I'm So Tired, Y'all - Branson Christmas Vacation (Saturday and the Aftermath)

I woke up early on Saturday to ensure that everything was ready to go, and mom was up as well. I asked how she was feeling and she said that a day to relax was just what she needed. Since I’d anticipated that it would take much longer for Hubby & The Kiddo to get ready, we were all standing around staring at each other by 7am, so what did we do? We vegged out on our phones for a while until I got The Antsies strong enough to make me get everyone moving. I’d rather veg out at the airport, than risk the chance of missing a flight due to running out of gas, or a car accident, or long TSA lines, or whatever. So, an hour later, we were at the Springfield airport. It was freezing outside (almost, it was 33ºF) as we unpacked the SUV and went inside. Returning the SUV was super easy, so there’s extra time there, too. We found a nice place to sit at the gate to watch airplanes come and go (what few there were). I got up and got a soda (dammit, no bottled Pepsi to be found) and we all just chit-chatted for an hour or so.

We gate-checked our carry-ons and headed on to the small plane. Since it was a 2-seat row, Mom and the Kiddo got a row to themselves, and Hubby and I had a row to ourselves, and he finally got a window seat, and let me tell ya… him watching takeoff was like watching a little boy see a pony for the first time. His whole body was full of excitement and he kept looking at me with a big ol’ grin on his face, totally worth giving up the seat for him.

We landed in Chicago, where it was a balmy 11ºF, but no snow on the ground. The airport was really pretty, but very large. We had more than an hour to kill, so we started looking for food. We found a McDonald’s and backtracked to a terminal walkway where we could sit on deep window ledges and not be in the way. I scarfed down too many chicken McNuggets and just let some of the stress and airplane seat uncomfortableness melt out of my body. Once we were all full of chemicals, we pulled up the AA app to make sure our gates hadn’t changed, and SHOCKER! The Kiddo’s gate had changed, again. Thankfully, it stayed in the same terminal, but just a different gate.

Sadly, once we got to the gate, we had to leave her. We all said our goodbyes and got lots of hugs… and then a few more… and turned around and headed three terminals over to our own gate for our final flight back to warm & sunny Tampa Bay.

Before we took off, I checked text messages one more time, and saw that the Kiddo had yet ANOTHER delay, this time due to “Aircraft Failure.” I don’t have other texts from her to confirm, since she was also texting with Hubby, but I think she finally landed in Milwaukee around 7pm, and she ended up staying over at her friend’s house for the night (rather than driving all the way home). We landed in Tampa around 6pm to the most gorgeous sunset I’d seen in years, and after getting our luggage and finding our car, we dropped mom off at home by 7:30pm. After we dropped her off and got our hugs, we got back in the car and just… exhaled. It was like, fuck yeah, we made it. This massive undertaking of a family vacation, so many moving pieces, and it worked pretty much flawlessly (except for a few hiccups). I felt like I was taking off a 100-pound backpack and could just breathe again.

We hit up Long John Silver’s for dinner, because I didn’t want to have to stop halfway through the trip home. I was already getting dangerously depleted, I felt like a bathtub that was almost completely drained. I don’t remember what I ordered, but I asked for a cup for ice water, then proceeded to fill it up with soda at the machine and waited for my food. Hubby just sat there and looked at me until I realized what I did, then he went back up to the front and paid for another soda and filled it up with ice water for me. I kind of mumbled thank you as he smiled at me with this weird, affectionate smile that he has, that only comes out at certain times. He told me something next, that actually kind of threw me a little bit… He said “I like it when you’re vulnerable; I can take care you when you’re like this.” I wasn’t offended or put out, but it did make me realize that perhaps I take the “Strong, independent woman who don’t need no man” persona a bit far sometimes, and that there’s nothing wrong with allowing the man I love to help me when I need it.

Once we finished dinner, we hit up a Circle K for mass quantities of Pepsi (yes, even on top of what we got at LJS) and made the two-hour drive home. Thankfully, it was quiet and peaceful and totally uneventful (I use this word a lot…). My driveway looked amazing. My home looked inviting. My bed was fucking magical. I think I was asleep before I even rolled over.

The next morning was Recovery Day. You know the drill, unpack, put everything away. Put all the stuff you ended up not bringing with you away. Catch up on emails. All that jazz. I think we stayed in bed until 10, just snuggled up and enjoying being alone. I could have stayed there all day, but real life was kicking back in… I had to do laundry and get ready for the upcoming work week.

So, would I do this again? Yeah, I think so! Mom even joked on the way home about where we gonna go next? I think we need a bit of time to pay off this vacation though… Mom paid $1,000 for the VRBO. I paid $1.700 for the flights and rental car. When I add that in to everything else we paid for (like meals and experiences), it came out to $2,900. Honestly? For 5 days in a touristy area like Branson, flying from two different locations? Not bad. When you add in the cost of the VRBO, that totals $3900, which is still  $1000 total per person, under $200 total per person, per day (I have a full cost breakdown below, if you're curious). I know you can’t put a price on priceless memories, but damn, we did pretty good! (Okay, I’m not humble, I’ll say it… I did

pretty good. I found all the deals. I booked the VRBO. I booked the flights. I rock.)

But for now, it’s important to notice that it’s about 2 weeks until Christmas, and there’s a buttload of things that need to be done! Decorating, cleaning, shopping, cooking… And that’s just at home! I have two meetings to set up, a Christmas Party to decorate for, and an entire week’s worth of work to catch up on before we close for Christmas.

Maybe next time we do this it won’t be so close to a major holiday!

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For you weirdos (like me) who like to see real numbers, 

here's how much we spent for this entire trip:

She Put Up a Good Fight - Branson Christmas Vacation (Thursday & Friday)

On Thursday, we woke up to the same cold temps we had when we went to bed, only about 40º at 9am. But it was sunny, so that made a difference. Also, much less wind! Again, we enjoyed a quiet morning in the living room, mom and I were on our phones scrolling social media, while Hubby & The Kiddo were rapid-fire talking about video games.

Around noon, we were ready for lunch, so we tried another Downtown Branson place, called Branson Café (so original), and wow… I think we were the youngest people there! Apparently a lot of tour buses stop in Downtown Branson, and many of the tour participants came here for lunch. We had to wait for about 10 minutes or so until we got a booth (a very small booth). Hubby got a hot ham & cheese with fries. Kiddo got French toast. I, for the first time ever in my life, ordered a single order of biscuits & gravy and a side of bacon. And I hate to say it… I wasn’t impressed. I don’t know if they were using a prepared gravy (like from Sysco), or if it was scratch-made, but it was just boring! The biscuit was just okay and not up to the same quality as Billy Gail’s or Farmhouse. The bacon was fine. Everyone else enjoyed their meals as well.

Biscuits & Gravy (no sausage)

Hot Ham & Cheese with Fries

I don’t know what possessed us, but after brunch, we actually went over to Mr. B’s Ice Cream, thinking we could get a little treat to tide us over until we ate dinner, but holy moly, look at the size of these scoops! Hubby got double chocolate dish, Kiddo got a chocolate waffle cone, and I got a bubble gum dish.

Single Scoop of Bubble Gum

Double Scoop of Chocolate in a Waffle Cone

Stuffed to the gills with biscuits and ice cream, we rolled back to the car and headed to our next stop, Silver Dollar City! I had been looking forward to this so much; one, because it’s a theme park with rides and tasty food (though I’m too stuffed to jump at this point), and two, because it’s consistently voted as the country’s best holiday event. They decorate pretty much every single square inch of the park with over 6.5 million lights and I was ready to immerse myself in some Christmas twinkle.

8 Time Winner of America's Best Holiday Event 

We parked quite far away and at first, I thought that we were going to have to walk all the way up to the front (about 15 minute walk), but we saw that there was a Shuttle Stop nearby, so we hopped on to a janky old school bus that took us all the way up to the front gate. At the front, I’d estimate that the lines to get through security had maybe 10 people, and it was hilarious to hear people mumble about how busy it was, like, y’all… Crowd levels at Disney World this week would have been through the roof… this ain’t that bad. Once inside we just started walking, honestly. I had no plan. I just wanted to enjoy the day, enjoy the scenery, and how beautiful the park was. The first place we ended up was the roller coaster Thunderation and all three of us immediately got in line. Mom stayed behind as our Bag Holder. It took a few minutes to make it through the line, and then we were off. 

I originally thought this ride was going to be similar to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and it was, but a lot faster and a little bit rougher. All roller coasters have one of those low, flat circles, and those always make me feel icky, and it was about that time that I realized…

I NEVER TOOK DRAMAMINE! 

SON OF A BITCH!!!!

All three of us loved the ride, though, and it was a good start to the afternoon. Next, we wanted to ride Time Traveler, but I wanted to let the Dramamine I just took kick in, so we wandered some more. I told everyone that I wanted to do the Marvel Cave Tour, so we had a little bit of time to kill before we headed up there to check in. I also wanted to ride the Magnificent Wave Carousel (chain swings) but no one else wanted to ride with me, so I skipped it. We watched ElectroSpin which made me want to vomit, and then, we had the silliest idea ever… Let’s go ride some of the kid’s rides. First up, Happy Frogs!

Oh, it seems like such a simple ride....

Hubby stayed with Mom, while me and The Kiddo got in line, fully expecting the ride operator to tell us that we couldn’t do it because we didn’t have children with us, or that we were too big to ride (we’re both over 200lbs). But to my surprise, she let us ride! She balanced us, like on a clock, with me on one side and Kiddo on the other. 

She's ready to go!

I waved at Hubby as the ride began, fully assuming that it was going to be a simple spin-in-a-circle ride like Dumbo, but oh no! This bitch BOUNCED! (Obviously, in hindsight… it’s a frog ride). And every time the ride made a revolution, it sped up a little bit, and every time the frog bounced, it bounced HIGHER. After the first two or three bounces, I got the giggles. I came around again, and I could hear some people in the crowd start to notice that I had the giggles. Then they started laughing (along, not at), watching me on this ride. Then I really got into it, and every time it bounced, I kind of smooshed myself downward to get the most BOUNCE out of the bounce, if that makes sense. All the while, laughing so hard I can’t breathe, which made the crowd laugh harder. It was without a doubt the funniest 5 minutes I’ve had in quite a while. 

We got off the ride, both of us just laughing like hell as we met up with Hubby and Mom. Hubby said that, for them, it was the funniest they’ve seen in quite a while, too. A few people in the crowd came over and clapped me on the back, and I told them it was their turn, go get on that frog! I found out that Hubby used Kiddo’s cell phone to take photos and video, so if I ever get that from her, I HAVE TO put it here!

Mom and Hubby waiting for us to ride

Anyway, next up, the three of us did the Racing Regatta, which reminded us of that old-school carnival ride The Himalaya. Again, because we’re big adults, we each got our own boat, balanced across the circle. I didn’t like this one nearly as much as the frog… it was too much up-and-down. This ride had 6+ hills, so it was a constant up-and-down, making my stomach feel queasy. And it felt like it went on for much longer than the frog… I was glad when it was over!

With the light dropping, we made our way back to the front of the park to check in for the Marvel Cave Tour. As we stood there, Hubby noticed a very important sign that said participants would need to walk in a bent-over fashion for a certain amount of time, since the cave walkway was short. Everyone kind of balked at that, so we all decided to skip it, sadly… I was bummed, because I really wanted to do it, but if I’d known there was some size/posture restrictions, I would have written it off and not planned on doing it. 

From here, we walked back to the Main Street area, and we caught one of the Christmas Tree lighting/shows. It was cute and quick, with a definite religious slant to it (which I loved). 

My two favorite ladies

Merry Christmas to You

We walked through the park some more, enjoying the gorgeous Christmas lights, but I do have to say… maybe too many lights? Especially once it got dark, the lights lent to a lack of depth perception, and that lent to a difficulty in differentiating between the buildings. I ended using Google Maps to take us over to The Fire District so that we could ride TheFlooded Mine. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it turned out to be a cross between a water boat ride (like Pirates of the Caribbean) and a shooter game (like Toy Story Midway Mania). We sat in a rickety boat with some very realistic six-shooters (but actually lasers) and shot at targets as we passed by. Out of all of us, it was MOM who got the high score! Though, I will say this… at the very end of the ride, when you think that there’s nothing else to shoot at, look up and to the left; there’s a single bullseye up there that you can shoot repeatedly to gain more points. 

Since we were nearby, the three of us went over to ride SDC’s newest coaster, Fire in the Hole. It’s an indoor coaster with three drops, onboard audio, and a water splashdown. This had the second-longest wait at maybe 10 minutes. Again, Mom stayed behind to hold our bags. The ride was really fun and not a “scary” coaster, which is exactly what I wanted.

Finally though, all of us were running out of steam. Part of that could be the massive hills we had to walk up and down (I mean, one of the main walkways is known as Cardiac Hill), but also because we hadn’t had anything to eat since Mr. B’s. But I refused to leave without the best thing you could possibly get at this park… Cinnamon Bread! Here we found the longest wait. For bread? Hubby & The Kiddo found a bench outside and sat waiting for us, while Mom and I got in line for bread. We chatted with a couple behind us about the area, the crowd levels, until it was our turn to get some bread. I knew that we would be getting a full loaf, but somehow was still surprised when we got… a full loaf of bread! Warm, cinnamon-y, light as a feather, bread. I watched as an employee took this pan of bread and ran it under a condiment dispenser, full of warm, gooey, icing before she handed it to me. I didn’t realize that there was some seating inside, so we went outside to get Hubby & The Kiddo, then came back inside. 

Unfortunately, Hubby was in a snit, saying that he didn’t want to go inside, he was done and wanted to leave. I told him to just suck it up for 10 minutes so we could try this bread. So he sulked and refused to even try the bread, while we ladies dug in to this pillowy, fragrant, heavenly goodness. I can’t really even begin to explain how good this was. It wasn’t a typical loaf of bread, or a donut, or a quick bread. It was voluminous, ballooning out of the pan, and once you stabbed it with a knife in an unsuccessful attempt to cut it into slices, it started to deflate, but in a good way. Each of us took a quarter of the loaf and devoured it. I saved the final quarter for Hubby, in case he wanted it later (he never did, so that was a waste of bread that I could have inhaled!)

$9.99 per Loaf

Now with a black cloud over us (because of his mood), we made our way out of the park and back to the trams. When we got dropped off, I suggested to Hubby that he go ahead of us, since he walks faster than we do, and he could warm up the car for us. It gave him a purpose (to override the gloomy mood), and it allowed the three of us to walk at a slower pace (we didn’t have to keep up with him), and enjoy the night. When we met up with him at the car, though, bless his heart... He’d started the car to warm it up, and as we got close, he opened all the doors for us, like a chivalrous man should always do… but by doing so, let all the warm out of the cabin, lol!

We all piled in and waited for the warmth to return to our fingers and toes, and I asked Hubby if he was doing okay. He apologized for his mood – he said that when he got back to the car to start it, he saw a bottle of water and sucked it down in one gulp. He realized that he was probably in a funk and feeling crappy because he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since ice cream, and he was probably dehydrated. As I’ve been fighting with him about drinking more water in “real life,” this was massive for him… He’s learning, good for him!

Despite the delicious bread, we were all starving, so we drove over to Hollister to go to Hook & Ladder Pizza. Unfortunately, this is when the night kind of went off the rails. Hubby is a person who doesn’t always acknowledge when someone is talking to him. Mom is a person who will continue to talk to a person until they acknowledge her. So, as hubby and I were talking about him drinking the bottle of water, Mom, in her infinitely loving way, told him that if he needed a bottle of water, she had one in her purse. He never said anything to her, so she assumed that he didn’t hear her, and said it again. He continued to talk with me, she continued to talk. After a few minutes of this, he finally barked back at her, “If I wanted more water I would have asked,” and went back to talking to me. Not the best way of communicating with a 70+ year old woman, but I was just too tired to play peacemaker. So the ride to dinner was much quieter after that, as was dinner itself.

Pepperoni Pizza (Top), Sausage Pizza, Breadsticks

The inside of the restaurant was absolutely plastered with fireman or first responder patches and other firefighter paraphernalia. The cashier was busy as hell, taking orders and running dishes to the dining room, so it took 10 minutes or so to actually order. Both me and the kiddo got a pepperoni personal pizza; Hubby got a sausage personal pizza. We ordered a plate of garlic breadsticks for the table. The breadsticks were delicious, as was my pizza. Hubby didn’t like his – the sausage was cooked under the cheese, instead of on top of the cheese, so it gave it all a weird, slimy-ish mouthfeel, and he opted to steal some of my pizza instead. Basically, he just had a crappy few hours.

When we woke up on Friday, mom pulled me aside and said that she planned to tap out today. She was tired and headache-y, and thought that she’d just curl up on the couch for a quiet day. We could do dinner later. I told Hubby this, and he said that mom was being "butthurt" because he yelled at her last night. Which option was the right one, who knows. But I felt bad either way, because I really wanted mom to do all the fun stuff with us. But I had to respect her boundaries (though I felt like a terrible daughter). Plus, looking back now, it was good that she didn’t go… It never got much warmer than 50º and being outside for much of the day in that weather, she would have been uncomfortable, and possibly would have wanted to tap out after the first place anyway, so for her comfort, staying at the VRBO was definitely the better choice.

That meant that today was just the three of us, like old times, and I won’t lie, I missed my kiddo! She’s been on her own since 2021, it was wonderful to all be together again. She wanted to go back to Billy Gail’s for breakfast (she loved their French toast), so that’s where we went! She got another plate of French toast, Hubby got a delicious cheeseburger, and my fat ass opted for Chicken Fried Chicken, with fries, mashed potatoes, and cornbread, and holy crap! It was TWO full-size chicken breasts, absolutely smothered in white gravy (not sausage gravy). I didn’t even realize at first that there was two, since the top one was so big. I kept chipping away at the first one, and barely made a dent in it; when I moved it to get more space on my plate – that’s when I discovered the second one! Oh no… I left so much food on that plate, I felt really badly, but I had no room!

French Toast, Scrambled Egg, Sausage Patty

Cheeseburger & Fries

Chicken Fried Chicken, Fries, Mashed Potatoes, Cornbread

Holy god... there's a whole 'nother piece!

We let our food settle as we drove back to Shepherd of the Hills, because it was zipline time, baby!!!!  The second thing I was looking forward to this trip was to throw myself off a building a few times. We asked the kiddo if she wanted to do this (super-scared of heights), and she seemed willing to try. Hubby kept trying to tell her it’d be okay (he’s also scared of heights). The cashier was quick to tell us that if someone chickened out, there were no refunds; I said that if she didn’t go, I’d go again. So all three of us went up to the 14^th floor and her panic set in. And it got so much worse when the staff member came to take us to the platform. She was so scared she was crying and said she felt bad for letting us down, but she couldn’t do it. We e consoled her and told her that it was fine, she wasn’t letting us down. Though she did have the option to stay and watch from the platform, she opted to go back up the stairs and right back down the elevator to the ground instead. I felt so bad that she was so upset, but she really did feel like she could do it… when she was still safely on the ground.

So, it was just hubby and me. He’d already done Parakeet Pete, but that was at night when you couldn’t see anything below; I wondered how he’d handle this version. Well, let me tell ya… he handled it like a champ. He was very chatty with the employee who was strapping him in, and asked for a 3-2-1 countdown. And then, we were ziplining! For some reason, my line was much faster than his, so I couldn’t watch him at all, but I did look back near the beginning and he was smiling like a fool. When we landed and got out of the slings, he gave me a huge hug and said it was the coolest thing he’d ever done! He was like a little boy the entire ride back up to the front of the park, I was so happy he enjoyed it.

We found our daughter and asked how she was doing now that she’d had time to chill out and relax and she said she felt much better. Not enough to do it, of course, but her panic attack had abated. We went inside to pay for another ride for one of us (the other was using the kiddo’s unused ride), then gave her the keys for the car so she could sit inside until we were done.

On the second ride, we were paired with an adorable middle-age couple from the Chicago area, and the wife was very anxious about the ride. We chatted with them about the ride and what to expect. We let them go first (to get strapped in), and then we got strapped in, this time with Hubby on the outside seat (that’s a big deal that he felt safe enough to do that; he’s big on “middle seat” options). This time, my line was the slowest, but that worked in my favor because I was able to see (and record with my GoPro) everyone. At one point, hubby even let go of the straps and stuck his arms out! 

On the tram ride back to the front we all talked about the ride, about the freezing weather, and just general chitchat. The wife was bummed that she didn’t take any photos to prove that she did it, and I told her I’d be glad to share my GoPro footage with her (which I did when I got home, though I don’t know if she got it because she never replied back…).

We caught up with the kiddo at the car and headed back inside a third time, this time to get tickets for the Copperhead Mountain Coaster. https://theshepherdofthehills.com/coaster/ We also got hubby a souvenir tee-shirt so he could brag to all his friends that he ziplined. TWICE. There weren’t any shirts available in 2x or 3x, so both of us ladies were out of luck… ah, the curse of the chesticles.

This was the kiddo’s first time doing a mountain coaster and she loved it! Which is a good thing, because we’re doing all the coasters in Branson! Next up was the Runaway Mountain Coaster at Branson Mountain Adventure Park. https://www.bransonalpinemountaincoaster.com/coaster This one was a little bit out of town in a pretty, secluded area, in Fall Creek, between Branson and Table Rock. This one, said to be the longest mountain coaster in the Midwest {over 4900 feet}, had a 1900ft uphill track to begin, and then 3000ft of downhill thrills. Though, to be fair, Copperhead is 4800 feet, so it’s not that much longer. But the uphill at the beginning was interesting, because they put some fake animals in the brush and piped in corresponding noises while giving us some nature lessons. This ride was my favorite, but I can’t put into words why. It was just a little more thrilling, a little more scenic, and just a little more… everything.

Our final coaster was situated right on the 76 strip, The Branson Coaster, https://www.thebransoncoaster.com/  and this one gave me “Tourist Trap” vibes from the get-go. Staff were there to move bodies, not provide an experience. The coaster cars were a little beat up and uncomfortable. The cashier who sold us our tickets spent more time mumbling and trying to make jokes (that we couldn’t hear) than to speak clearly and make sure we knew what we were doing. The ride started with a downhill (like Copperhead) and after only 30 seconds or so, it felt like it was over… what the hell? Oh, no, that was a fake out! There’s still another half of the ride to go! That’s fun, I suppose. But you took away all of my momentum. Maybe that was the point? This was also the only one that gave me a business card after and begged me to leave reviews on TripAdvisor and Google.

Thoroughly adrenalined-out, we sat in the car and decided what we wanted to do next. The Kiddo wanted to go back to Dick’s 5 & 10 because she had some souvenir money to burn and she wanted one of the cool dragon things she saw last time we were there. So downtown we went! We stood in front of a shelf for about an hour, trying to decide which one she wanted. She thought about her budget. She thought about where she’d put it. She thought about which one would look best in the place she wanted to put it. And with all that, when she finally found the one, she was like a proud mama. We also found some souvenir tee-shirts (mine was on clearance!) and picked those up, along with a few Christmas ornaments and a magnet (of course!). While we shopped, I texted mom to see if she was up for dinner with us, and she declined, stating that she was comfy-cozy in bed with her bowl of leftover Dairyland chili for dinner. Okay… either she still feels icky, or still feels slighted.

We ended up at Culver’s for dinner; sometimes you just need fast food. More burgers and chicken tenders. After that, we treated ourselves to Mint Chip milkshakes at Chick-fil-A down the road and brought them back to the VRBO with us. We all talked about our day, but eventually had to do the sad thing, and pack. We were leaving early in the morning, and I didn’t want to have to do much packing in the morning.

HOW Delayed??? Branson Christmas Vacation (Tuesday & Wednesday)

Well, we’re back from our bougie family vacation in Branson, and holy shit, I’m tired!

Oh, and to point out as we start this – one thing you’ll notice is that there’s not a whole lot of photos, which just seems wrong, right? Nah. I ended up just being in the moment and enjoying my family that taking tons of photos never once crossed my mind!

But let’s back up…

On Tuesday, Hubby and I woke up at the ass-crack of dawn, about 3am. We loaded up the car and headed south to pick up my mother. We stopped along the way for a vat of Pepsi, and later, a few sausage biscuits to tide us over through the first flight.

Traffic was light on the interstate and we got to mom’s around 7am. My aunt was still asleep, so we didn’t have to dodge that chatty bullet (I love her, but she chats!). I filled up my water bottle with ice from mom’s freezer, then loaded up her luggage and made our way south again, to Tampa. We got our parking spot and rolled our way into the airport, stopping for the obligatory photo with Phoebe (didn’t come out so well, but it’s a good representation of how tired I was already!) We rode the fun little monorail to our terminal, and went through TSA. None of us got dinged for anything, and they even just waved mom through with no scan or detector!

Yes, that is a massive flamingo statue in the middle of an airport

We had plenty of time to kill at our gate, so we all vegged out on our phones. For those of you who remember the Great Eclipse Dramamine Debacle of 2024, let me tell you about The Dramamine Plan! I bought these cool little pill keychains and filled them with Dramamine and Aleve. I gave one to Hubby, clipped one on my Bagallini, and another to my beltloop. I also set alarms on my phone to tell me to take the damn Dramamine, and I’m happy to report that this plan worked wonderfully, and no airsickness was to be had. I now return you to your previously scheduled vacation blog…

At 8:30am, I got a text from The Kiddo that her flight from Milwaukee had been pushed back 30 minutes. Then another 30 minutes. Then another… The safe, two-hour layover I planned for her in Chicago kept shrinking; I worried about her running through O’Hare like the McCallisters, trying to catch her flight to Springfield!

She then texted that they were able to get her on a different Milwaukee-to-Chicago (MtC) flight that should arrive in Chicago with time to spare, so I felt a little bit better as we got on our own first flight (to Charlotte).

Hubby understood the plan; mom didn't realize I was taking a photo!

When we landed, I texted her to see what was happening, and she said that {because her first original flight was due to land after her second flight took off}, American automatically rebooked her on a different Chicago-to-Springfield (CtS) flight that would arrive at 6:30pm!! She was originally supposed to arrive in Springfield around 2pm (we’d arrive at 3pm). She was able to get on the Standby List (and later on the flight)  for a different flight that would get her to Springfield around the same time, but because her luggage was already set to fly on the new flight, it wouldn’t arrive until later. Not the best news, but we could always check in at our VRBO then drive back to pick up her bags.

She got on her flight at almost the same time we got on ours, and the lucky duck got an entire row to herself in a front row of economy! She landed about 20 minutes before we did, and decided to go check Baggage Claim anyway, just in case, and thank god… her luggage was there waiting for her! They were able to pull it off the other flight and squeeze it on to this flight, which means that there’s no need to come back to Springfield later.

2nd Flight, let's go!

Hugs all around as we met up with her at the baggage carousel, then we headed over to pick up the rental from Hertz. My car was almost ready, and by the time we finished the transaction, they had it waiting for me at the curb, right outside – didn’t even have to go find it in the lot (as small as that lot actually was). We ended up with a 2025 Chevy Equinox SUV, which was very spacious and comfy, and a tank to drive. It got great gas mileage, too… never filled up during the entire trip. I didn’t love it, though. It was clunky to drive, needed large amounts of space to stop, the remote start didn’t work most of the time, and you had to go outside to open the back hatch. The tech inside was neat, like the google map showing up on the dashboard, not just the infotainment screen. But other than that, it was definitely not a vehicle I’d add to my “I’d buy that” list. It cost about the same as my Nissan Altima, and I love her so much more!

The drive to Springfield was quick, though we did stop for sodas and Icees at a very janky Maverick. Checking in for our VRBO only took minutes, and they never tried to upsell me anything like show tickets or the like. Our apartment we booked was on the top floor of a 3-level condo (where the 2^nd floor was actually level with the parking lot). So we had to lug all of our suitcases upstairs, but it wasn’t too bad. Mom got the downstairs room, Kiddo got the upstairs room, and we took the master bedroom in the back. We all settled in to our rooms for a bit then converged again in the living room to decide on dinner. 

A terrible photo of an amazing Ozark sunset

We chose The Farmhouse Restaurant in downtown Branson, which was AMAZING! It was later in the evening, so it was quiet, which worked in our favor, as the dining room could probably only hold 50 people. Hubby and The Kiddo both got a burger & fries (which was delicious). I got silver dollar pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, & a biscuit, and let me tell you… this is a breakfast made in heaven. The biscuit was pillowy and buttery and soft; the pancakes were just the right texture and firmness to stand up to butter and maple syrup without disintegrating, and the bacon… oh the bacon was fatty and salty and unctuous and amazing. Yeah, it was definitely the right choice for our first meal in Branson (but could anything live up to it?)

Burger & Seasoned Fries, cooked to perfection

Silver Dollar Pancakes, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, and Biscuit

After rolling ourselves out of The Farmhouse, we walked up and down Main Street but by then pretty much everything was closed (typical of Branson, we learned!), so we pointed the car to Walmart to pick up our online order (drinks, snacks, etc). Mom had never done a pick-up before, so she was very interested in the process and how well it worked. She said that she’d maybe do one when she got home, to see how her store handled it.

Back at the house, we put all of our groceries away, and as I always do, I ordered way too much stuff. I’d gotten Pepsi, Mtn Dew, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and bottled water. I got two types of Little Debbies, some Slim Jims, and a variety box of chips. I even got a package of TP (mostly because mom swore that every time she’d been at a VRBO they ran out of TP. Spoiler alert... we never ran out of TP). Oh, and a box of half-gallon freezer bags. Did you know they made half-gallon size freezer bags? I didn’t! Now I love them and want them all the time. Anyway, we all went our separate ways for the night and went to sleep.

Wednesday dawned cold and blustery, only 45º when we all got out of bed. We decided to do breakfast at a local favorite, Billy Gail’s, and holy moly, I see why it’s a favorite! The Kiddo ordered French Toast with eggs, grits, sausage, and a biscuit. Hubby ordered scrambled eggs with sausage and a biscuit. I thought I’d be clever and get a single scrambled egg, a biscuit, their fancy “Million Dollar Bacon” and a single pancake. Now, this place is famous for their 14-Inch Sweet Cream pancakes, but their menu was laid out so it looked like you could get this massive pancake OR a short stack of regular pancakes. So I ordered one. And, y’all… this pancake was massive. It was the size of a frozen pizza! It took up half the table! Everyone helped me eat it, but I think that ¾ of it stayed untouched, unfortunately. It was delicious, and everyone should get one, but be known that it’s MASSIVE and you’ll be stuffed if you try to eat IT and any other food too. The “Million Dollar Bacon” was “Fifty Dollar Bacon,” not nearly as sweet, savory, or spicy as promised; plus it was a little overcooked and tasted like it sat around a while. Oh well… The biscuits were a tasty runner-up to The Farmhouse. Everyone loved their meals.

French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Cheese Grits, Biscuit

Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Biscuit

Scrambled Eggs, Biscuit, "Million Dollar Bacon," Pancake

When The Kiddo got her luggage from the carousel last night, she saw that she’d broken one of the wheels on it, so today was an adventure to get her a new suitcase. We decided to hit up some thrift shops first, since we’re in a heavy tourist area; if we didn’t get lucky there, we’d head over to Walmart.

Our first stop, Elevate, was lovely, but very small. A little bit of everything, but no luggage to be found. Next, we went over to the Branson Humane Society thrift store, and we found a great, barely used, Samsonite carry-on roller bag for just ten bucks! No stink or smell, no little bits of detritus in the seams. We also found a really nice leather computer briefcase/roller bag that could be used as her Personal Item, so we snagged that up as well. Twenty bucks for two pieces of luggage that will keep her travelling for quite a while? Yes please!

On the way back to the VRBO, we stopped at Hurts Donut  for some treats to bring back. Everyone picked up three donuts (I think it cost about $30, oof). Now, I say this with love, but… it didn’t feel the same in there. Like, when we were there in 2021 there was this fun, funky vibe to it, but this time around, the vibe was “Yeah, we’re super-cool and you know it so give me five bucks for a donut so you can feel cool too.” It’s hard to explain why I wasn’t nearly as impressed with them as I was last time… maybe I was expecting too much?

Butterfinger Chocolate Cake, Lemon, Slim Shady, THE Brownie, Jesus, Birthday Cake, Jesus, Maple, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, and German Chocolate
(I don't remember what the two missing ones are!)

Back at the house, we all just vegged out on the couch and ate a donut and chatted about nothing important (seriously, getting The Hubby and The Kiddo together is like a nerdy ComiCon) for a few hours. We threw on some layers, as we were heading out into the cold to do some shopping and ziplining at Branson Landing.

First up, we went to Dick’s 5 & 10. I expected a small, tourist-tacky type store, but this was something else. There were probably 30 aisles, 3 deep, that just kept going back and back. Everything you could think of was in this store. Some touristy, some kitschy, some quirky, some useful, some nostalgic, some silly… some of everything! Originally, I was hoping to get some bottled beverages for a Weirdos video, as well as some nostalgic or wacky foods to try – I had a vision of all four of us trying weird stuff and making a video. But it seemed like the choices were “normal candy that was marked way up” or “shitty candy from Japan that none of us want.” At some point, Hubby and The Kiddo split up from me and mom, except for when Hubby came back to tell me that there was something The Kiddo kept arguing with herself about buying but didn’t want to blow so much of her budget on that item. So I snuck over there, hid it in my coat and bought it for her for Christmas. I think, all in all, we were in there for about two hours, and I honestly could have stayed for more. Maybe we’ll go back before we leave.

Our next stop was Branson Landing to ride Parakeet Pete’s Zipline. Mom had thought that this was a good zipline to try out first since it seemed ‘calmer’ (?) than the Shepherd one. Now, I do have to point out at this time, it was about 40º outside, and at night. Right? Okay, let’s go. We walked up to the booth and asked to ride, and the two attendants looked at us like we were insane. But gladly took our fifty bucks. They put us in the seats – which were too shallow for adult butts and extremely cold – and then made us get out so they could fix something… yeah, that’s a vote of confidence right there… Back in the seats, they strapped us in with simple lap belts and told us to have fun, and then we were pulled backward and upward to the other side of the Tanycomo. It was a LOT faster than I was expecting, and those shallow seats felt really shallow with gravity doin’ its thing. At the top of the lift, we were let go and we zipped back down over the river, again at that insanely steep angle, and after about 15 seconds, we ‘landed’ at the bottom. It was a bit of a rough ride, and scarier than I’d expected. It totally gave me "Unsafe County Fair Ride" vibes. Mom seemed to enjoy it at the time, but she didn’t really say much about it, now that I think about it now…

After we got out of the chairs, I asked Hubby and the Kiddo if they wanted to do it, and The Kiddo was all “HELL NO!” but Hubby was open to it, so I immediately got us paid up to do it again. I gave him a few heads’ up about what will happen and then back we went. He wasn’t a huge fan of the backward part, nor the waiting at the top part, but then they let us go and we zipped back down, and he really enjoyed himself. I wore a GoPro for both of the trips, but like a dumbass, I wore them facing OUT (like a POV shot) instead of pointing it at us so I could record our reactions instead. I’ll share them below, anyway.

We walked around Branson Landing afterward, but it was very cold, and very empty, so we gave up and decided to hit up Billy Bob’s Dairyland for dinner. I think we got there within an hour of them closing, because it was mostly empty. We all got burgers except for Mom who got onion rings and a bowl of chili (she said it was delicious). Burgers were okay, but tough and overcooked. Fries were delicious. Shakes were meh. Definitely not the best meal we’d had in town, but they can’t all be winners!

Cheeseburger & Crinkle Fries

Chili with Cheese & Onions

Tired and full, we headed home. When the Kiddo went upstairs to potty, mom casually said that she’d brought a card/money for The Kiddo for Christmas and wasn’t sure when she should give it to her. Hubby had also brought a gift card for the Nintendo Store, and I had the Funko Pop that we bought for her at Dick’s, so when she came back down, we showered her with our little impromptu Christmas. She and Hubby stayed up a while longer, taking Nerd Stuff, but mom and I went to bed.

Tomorrow is one of the two things that I’ve most been looking for this entire trip, and I can’t wait! 

Endless Summer 5k Race Report 2025

When I registered for this race, I kinda forgot that I'd already signed up for a 5k just last weekend, so yeah... A back-to-back! 

I didn't do a Race Report for the other race, but it was the Wounded Warrior Project Carry Forward 5k. Always a good time, easy race because so many people are just walking. Nothing amazing happened. I got an amazing parking space about 1000 feet from the after-party, which was great. The tee shirt is super comfy. Picked up half a dozen bottles of Core water (love those for work because they're sturdy and refillable). Finished 56:38 and got a great medal. 

Carry Forward 5k Medal

Anyway, so on to this race, the Endless Summer 5k on St. Augustine Beach. I did it back in 2021, and I said that I wasn't impressed, but that I'd give it another shot, so here we are.  

I got there with plenty of time to spare to ensure that I got a parking spot in the lot within the park, and went to the front to get my packet, and that’s when shit hit the fan. I was told that they didn’t have a shirt in my size – a Women’s XXL, which I paid extra for. The old blue-haired cat-lady  “allowed” me to get a Men’s XXL instead, which was just so frustrating… Men’s shirts suck because they’re so boxy, which is why I chose a Women’s shirt, and why I paid EXTRA for a Women’s shirt that would actually fit my large woman body… At least the reusable tote bag and sticker were cool.

Size 11 Flip-Flop for reference

As I walked around and made my way over to the start line, I got a text on my phone; it was my old boss asking if I was here – he said he thought he saw me! We texted back and forth a few times before we found each other, gave each other hugs, and then he went back to his family.
 
We took off and trudged through the soft sand to the hard-packed water line. I won’t lie, my only goal today is to stay far enough in front of my old boss so that we don’t have to chit-chat for an hour, or do that awkward “walking near each other” dance. So I put some speed in my steps and kept my pace pretty quick (of course, “quick” is relative, lol). Didn’t end up working all that well, because we finished within a minute of each other, and only 10 people between us.

Finished 59:42 (353 out of 463 Total Runners)

I got my medal and photo, then headed back to my car. I hit up one of the beach showers to wash all the sand and yuck from my legs before I headed out. I changed my clothes and headed toward downtown to get some fudge, but sadly, my “super-secret parking lot” directly behind Savannah Sweets has been turned into private parking! So I drove around for a little bit, looking for parking, but it was just busy EVERYWHERE, what the hell? Before I knew it almost an hour had gone by! I gave up on fudge and went over to Schooner’s for lunch, and when I asked the waitress why it was so busy in town, she told me that today was the first day of Nights of Lights. Yep, that’ll do it! Everyone was here to see the town lit up in millions of Christmas lights, no wonder there was nowhere to park! Also explains why I kept seeing a lot of “Park Here for Shuttle” signs – being a person who goes to Saint Augustine a lot, I assumed that those were for something specific, and probably cost $20 to park! Oh well, no fudge for me. Instead I got delicious fried shrimp. After that, I hopped over to Walmart for some pre-vacation shopping, then made my way home to pick Hubby up from work.

So, now that I’ve done this race twice, do I think I’ll do it again? Nah, probably not. The shirts are cute, but this is twice now that they haven’t had a shirt in my size (ahem… THAT I PAID EXTRA FOR), and it’s just not special enough to overlook that. Being in Florida, there’s lots of options for on-beach races, if I want to do one of them instead (and I will… spoiler alert!)

Race Notes                                                                                        

Location: Anastasia State Park (Saint Augustine), FL

Host: Don's Friends

Race Fee: $45.29 (Saved $3 with promo code ACRR)

Extra Fee: $2 (Women's XXL V-Neck Shirt)

Packet Pickup: Easy to find, didn't have my shirt size

Parking: Got there early enough to park in large Park parking lot; more parking available along the roads

Support: One water table (accessible up and back) 

After Party: A few vendor/expo type tables, good snacks (Utz pretzels, Rice Krispie treats, bagels, bananas, water); No music or entertainment afterward

Results: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/25416#resultSetId-606552;perpage:5000