Branson Missouri

Well, we finally made it to Branson! It had been on our bucket list for several years but we never seemed to be able to make it there – it’s not near our normal travel routes.

After our intro to the Smoky’s, I assumed it would be pretty much as bad as Pigeon Forge, and I wasn’t far off. Branson is much larger area-wise, but attraction-wise, Pigeon Forge probably has as many, just crammed into ¼ the space. Most of Branson’s attractions are shows and theaters, with a few touristy museums thrown in, where Pigeon Forge has lots of amusement parks with roller coasters, other rides, and tons of go-cart tracks. There is only one roller coaster in Branson, a traditional wooden monster that based on the grass growing between the rails, must be abandoned at least a decade.

We managed to get done in Branson what we couldn’t bring ourselves to do in Pigeon Forge. After being Dolly Parton-ed out at Dollywood, dining at the best family dinner theater, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Jamboree just wasn’t in the cards. Luckily, she also has one in Branson, and on the recommendation of our son Nick, we went. The food was good, and the equestrian based show had some beautiful horses and excellent riding. All the beautiful horses were stabled outside so you could enjoy them both on your way in and after the show. It was almost like being back in Lexington.

But the whole theme of the show was in seating the audience based on whether they supported the North or the South. The show then essentially recreated the Civil War in mostly silly competitions, many of them between guests from each side. And they managed to also insert some scenes with elaborately dressed Native Americans in full war feathers. It all seemed pretty inappropriate to me, especially given what is going on in the country lately. I guess Dolly can put a good spin on anything.

At the risk of verging on indelicate, I did visit the restroom while we were at the Stampede. I was quite surprised to find that they even carried the rivalry theme between the North and the South right into the restroom facilities. I am just not certain what I am supposed to understand from this particular presentation.

While all the touristy traps did not result in our being drawn, the Dick Clark American Bandstand Theater gave me a brief pause, but “No”. However, there is one touristy trap that always gets our attention, and that is an indoor butterfly aviary. The Butterfly Palace more than lived up to our pretty high expectations.

We saw a great video on the spectacular migration of the Monarch butterfly. Over 3 generations of butterflies they make their way from central Mexico to as far North as the Canadian Provinces. Then the generation who had never actually lived in Mexico manages to find their way back to the spot where their great grandparents were born. The video was really good, but I couldn’t help but chuckle when we saw the credits. All the funding for the video was provided by the huge insecticide company, Terminex!

This butterfly experience came with a couple bonuses we never expected. First, our ticket was good for 3 days, so we actually went back just to stroll in the climate controlled butterfly room just to get our needed butterfly fix. But the winner was the release. The Palace has butterflies in cocoons all the time. Each day new butterflies emerge and the staff involves the guests in their release. When we were there, over 3 dozen newly emerged butterflies came out of the hatchery in soup sized Tupperware plastic containers. The staff passed them out so each guest got a chance – they instructed guests to carefully remove the lid, and then shake the container a bit. When we did that, the new butterfly would join their brothers and sisters.

So every day we visited there were many dozen brand new butterflies. They were so acclimated to the constant stream of guest that they would routinely land on the guests. It seemed like more landed on the Woman than landed on me, but then maybe I just couldn’t see the ones on me. The beautiful blue one I released only flew a few wing flaps, and landed on my sock. It sat there for probably 10 minutes before I helped it to join its friends.

We parked Colectiva in the City of Branson RV Park, maybe 50 feet from the shores of Lake Taneycomo. The site is set up so you could nose your motorhome toward the lake, recline your leather captain’s chairs, kick your feet up on the dashboard of your coach and just watch all the powerboats and kayaks and nature float on by. We could never quite figure out what these weird growths were sticking out from the surface of Lake Taneycomo in front of our coach. They didn’t seem to bother the Candian Geese that were just floating around on the lake surface, so we didn’t worry about them too much.

Lake Taneycomo resulted from the Powersite Dam near Forsyth Missouri erected in 1913 by the Army Corps of Engineers in order to both provide flood control on the White River which devastated towns several times over, as well as generate reliable electricity for the area. Anyway, apparently original names for things in Arkansas are becoming harder – Lake Taneycomo is named for its location - TANEY COunty in MissOuri.

It turns out that the White River was pretty formidable in those days. Spring flooding from the White River, which during the summer seems pretty tame, apparently devastated northeastern Arkansas pretty much every year. Well, a man named Dewey Jackson Short was born in 1898 in, of all places, Galena just like Unconditional Surrender Grant. Short, as a representative of Missouri in Congress for 12 terms, was able to sponsor legislation that focused funds on building the above mentioned dams on the White River that make the area safer for residential development today. Apparently he was a big deal in MO back in those days.

We toured the visitor center named for him while at the dam. The center is operated by the Corps and has a great display of the historical impact the Army Corps of Engineers has had. The Corps actually predates the Nation – in June 1775, the Continental Congress organized an army with a chief engineer and two assistants. The engineer operated under the orders of General Washington until 1779 when Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers. Early on their purpose was to support the military as needed with engineering projects. The General Survey Act of 1824 established that the Corps would survey roads and canals on a national basis to support infrastructure development. Over their history, notable accomplishments of the Corps in addition to supporting the military by building roads and bridges and the controlling of rivers throughout the US include completion of the Washington Monument, completion of the Panama Canal, the building of the first National road and the Manhattan Project.

We had no idea how involved the Corps was in the essential infrastructure in the US. Today operating under the Department of Defense, the Corps is comprised of over 37,000 civilian and military personnel. We learned that there is no clear history on the castle insignia currently used by the Corps. It is believed that it came from those worn by cadets at West Point in the mid-1800’s. The castle, formally adopted by the Corps in 1902, is believed to be the Pershing Barracks at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Talk to you soon!