Saturday, July 10, 2021
Drive home
We drove home through a lot of rain along the way, ate dinner at Cracker Barrel in Lincoln, IL because I was getting hangry and wasn't gonna make it all the way home. We got home a little after 8 on Saturday night.
Total miles for the trip: around 2,700 miles (forgot to check odometer)
Friday, July 9, 2021
Branson
Drove out to Big Cedar Lodge, which was created by the founder of Bass Pro Shops. The grounds cover 100s of acres and have scenic views of waterfalls and stuff. There's also 5 high-priced golf courses on the property. Unfortunately we couldn’t see as much as we hoped from the car. We saw some families riding around in golf carts on paths through the property. But when we looked into renting a golf cart it turns out they were charging $39/person! Yeah, no thanks.
Today was also really hot, hottest day of the trip. So we weren't up for spending much time in the great outdoors anyway.
Later in the afternoon we went to the comedy jamboree show at the Grand Country Inn, it was pretty good. A lot of bad jokes, with music by a live band in between skits. It is a family-friendly show and all-in-all it was a good time.
We then ate at Guy Fieri's restaurant on the Branson Landing. The food was pretty good and surprisingly it was not too expensive either.
We finished the night at the in-laws RV, where the wife cut their hair and we hung out a bit before calling it a night.
Branson is a big commercialized tourist trap with some bad traffic. If you've been tothe Wisconsin Dells, you've been to Branson. Not exactly my cup of tea. We most likely will never be back.
Later in the afternoon we went to the comedy jamboree show at the Grand Country Inn, it was pretty good. A lot of bad jokes, with music by a live band in between skits. It is a family-friendly show and all-in-all it was a good time.
We then ate at Guy Fieri's restaurant on the Branson Landing. The food was pretty good and surprisingly it was not too expensive either.
We finished the night at the in-laws RV, where the wife cut their hair and we hung out a bit before calling it a night.
Branson is a big commercialized tourist trap with some bad traffic. If you've been tothe Wisconsin Dells, you've been to Branson. Not exactly my cup of tea. We most likely will never be back.
Thursday, July 8, 2021
Sad blue whale and the scariest place on earth
From Norman, we drove on to Branson to meet up with the in-laws. Stopped at a blue whale on Rte 66. This looks like it may have been a fun little spot to swim back in 1965 or so. Today it's basically pretty sad. It didn't look like it would be safe to spend much time in the water.
After the sad blue whale we continued on and ended up visiting the scariest place on earth. The official name is The Precious Moments Chapel. The chapel itself had just closed for the day which was kind of a bummer, but we got to walk around the gift shop and the rest of the grounds. That was probably frightening enough. Did you know there's Christian rap? Well it was playing as background music in the gift shop. The pics do not do this place justice, but "The Queen", as we called her, had to be 20 feet tall. Not sure what was creepier, the place itself or the other people visiting it. The whole thing was rather cult-like. Luckily we escaped with our souls intact.
We then drove into Branson and grabbed dinner at Charlie's Steak, Ribs & Ale. Food was pretty good, not great. Our server had a few issues. Most memorable thing about this place is the woman (possibly the owner) walking around with a microphone singing parts of the whatever song was playing. She walked up to our table and said I could join in whenever. I told her I didn't even know what song she was singing, because I wasn't paying attention, not sure she appreciated that. I guess I did have some nerve going to a restaurant to eat and talk with my wife, rather than listen to someone sing. So much for my big break into the entertainment industry.
After dinner we checked into the hotel and went looking for the in-laws, who were at their RV in a campground. After doing a lap we found their RV, then had to find my Father-in-law who walked down to the entrance to flag us down (after we were already in the campground). Hung out in the RV BS-ing for a while and made plans to see a show the next day.
After the sad blue whale we continued on and ended up visiting the scariest place on earth. The official name is The Precious Moments Chapel. The chapel itself had just closed for the day which was kind of a bummer, but we got to walk around the gift shop and the rest of the grounds. That was probably frightening enough. Did you know there's Christian rap? Well it was playing as background music in the gift shop. The pics do not do this place justice, but "The Queen", as we called her, had to be 20 feet tall. Not sure what was creepier, the place itself or the other people visiting it. The whole thing was rather cult-like. Luckily we escaped with our souls intact.
We then drove into Branson and grabbed dinner at Charlie's Steak, Ribs & Ale. Food was pretty good, not great. Our server had a few issues. Most memorable thing about this place is the woman (possibly the owner) walking around with a microphone singing parts of the whatever song was playing. She walked up to our table and said I could join in whenever. I told her I didn't even know what song she was singing, because I wasn't paying attention, not sure she appreciated that. I guess I did have some nerve going to a restaurant to eat and talk with my wife, rather than listen to someone sing. So much for my big break into the entertainment industry.
After dinner we checked into the hotel and went looking for the in-laws, who were at their RV in a campground. After doing a lap we found their RV, then had to find my Father-in-law who walked down to the entrance to flag us down (after we were already in the campground). Hung out in the RV BS-ing for a while and made plans to see a show the next day.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Hill country
Left San Antonio and drove through the hill country to start our way home. This was basically just
a driving day but we did stop in Fredricksburg and walked around their main street. Got a bag of popcorn in one of the little shops for the road.
Drove to Enchanted Rock, but found out was a 4 mile hike and there were several heat warning signs so we opted out. For some reason I thought it would be pretty close to the road, guess not.
Stayed in Norman, OK at Fairfield Inn after hellacious drive through construction and night time T-Storm.
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Alamo and Buckhorn saloon
Started with a fairly disappointing breakfast at Schilo's deli. The place had 4 stars on Yelp, and we waited 1/2 hour to get in. Then we waited at least that long for our food, which was meh. Best part of this experience was probably talking to the couple from New Jersey in the line outside. Don't go here for breakfast!
After our late breakfast we went to see the Alamo. It was neat, pretty interesting. When you realize what happened where you are standing and how awful it got for those people as they were trapped and killed while refusing to surrender you really appreciate what they went through.
Next, we walked over to the Buckhorn saloon and museum, got a beer at the historic back bar-Teddy Roosevelt and the rough riders used to hang here. Unfortunately I made the mistake of talking to an already drunk guy (it was about 1:30) who told me how his wife, who was over on the other side of the room herding their children was pregnant with their 6th kid. Then he told the bartender he was offended that he had to wear a mask while working. So basically this guy was more concerned about the bartender than his wife.
We fled that guy and headed into the Texas Ranger museum which is in the back of the saloon. They had all kinds of artifacts from the Rangers and biographies of some of the first and more prominent ones. We then went upstairs to see their collection of stuffed animals and horns. The owners of the saloon used to give a shot and a beer to anyone who brought in animal horns or snake rattles. The owner and his wife than made furniture and art work out of these items, as well as save some for exhibits. Amazing amount of things (literally 1000s of horns) and some really neat stuff, like 120 lb elephants tusks and 8 foot wide Longhorns. It was oddly fascinating to walk through all that. They also recreated a bar room from the 1800s where we found a couple of chairs so we can sit and rest our feet for a bit.
Next was an uber to the Tower of Americas-750 high view of the city. Think the Space Needle in Seattle and that's pretty much what this was, complete with a revolving restaurant. We had tickets for the 4D theater, but this was disappointment. The sign said they would be showing "Skies over Texas", which I imagined would be an aerial view of all kinds of places in the state, at 5. Instead they showed us "Rio" instead. This experience was basically getting your seat kicked from behind a few dozen times with air blown on you periodically while watching a kid's movie. Fantastic for a couple of people in their 50s with bad backs. Luckily it was only 20 minutes.
We had dinner at Mi Tierra, which is a well know restaurant in the Market Square area. There was a 30 minute wait and the place was huge, and nicely decorated with wandering Mariachi guys. They served decent Tex-Mex food, we've had better though, so you'd go for the experience/ambience, not the food.
After our late breakfast we went to see the Alamo. It was neat, pretty interesting. When you realize what happened where you are standing and how awful it got for those people as they were trapped and killed while refusing to surrender you really appreciate what they went through.
Next, we walked over to the Buckhorn saloon and museum, got a beer at the historic back bar-Teddy Roosevelt and the rough riders used to hang here. Unfortunately I made the mistake of talking to an already drunk guy (it was about 1:30) who told me how his wife, who was over on the other side of the room herding their children was pregnant with their 6th kid. Then he told the bartender he was offended that he had to wear a mask while working. So basically this guy was more concerned about the bartender than his wife.
We fled that guy and headed into the Texas Ranger museum which is in the back of the saloon. They had all kinds of artifacts from the Rangers and biographies of some of the first and more prominent ones. We then went upstairs to see their collection of stuffed animals and horns. The owners of the saloon used to give a shot and a beer to anyone who brought in animal horns or snake rattles. The owner and his wife than made furniture and art work out of these items, as well as save some for exhibits. Amazing amount of things (literally 1000s of horns) and some really neat stuff, like 120 lb elephants tusks and 8 foot wide Longhorns. It was oddly fascinating to walk through all that. They also recreated a bar room from the 1800s where we found a couple of chairs so we can sit and rest our feet for a bit.
Next was an uber to the Tower of Americas-750 high view of the city. Think the Space Needle in Seattle and that's pretty much what this was, complete with a revolving restaurant. We had tickets for the 4D theater, but this was disappointment. The sign said they would be showing "Skies over Texas", which I imagined would be an aerial view of all kinds of places in the state, at 5. Instead they showed us "Rio" instead. This experience was basically getting your seat kicked from behind a few dozen times with air blown on you periodically while watching a kid's movie. Fantastic for a couple of people in their 50s with bad backs. Luckily it was only 20 minutes.
We had dinner at Mi Tierra, which is a well know restaurant in the Market Square area. There was a 30 minute wait and the place was huge, and nicely decorated with wandering Mariachi guys. They served decent Tex-Mex food, we've had better though, so you'd go for the experience/ambience, not the food.
Monday, July 5, 2021
San Antonio tours
Late start, made later by finding out even Denny's had a 30 minute wait, not sure what the deal is with the ridiculous waits for every restaurant around here. So first meal was actually lunch at Yardhouse.
Started with hop on/off tour to see what attractions there were around the city. This lasted about an hour and was a good way to get familiar with different attractions to see what we would want to do. A little warm on the open 2nd deck of the bus though.
Tried to go to the Alamo after the bus tour, but needed tickets for a timed entry. So we walked around the outside of it for a bit and then went for ice cream. Made reservations for tomorrow.
Did a boat tour around the Riverwalk. Our guide was pretty lame, didn't seem like he was thrilled with his job. We then walked around the Riverwalk. There are a lot of shops and restaurants to see. We ducked into a bar just to use the bathroom, and got carded. Second time we were carded on this trip, guess they take this very seriously in Texas.
We got margaritas at a drinks-to-go stand, you can walk around with drinks on the Riverwalk. My first margarita had a hair in it, girl seemed pissed we pointed this out and had her re-make it. The nerve of us to want her to do her job without spreading bacteria. After we walked around for a while it started to rain and we were dog-tired so just ate at Hooters. As I mentioned, there are waits everywhere,restaurants don't seem to be at full capacity here. They also seem to be having trouble getting staff.
Started with hop on/off tour to see what attractions there were around the city. This lasted about an hour and was a good way to get familiar with different attractions to see what we would want to do. A little warm on the open 2nd deck of the bus though.
Tried to go to the Alamo after the bus tour, but needed tickets for a timed entry. So we walked around the outside of it for a bit and then went for ice cream. Made reservations for tomorrow.
Did a boat tour around the Riverwalk. Our guide was pretty lame, didn't seem like he was thrilled with his job. We then walked around the Riverwalk. There are a lot of shops and restaurants to see. We ducked into a bar just to use the bathroom, and got carded. Second time we were carded on this trip, guess they take this very seriously in Texas.
We got margaritas at a drinks-to-go stand, you can walk around with drinks on the Riverwalk. My first margarita had a hair in it, girl seemed pissed we pointed this out and had her re-make it. The nerve of us to want her to do her job without spreading bacteria. After we walked around for a while it started to rain and we were dog-tired so just ate at Hooters. As I mentioned, there are waits everywhere,restaurants don't seem to be at full capacity here. They also seem to be having trouble getting staff.
Sunday, July 4, 2021
JFK Ft Worth and final leg to San Antonio
Before we left Dallas we went down to see where JFK was shot. This was morbidly interesting, similar to visiting the 9/11 memorial in NYC. They have X's in the street marking where the motorcade was when the 3 shots were fired. This might seem weird but it does help give an idea of how things happened. There was an author there that showed us graphic pictures of JFK's head after he was shot, also discussed Jackie's hysteria after he was shot. She retrieved the back of his head and brought it to the hospital, asking the doctor "Will this help?" even though he was clearly dead. Crazy stuff.
From there we drove over to Ft. Worth to see what was there. Got a tip that the water gardens were nice to walk through so we put that in Google maps. Only problem is, for whatever reason, we were directed nowhere near them. So we ended up parking and walking a good 20 minutes to the other side of a convention center to find them. They were nice to walk through, the walk there and back was not too nice.
Stopped at the Czech stop on the way for kolaches. Got some with sausage and cheese-these were pretty good, ate those in the parking lot. The wife also got a spinach puff, which she liked. We did get some fruit ones and a cream cheese chocolate chip one. We saved those for a later time.
Could not get into any restaurants in the area, it was a 45 minute wait for any of them (including Hooters). So we ordered at the bar in the hotel and ate dinner on our balcony overlooking the Riverwalk while watching fireworks. The food was not too expensive for a hotel and we just had sandwiches so this worked out pretty well. Kind of neat to see the fireworks all over the city and we didn't have to deal with crowds.
One interesting thing about our room is it has 1 King bed and 1 Queen bed, never seen this before.
From there we drove over to Ft. Worth to see what was there. Got a tip that the water gardens were nice to walk through so we put that in Google maps. Only problem is, for whatever reason, we were directed nowhere near them. So we ended up parking and walking a good 20 minutes to the other side of a convention center to find them. They were nice to walk through, the walk there and back was not too nice.
Stopped at the Czech stop on the way for kolaches. Got some with sausage and cheese-these were pretty good, ate those in the parking lot. The wife also got a spinach puff, which she liked. We did get some fruit ones and a cream cheese chocolate chip one. We saved those for a later time.
Could not get into any restaurants in the area, it was a 45 minute wait for any of them (including Hooters). So we ordered at the bar in the hotel and ate dinner on our balcony overlooking the Riverwalk while watching fireworks. The food was not too expensive for a hotel and we just had sandwiches so this worked out pretty well. Kind of neat to see the fireworks all over the city and we didn't have to deal with crowds.
One interesting thing about our room is it has 1 King bed and 1 Queen bed, never seen this before.
Saturday, July 3, 2021
On the road from Springfield to Dallas
Long drive from Springfield to Dallas. Along the way we ate dinner at Wheeler's in Kiowa, OK. We were the only people in the place, one of the beenfits of eating at 4 o'clock. It was pretty good, I was happy to get my chicken fried chicken that I have been craving since before we left home. Our waitress was nice, but a bit too proud about John Wayne's mortuary bill being on the wall.
In Dallas we walked around Deep Ellum area and had mojitos and duck fat fries, which were smothered with bad for you stuff, sort of like poutine, at Dot's Hop House and Cocktail Courtyard. It was a good people watching place, we also got carded to get in, which made our day.
Friday, July 2, 2021
Rte 66 day
Started at Merramac Caverns in Sullivan, MO. We've been to Mammoth Cave, Ruby Falls, and Carlsbad Caverns. Mammoth cave is huge and cool, Ruby Falls is neat, Carlsbad cavern is incredible. Compared to these Meramec Caverns is, a cave. If you've never been into a cave before this is probably pretty cool, however this is exactly the kind of place the people that can't imagine why anyone would go see a cave are thinking about.
From there we decided to follow route 66 to Springfield, MO. Along the way hit Missouri Hick BBQ where we shared a potato for lunch (it was a big potato) and they make a great Arnie Palmer. I got a refill of my Arnie Palmer for the road, and then left it behind. Also stopped at the World's 2nd largest rocking chair where we bought 6 root beers from the 100s of different sodas they have. They had a ton of stuff there, it was kind of like the Wall Drug of Rte 66.
Also stopped at Uranus, MO. Home of the most bad puns in the world, world's biggest belt buckle and other weird stuff. Got the boys boxer shorts here. One pair says gas giant, with a picture of Jupiter, on the butt and the other pair says crop duster on the butt.
We ate at Rail 1848 in Lebanon, MO. We both had the cheesesteak sandwich, which was OK. Restaurant seems new, and also seemed all the employees were under 25. We at on the first floor restaurant, but I went upstairs to use the bathroom and it turns out there's a huge bar up there, which was pretty nice.
Ended trip in Springfield where we visited the Wal-Mart. This location may be where 90% of the "Wal-martian" pics you see on the web are taken, and the parking lot was too tough of a test for many of the customers. All in all, a frightening experience. We had to calm ourselves afterword with ice cream (yeah I know, it's frozen yogurt) from Culvers.
From there we decided to follow route 66 to Springfield, MO. Along the way hit Missouri Hick BBQ where we shared a potato for lunch (it was a big potato) and they make a great Arnie Palmer. I got a refill of my Arnie Palmer for the road, and then left it behind. Also stopped at the World's 2nd largest rocking chair where we bought 6 root beers from the 100s of different sodas they have. They had a ton of stuff there, it was kind of like the Wall Drug of Rte 66.
Also stopped at Uranus, MO. Home of the most bad puns in the world, world's biggest belt buckle and other weird stuff. Got the boys boxer shorts here. One pair says gas giant, with a picture of Jupiter, on the butt and the other pair says crop duster on the butt.
We ate at Rail 1848 in Lebanon, MO. We both had the cheesesteak sandwich, which was OK. Restaurant seems new, and also seemed all the employees were under 25. We at on the first floor restaurant, but I went upstairs to use the bathroom and it turns out there's a huge bar up there, which was pretty nice.
Ended trip in Springfield where we visited the Wal-Mart. This location may be where 90% of the "Wal-martian" pics you see on the web are taken, and the parking lot was too tough of a test for many of the customers. All in all, a frightening experience. We had to calm ourselves afterword with ice cream (yeah I know, it's frozen yogurt) from Culvers.
Thursday, July 1, 2021
World’s Tallest Man
Our first stop on the way to San Antonio was Alton IL. There we visited a statue of Robert Ladlow and a custom chair made for him. Robert was the tallest man to ever live, he was 8'11" tall! The statues are in a little park on the campus for the Southern Illinois University dental school.
from there we drove to St. Louis and parked in Laclede's landing and explored the area. We walked a 2 mile loop around the Riverfront and the Arch. Spent a few minutes waiting out an annoying drizzle under some trees in a park. Ended up having a drink at Morgan Street Pub right across from our car. Drove to out hotel near the airport, which turned out to be in an area that is a restaurant desert. Had some cold, bad tacos for dinner. *Note: never ask the girl in the back room, who just moved to the area, for a restaurant recommendation.
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