Missouri

Introduction: 
Ah Missouri, a mid-west state that feels more like a part of the South. It is not near an ocean of beach. It does have mountains, but not ones that are snow caped into summer, like the Rockies; they have the Ozarks.

Experience:

This weekend, I visited Branson, Missouri, to be with my mother and step dad’s family.  This city is located on the Southwest Side of the State.

Prior to this trip, I had never heard of Branson, and most people that I had talked to hadn’t heard of it either. Still this is a town that thrives on tourism.

I would describe it this way: Branson is Los Vegas with all the non PG acts cut out. We saw a country variety show, where they sang old countries songs and did clean stand-up. I was easily the youngest person in the crowed, with the median age of people probably being in there 70’s.

Just outside of town in beautiful. The low rolling mountains rise up, and lakes, rivers and ponds dot the landscape. We stayed within walking distance of Table Rock Lake: a lake with some of the blues fresh water I have ever seen outside the Great Lakes.

Right when I got off the plane I was picked up and taken directly to Ava, MO, an hour and a half a way. There I took pictures of barns and dog wood trees.

The next day we hung out in the actual town of Branson, where several of us road the zip lines, went shopping and saw one of the many PG shows playing in the area. One of the ladies (shown below on the left) was in her mid 90's.

 

Food:

We also ate barbeque at Shorty Smalls, a barbeque place that several people in our party had eaten at previously. It is a small chain with only a handful of restaurants in neighboring states. Since I do not eat pork, I did not get a chance to try there ribs, but several others in my group did. Instead, my mom and I had some really great salmon.  While there, I also got to ride a pig. For more information you can see their website: http://www.shortysmalls.com/index.html

Drinks:

If you would like to get a taste of Missouri there are several beers by Anheuser Busch you can try that come out of St. Louis, Missouri. While I was not able to get out to this side of the state during this trip I have been out there before. Beers from Missouri that are my favorites happen to be very fruity beers. One of which is Wild Blue. The other beer is Shock Top Raspberry Wheat. This is my second favorite raspberry wheat beer.

While I like the Belgian Style Wheat beer by Shock Top, I much rather drink a Blue Moon.

When I was young, I was really into Mark Twain. I loved reading The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. The stories were based out of Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. The first was about a mischievous child that got into a bit of trouble the later was about a boy who road down the Mississippi River.  

Recently (in 2010) The Autobiography of Mark Twain was published. It is a three volume set. It was Published 100 years after his death. This was done by design to ensure that the people that Mark Twain wrote about would be dead by the time the book was released.

Locations:

Hannibal:

The first time I visited Missouri was years ago. It was obvious in 5^th grade that I was enamored with some of Mark Twain’s work. So in 6^th grade my mother took me to Hannibal, MO. We got to visit the cave that Twain wrote about in Tom Sawyer, along with visiting several museums.

St. Louis:

This trip was a road trip that started in St. Louis. When we flew over my mom called us to the airplane window so we could see the Gateway Arch. Her hope was that we would see it then so we would not have to make a special trip to see it, and get on the road right away.

I would not be able to stand at the base of it for several years. On my mother-in-laws second visit out to Illinois we traveled down to St. Louis to pick my mother up from the airport. There we got pictures with the arch. We also got to eat a nice jazz themed restaurant, which was quite pleasant.

Work Cited:

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Published:1876

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Published: 1884