friends Patty and Ty in Washington State and a visit with our nephew David and his friend Justin.

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