A Wonderful Vacation

Jarrod and I returned Sunday afternoon from a wonderful, nearly perfect anniversary vacation to Branson. We are celebrating five years of marriage!

We started our vacation Thursday morning eating breakfast at Cowan's. Jarrod had never been there before, so it was high time we went, haha! It had been years since I had gone there too.

A really beautiful sunrise Friday morning from our window.

Friday we rented a boat and went out on Table Rock Lake for four hours. The weather forecast was a little iffy, with a 40% chance of pop up rain/storms, but it turned out great. It wasn't too windy, it didn't rain or storm. It was pretty hot and humid, so the water felt good.

Saturday, on our actual anniversary, we drove towards the dam to a viewing area you could pull off onto. There was a road we found, and we weren't entirely sure where it would end up, but it came out down near Tanycomo, where trout fisherman could wade in. This fisherman was nearby and he became the perfect subject for taking photos:

Oh, and: goose butts. Hahahahaha!

We were in Table Rock State Park, even though we were next to Lake Tanycomo (which, Jarrod informed me: Tanycomo is named for being in Tany County, like Tany Co. Mo.? Someone must have been bored when they named that lake.) There was an entrance point to the trail system and we decided to do one of the loops, and I crossed one thing off my bucket list: go hiking! Yay! I brought my camera with me, and was having fun taking pictures along the way. But the bigger deal here is that I hiked! I kept a good pace and of course I was breathing hard at times, but I'm so happy I was able to do it! It had some steep inclines and uneven rocky terrain, but Jarrod said that it was very well-marked and a pretty good trail. But next time, we'll bring bug spray and do a Map My Route at the beginning for fun. Live and learn, haha.

Light in the forest.

We had dinner at the White River Fish House, which is actually Bass Pro's restaurant down on the Branson Landing. It was really good! I would recommend it. Afterwards we came back to our hotel bar to enjoy a cocktail and to our surprise, around 9:00pm a piano player arrived to play on the baby grand.

He was SO enjoyable! It was absolutely delightful listening to him. His improvisation was incredible. He asked for requests and would play from memory, or make it up, or a little of both. He never looked at a piece of music the entire time, it was all in his head. One woman asked for "Dream A Little Dream of Me" and he got up to hum a few notes with her to establish he remembered the song, sat back down and said "Ok, I got it. I'll throw in a nice bridge in the middle." He came over and asked me for a request at one point, and asked if I sang. I said "Ehh... sometimes." He said I looked like a singer or a dancer, he thought maybe I was "in the biz" there because I "just had that smile, that confidence about you." Aw... :) I requested "Singin' In the Rain," and he made that one up as he went but it was spot on. He played ragtime, musicals, he played pop songs in the style of a jazz tune, he played a jazz tune in the style of a waltz. It was wonderful.

Turns out he is there most Friday or Saturday evenings, and when I looked him up online, found in his bio that he has worked with numerous television shows/specials as a composer, conductor, or musician; Dick van Dyke, the Tonight Show, Matlock, Donnie and Marie Osmond, Sammy Davis, Roy Clark, Jack Benny, the Academy Awards, plus tons more and he moved to Branson back in the 90s to play and conduct for Andy Williams at his show there. Now he plays at the Chateau on the Lake. If you are ever in Branson on a Friday or Saturday evening and you want to hear a talented jazz pianist, you have to drive over to Chateau to listen to this guy.

Sunday we ate breakfast and played one last round of mini-golf before heading home; mini golf is one of my favorite things to do in Branson since there's an abundance of courses. The breakfast spot was Billy Gail's, which came highly recommend by my mom's friend, Gwen. They offer free coffee while you wait, and it was possibly the best pancake I've had in my life. Yes, pancake, singular, because the pancakes are colossal. They're larger than the plate and bring up visions of Uncle Buck trying to flip a pancake with a snow shovel.

Me and my pancake. Seriously, how do they flip this thing over?

All in all our trip was so wonderful: great weather, great time, things went well, hardly any hiccups, and pretty much all of the places we ate at were good or awesome.

If you'd have told me five years ago that on our 5th wedding anniversary I would be hiking through the Ozarks, I don't think I'd have believed you. Actually, I know I wouldn't have because back then I wouldn't have felt it would be possible for me to do it. These past five years married to Jarrod have been so good, and I look forward to many more.

Sunset from the lookout point on Saturday evening.