Rockin' Ralstons: Branson Trip: Day 1

Mike was able to get some days off last week so we decided to take a trip up to Branson, Missouri. It's in the Ozark Mountain area, near the border of Missouri and Arkansas. The mountains aren't anything like the Rocky Mountains, but the dense greenery is beautiful and some of the lakes are crystal clear. Because it's not really peak season yet, the area was not crowded and we often found ourselves alone to enjoy the sites. We took lots of pictures so I'm going to divide this up into three blog posts. Here are pictures and videos from the first day:

This is the beginning of the trip (7-8 hour drive). Zoe was happy for about an hour...then she fussed and cried the rest of the way. It was kind of a miserable trip up to Branson (but she was a perfect angel on the way home so that made up for it).

This is my favorite picture of Zoe. She's so happy to be there! We arrived in the Branson area Thursday late afternoon and started off by getting some food at Famous Dave's BBQ (yeah, I know we leave Texas to go have some BBQ). We also visited a riverwalk off Lake Taneycomo with great stores and restaurants. The weather was perfect and it wasn't very crowded so we enjoyed our time walking "Zoe speed" and taking in the sights.

Hey guys! Let's shop!

We saw several of these wood carved bears in the area. After some coaxing, we talked Zoe into petting this bear. She gave it a quick pat then...

...she quickly ran away.

On our way home, we passed by a small town with an old little house and a great, big hand painted sign reading "Chainsaw Bears". Outside were many wooden statues like the one in this picture. Our guess is this is where Branson is getting those bears...

Big fish!
The area lakes are known for their excellent bass and trout fishing. And they have some big ones! Many places had large aquariums and Zoe loved getting up close and personal. Although the way she hits the glass reminds me of the "bully" girl niece in Finding Nemo...so as much as I would like for Zoe to have a fish, I'm a bit nervous that might be promoting cruelty to animals...

"Uh, Zoe, I like your new hat"