Rockin' Ralstons: Branson Trip: Day 2

We started our second day in Branson by going to a fish hatchery. Zoe was in fish heaven! The fish hatchery had over 800,000 fish (400,000 lbs!). They grow the bass and trout in these long water troughs, separated by size and weight over an 18 month period. The fish are then transported to Table Rock lake to maintain fish levels--as fishing is a year round attraction here.

The hatchery is right at the Table Rock Dam. On the other side of that dam is Table Rock Lake. So yes, Mike spent all day giggling while saying things like, "where's the dam parking?" "let's go see the dam fish, and then go to the dam visitor center" "I want to go on a dam tour but I can't find a dam worker anywhere around this dam office", etc. He deserved a lot of eye rolls that day. As Zoe is a walking parrot, I'm just waiting for Zoe to start yelling the "d" word in the middle of church or at the library.

For a quarter we could get some pellets to feed the fish. Zoe had a lot of fun doing that. When you threw the pellets into the water, a feeding frenzy would ensue with fish scrambling all over each other. There were so many fish that the saying "like shooting fish in a barrel" has new meaning for me.

Zoe feeding the fish

After feeding the fish we went over to the other side of the dam and took a break at a park and watched some geese (Yes, Mike called it the dam park and dam geese...and yes it got old). We had some bread with us so we fed them. Zoe was not afraid to get up close and personal.

Strike a pose!

Zoe got a little too close to the baby geese at one point and this alpha male goose started hissing at her. Zoe just froze, staring at him wonder what he was doing. But Mike did his alpha male duty and leaped to Zoe's rescue and snatched her up before the goose could bite her. The alpha male goose was really mean! He would chase after other geese if they came over to the area. Later on I went down to the docks by myself and watched the boats on the quiet water. Suddenly the same goose jumped onto the dock from a hiding spot and scared me to death. I ran back to Mike and Zoe....dam goose indeed.

This is so embarrassing. While Zoe and I were looking around the little museum in the Table Rock Dam information center, admiring the animals and historic info., Mike was taking a video of his favorite exhibit......no those aren't types of chocolate named after animals.

After taking a break at the park by the lake we went up into the mountain to do some exploring. We found some really beautiful spots and were a little surprised that there wasn't anybody else around. Again, we thought the area would be really crowded for Memorial Day weekend, but we often were able to enjoy the sites by ourselves. That was one of the best parts.

View of Table Rock Dam

This is on the other side of the Table Rock Dam (the Dam is to the left of this picture) where the water funnels down to look like a river.

The lakes were very clear and just amazing to watch

Table Rock Dam

That's the fish hatchery that we were at earlier in the day.

Look at that view! You can almost see the curve in the Earth. :)

We wondered if this had anything to do with table rock...we found the stairs...maybe a table was nearby..

Mike and Zoe with Table Rock Dam in the background.

Explorers. Reminds me of a Beatles cover for some reason.

Zoe in a field of little yellow flowers.

Checking out a path that we found. There is a steep drop off just to our left that led right into the river. Every few yards there was a path that veered off of this one that would take you to an overlook of the river. There were no fences or warning signs around these overhangs. Literally one wrong turn and a misstep and you're doing a goofy yell as you plunge waaaay down.