Kansas City Royals

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George Brett was a great player for the Royals back when I lived in Kansas City.

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Fountains are famous throughout Kansas City, so it is appropriate that they are an important part of the baseball stadium!

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Friends I met at the RV rally invited me to join them at the baseball game!

We bought tickets to watch the Kansas City Royals play the Oakland Athletics. Although I watched one spring training game, this is the first time I attended a major league baseball game in years. The current stadium is newer from when I lived in Kansas City. We arrived early enough so we could walk all around the stadium. The famous fountains are beautiful!

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Kansas City, Missouri

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Satchel Paige got his start in the American Negro league baseball and made it into Major League Baseball.

Today I drove from Sedalia to Independence, Missouri with two friends (Deb and Jim) I met at the Escapade. We left in a rain storm but had beautiful weather when we arrived in Independence. We had a very busy day visiting several famous areas in town.

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We first went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I was not sure I would find it interesting, but I thought it was extremely fascinating. I loved learning about the history and some of the famous players who made it into the major leagues.

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This is a wonderful painting in the museum.

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The American Jazz Museum was right next door to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, so we visited it too. I do not know much about music, but it was interesting to learn about melody, harmony, tempo, etc. and how jazz developed. Louis Armstrong was highlighted along with many other musicians.

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We next visited an open jam session place called Knuckleheads Saloon. One band would play a few songs and then another band would come up and replace them. It was very nice to listen to live music from local musicians!

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The open jam session was wonderful! I loved all the different bands!

 

 

After visiting these museums, we were hungry. I told Deb and Jim about Arthur Bryant’s BBQ and Gate’s BBQ. We found Arthur Bryant’s very close to where we were at, so that is where we went. Inside were photos of Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, John McCain, and others eating at the restaurant.

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Sedalia, Missouri

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I loved this beautiful historic car!!

After an excellent Escapade RV rally at the Missouri State Fair Grounds, I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon in Sedalia. It was fun because there was a Ragtime Festival going on at the time.

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I really enjoyed listening to the live music. I especially enjoyed the upbeat songs!

Dixie Stampede

Ed & Charlene Dixie

We absolutely LOVE the Christmas season!

Tonight we were treated to the Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede! It was really fun to have dinner and watch a superb Christmas show. The only thing weird is that they served dinner and did not provide utensils. We each ate a whole chicken (that was delicious), corn on the cob, baked potato, biscuit, pork, and turnover. It was a huge amount of food! I was amazed they could feed an entire arena of people and everyone receive such as nice meal.

 

The horses and program were quite impressive! We loved watching all the activities in the arena. Now I understand why the arena sells out so frequently!

Christmas in Branson

Charlene counting gifts with Santa

Charlene is telling Santa what she wants for Christmas!

Ed Christmas tree

Ed loves all the Christmas decorations!

Today we had a chance to enjoy many of the beautiful Christmas decorations in Branson. The businesses really have a fun time dressing up the community. It is very fun to enjoy celebrating the Christmas season in a new community!

Charlene mug

Charlene is excited to find a Missouri mug with her name!

 

Christmas on the Trail and Shepherd of the Hills Trail of Lights

Starvin' Marvin's

Once we arrived in Branson, we had lunch at Starvin’ Marvin’s. Their bear seemed a quite fierce!

We had so much fun visiting Branson, Missouri a couple of months ago, we came back to enjoy some of the Christmas programs. We certainly were not disappointed! We started off watching the Christmas on the Trail and then drove through the Shepherd of the Hills Trail of Lights.

 

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The Christmas on the Trail was a great program!

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The Christmas on the Trail started with a fantastic meal of turkey, corn on the cobb, beans, corn bread, and dessert. For feeding a large group of people, it was very good food. I could not finish everything. The Christmas program was from a cowboy perspective of life on a ranch. There was a very nice complement of a Christian emphasis on Christmas, great singing, as well as humor and teasing. I thought it was a wonderful program to get us in the mood for Christmas.

 

Charlene Christmas Tree

The Christmas season is so much fun!

After the Christmas on the Trail program, we drove through the Shepherd of the Hills Trail of Lights. This was an amazing series of lights and was extremely impressive!

 

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Lights 8

Six!

Six is a very popular show in Branson!

Six is a very popular show in Branson!

We were able to go to the show by Six. They are six brothers that sing and dance to all kinds of songs. We really enjoyed them. They seem to be regarded as one of the top shows in Branson. The Six show was probably tied with the Chinese Acrobats and Jonah as my favorite things to see in Branson.

We always knew there had to be a place called Starvin Marvin. Now we finally found it in Branson.

We always knew there had to be a place called Starvin Marvin. Now we finally found it in Branson.

We have had a chance to see some very different shows over the last several days. They were all very good and we would recommend each of them. It is funny to realize that all this entertainment is in the small town of Branson, Missouri.

After the show, we went to a yogurt shop to celebrate our last evening in Branson. This is a very fun place. We wish we could be here for the Christmas shows!

Titanic, Illusionist, and Jonah!

Lion and lamb statue outside the production of Jonah.

Lion and lamb statue outside the production of Jonah.

Today was an extremely busy day! We scheduled 3 very different activities. Unfortunately, none of them allowed photography. We started the day with the Titanic Museum. This was an extremely well-done museum about the Titanic ship and the tragedy when it sank. We spent 2 hours at the museum and easily could have spent more time learning all kinds of details about the ship, the people, and the details after it hit the iceberg. We highly recommend this museum!

After grabbing a quick lunch, we headed to the show by the illusionist Rick Thomas. Rick used to have a show for 15 years in Las Vegas, but he moved to Branson a couple of years ago. His show was extremely impressive. It amazed us trying to figure out how he performed so many magic tricks. He did many things to get the audience involved. It is easy to understand why this show is so highly rated.

After dinner, we headed to the production of Jonah. When I first entered Missouri (in Rock Port), the women at the tourist center told me that Jonah was highly rated and recommended show. Once we arrived in Branson, several people told us they considered the Jonah production as one of the top shows in Branson. We fully agree! It was a fantastic production and amazing to watch the huge fish swim out over the audience, the power of Nineveh, and the desire of God to show mercy. All of the activities today were fantastic, but Jonah was particularly elaborate and awe inspiring.

Acrobats of China

These acrobats were amazing!

These acrobats were amazing!

Chinese culture is great.

Chinese culture is great.

The acrobats skill was shocking.

The acrobats skill was shocking.

This afternoon we had the opportunity to watch the Acrobats of China. They kept you on the edge of your seat with their amazing balance, grace, power, and skill. It was scary to watch the acrobats when they were so high and balanced quite precariously. Truly this show is a requirement when visiting Branson!

The acrobats had amazing balance!

The acrobats had amazing balance!

Visiting new places and seeing new thins is so much fun!

Visiting new places and seeing new thins is so much fun!

Truly we are creating some amazing memories!

Truly we are creating some amazing memories!

National Tiger Sanctuary

The National Tiger Sanctuary was an impressive place to visit during feeding time!

The National Tiger Sanctuary was an impressive place to visit during feeding time!

This majestic lion loved to roar and let everyone know he was head of the pride.

This majestic lion loved to roar and let everyone know he was head of the pride.

Today we were able to visit the National Tiger Sanctuary which is located north of Branson. It was impressive to see the lions and tigers that they had. We were able to stand quite close to the animals, although there were two wire fences between us.

It looks like this tiger wants to take a bite out of Charlene!

It looks like this tiger wants to take a bite out of Charlene!

The white tigers were impressive.

The white tigers were impressive.

We came for feeding time, so they gave raw chicken “snacks” to the animals. We were quite popular, so it was impressive to see them scarf down a whole chicken thigh in one bite. It was amazing to hear the lions’ deep resonating roar.

Hear the mighty lion roar!

Hear the mighty lion roar!

Snack time with raw chicken.

Snack time with raw chicken.

Charlene really enjoyed the white tigers

Charlene really enjoyed the white tigers