My Weekend

So our company is big in helping the United Way every year.  A couple weeks ago one of our departments was holding a silent auction and one of the items was a trip for 2 on the Showboat Branson Belle.  Oddly enough I had my cell phone on me, so I called hubs and told him.  We decided upon a dollar amount we’d spend and we actually got the tickets for cheaper!    I’d never been and neither had he so we weren’t quite sure what to expect….

Oh. My. Gosh. was it awesome!  Definitely want to go back.  This time, since we’re close to Christmas this was their Christmas show so I’m curious to see what say spring and/or summer shows are like, but either way it was amazing!

On our way to Branson we stopped in Springfield at a CVS pharmacy to look up Salma Hayak’s new line of make-up.  I heard about it so I wanted to try it out.  So far, loving what I bought!

Then we went and used our season pass to go in to Silver Dollar City just to see what the Christmas Celebration was all about.  That and our tickets for the Showboat Branson Belle weren’t until 8pm anyway.

You had to be there 1 hour early for loading.

I thought this was just too darn cute!  Yes those are fake geese 🙂

This is how you exit.

Here is the boat… or what my iPhone would capture of it.  I left my big camera at home and my point and shoot was dead.

It is a paddle wheel boat.  I got a funny video of that too… kind of like Hawaii where I stuck my tongue out…

This was up on the top looking back at the land.

This was after dinner.  Oh goodness dinner was awesome. We had bread with seasoned butter (garlic and spices… oh yum!), then a salad with sweet onion dressing, then Roast Beef with brown gravy (to die for), a Focaccia breaded Chicken, Mashed potatoes with white gravy & green beans… all fabulous.  To top it off we had a Lemon Berry Torte.  It’s a wonder I could even fit in my clothes Sunday morning… LOL.  Then you had the option of Tea, Coffee, Lemonade, or water.  All of it was so good!

Here we are out on the upper deck after dinner but before the show started.  Yes it was 40 degrees out and we didn’t have coats on, what’s your point?

Hubby wouldn’t look at me at first… LOL so ha! I showed him!

Hi, my name’s Nicole and I’m a dork 🙂

That’s the big wheel that operates the boat.

Back inside waiting for the show to start.

And like most places, they took our picture and then try to sell it to us.

Then Sunday we went to Table Rock Lake Dam.  It’s friggin ginormous!

Well hello… my arm got us all in 🙂

This was the fish hatchery and it looks like they had to put the cages on there so the turkey buzzards would stay out of their crop….

Then we went to lunch.  This was the wall at the restaurant.  I wish I was this talented.  I’d paint my whole house this way.  Ok maybe not my whole house and I’ll bet with that comment hubby is glad I’m not this talented 🙂

We’d actually never eaten here before.  It was excellent!

We love Bread with Olive Oil and seasonings 🙂

I got Chicken Pesto

Hubby got the Trio Sampler.

No neither of us ate everything either.  In fact I have enough for 2 meals (after I ate some for lunch).

When we were finished and full, the waitress came by and asked if we’d like more to drink.  We both declined.  Then she offered dessert.  Now normally we’d decline that too, but…….. she didn’t just offer dessert, no she started with the word Tiramisu.  Yeah, we were suckered in.  So then she brought it to us and I asked for more to drink.  Before she could get our drinks back, hubby and I devoured this.  Yes we shared but it was hard to share, it was that good 🙂

After we left there we went to Stonehill Winery to take a tour.  This was a cute set up out in front.

This was some of the old machinery used when Stonehill was started back in the 1800’s.

Then I got to come home and study for an Anatomy & Physiology test.  I so can’t wait until I never have to say that again, I’m just sayin! 🙂

Here are some interesting facts about Branson & the Showboat Branson Belle
Total Population: 10,500ish (a little smaller population wise than my hometown)
Visitors per year: 8 Million
The Wheel: 10’2″ tall and weighed in over 600lbs
It took 130 gallons of paint to paint the exterior of the ship
It only took 25 gallons to paint the inside of the ship
The ship displaces 95,062,500 cubic feet of water
The paddle wheels are 25′ in diameter
It moves at 12 knots or 8mph
The paddles turn 8 times per minute, 480 times per hour.