Introducing "Silver Dollar City"

For the Guinther's last day with us we headed south to Branson. We purchased season passes for the three theme parks in Branson with our tax return and as a bonus we received many free passes to be used during certain times of the year.Sherry & Dale's visit was just perfect for one of those times. This was the first weekend that Silver Dollar City opened so this visit was our first visit to the park as well.

The first attraction that caught our eye was Marvel Cave. It is a well known cave system located beneath the park and the tour is included in the admission price. So I talked everyone into waiting the 30 minutes so we could explore the great Ozark underground.

The tour was about one-hour long and included walking down a very long stair and ramp system. The sights inside however were well worth the wait and the stairs.

As soon as you finally arrive at the base of the main opening you are shuffled in line for their official pictures. The photo turned out pretty good so we decided to purchase it.

The cave had some very tight turns and declines and proved to be very beautiful all along the way.

The best part was the waterfall. This was a first for us, we have been through many cave systems but never one with an underground waterfall. Unfortunately we were not able to stay long to enjoy the scene but it was a very awesome sight.

I think Neleha and Garret had it the best during our tour as they were carried throughout the tour.

The kids had a great time exploring this amazing underworld and I think even us parents enjoyed it too.

We eventually reached the end of the tour which concluded with a train ride out of the cave. The train was the craziest train I had ever seen. It was a crooked train due to the fact of the steepness of the ascent out of the cave. It provided a nice smooth and relaxing ride.

Once we were out of the cave we began to explore this so called "City". It was quit an impressive place. They had a very unexpectedly large number of vendor areas where various carfts or food was sold all of which was made right here in the park. In fact most of it was being made right in front of your eyes.

We finally found the kids rides area and that is were we stayed. The kids had such a blast being able to spend time with each other and being able to enjoy all these rides.

Dale and I were able to hang out and talk guy talk while the kids road and while Kristy & Sherry also rode.

Everyone certainly had a great time!

Dale and I eventually did find a ride suitable for all of us, the kiddie coaster.

So we jumped aboard and had a ride to remember.

Before long we had made our way through all the kiddie rides and it was finally nearing dinner-time and while in the Ozarks there really is only one place for dinner....it was time for Lambert's.

Free Doughnuts & PFI Western Wear Store

Bright and early we headed out for Branson but we first stopped into a couple of Springfield's hot spots. In fact "Hot" is what made the first place so good. Krispy Kreme doughnuts is one of our favorite places for Saturday mornings, especially when the red light is on indicating that fresh doughnuts are rolling down the line. That red light also means that everyone entering will receive one free hot & fresh doughnut. Sherry and Dale quickly fell in love with this place as well.

There is something very fascinating about watching anything being made, doughnuts are no exception. From the dough mixer to to the glazer the doughnut making process is simply amazing.

Being St. Patrick's Day weekend they had a very special doughnut that was in the shape of a clover. It tasted good as all their doughnuts do.

Our last stop before heading for Branson was PFI, it is the largest western wear store in the state of Missouri. I knew this place would really go over well with Sherry and Dale.

We all really enjoyed looking at the boots and hats and all western things in between. Braden and Neleha kept us pretty busy as they wanted to try on and play with everything.

At one point a funny thing happened when Barden was able to sneak away from us and was caught by one of the PFI employees. That walked him right back to Kristy and said there you go, theres Mommy. He does look way more like Kristy then Sherry so the mistake was understandable.

After having our Cowboy Store experience we were ready for Branson's very own Silver Dollar City.

Dynamite Fashion Show

Ever year the Forest Institute Financial Aid Office hosts a fashion show to promote their "No Default" program. This program is essentially to teach people how to pay off their school loans efficiently and more importantly entirely. This fashion show is very unique simply because of the spending limit models can use to purchase their attire. What the Financial Aid Office does is give each volunteer model $25 for which to purchase their entire runway attire, and that is the limit. They also throw in the proper motivation to buy the nicest stuff you can find for such a limited amount of money by offering prizes for different categories.

When I heard about it back when I was first interviewing for the school I knew this was right up my alley. I don't know too many other guys that love to shop at thrift stores as much as I do....well with the exception of my favorite movie character Napoleon Dynamite. So to honor my favorite character I got my $25 and headed to Goodwill, Disabled American Vets, and the Salvation Army thrift stores to buy some threads to make me look like the man without a plan.

I found a 3-piece suit, clip-on tie, brown leather shoes, and glasses for less than my limit. I was in business. We were allowed to supply our own accessories so the additional wig and numb-chucks topped off my presentation. I edited a track from the ND soundtrack for my runway song, it was the suit-walk, it work perfectly! I put on the best show I could as did my best not too embarrass my sweetheart who was watching from the audience, but I think I failed in that effort.

My runway performance included me quickly pulling my clip-on off and throwing it in the crowd, swing around a pair of numb-chucks, and pulling out some tater tots from my pocket and eating them. It was so fun but to be honest I couldn't see a thing the entire time. The glasses were actually +3 reading glasses which made everything blurry beyond recognition. Fun times indeed!

In the end I was awarded the honor of having the most complete outfit, 'HECK YES I DID'. Better than that however Kristy ended up winning the big door prize which was a very nice over-night suit case on rollers. We had some seriously sweet luck!

Petra Rock Climbing Gym

So Travis and I must have thought that we needed a way to feel young again or something, but whatever the reason in the end we felt older than ever. We went to the local rock climbing gym called Petra and took our initial belaying class to qualify to be able to climb at the gym. The class was very easy going and took about 40 minutes. We learned a couple of vital climbing knots and the essentials of climbing and belaying. Before we knew it we were climbing the wall.

These knots are called the figure 8 and the figure 8 follow-through, both are very essential to not falling which was the one thing that was most important to us.

So the climbing was great, very exhilarating, very satisfying, but very challenging. Travis and I made multiple climbs through the night.

An unexpected thing that was also at the gym was something called a speleo box. This is a climbers labyrinth. It was not very tall, maybe 7-8 feet and about 11-12 feet wide. Yet it had 4 levels and so many nook's and cranny's. It was not so much a maze as it was a challenge to climb through and get through all the obstacles. Travis and I went through this thing multiple times and let me tell you this thing is so fun! My best time was 2 minutes and 32 seconds and I was flying through that box.

It was a tight fit no matter how you approached this thing, if a person had even a hint of claustrophobia this would certainly send them right over the edge.

Climbing was fun but this thing, this thing was just way awesome!

Travis and I were sure not feeling to young by the time we were done crawling around in this thing.

Good times with my good friend Travis, some rope, and a big box labyrinth.

Check out Petra at http://www.petrarockgym.com/