Branson Staycation

Marceline, MO - Hometown of Walt Disney

2012-08-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

In continuing with our weekend full of longer activities, we decided for Saturday we would travel up to Marceline, MO, Walt Disney's hometown. First I guess I should mention, we are Disney nerds. During a vacation to Orlando in 2008, we made a last minute (as in, the night before) decision to go to Magic Kingdom since we had a free day with nothing to do. It was the highlight of our trip so we went back the following year for a full week and we've been hooked ever since. Now we go to Disney World every year, have a Disney cruise to Europe planned for 2013, and will see Disneyland Paris while we are there. We do little things throughout the year that is Disney related because it helps pass the time between vacations. Yes, we are full blown Disney dorks.

Back to our trip to Marceline. Walt Disney was actually born in Chicago, Illinois, but his family moved to Missouri when he was very young, so Marceline is where Walt spent a lot of his childhood. He considered Marceline to be his hometown and some of his greatest childhood memories are from there. The very small town takes pride in this fact and have several spots dedicated to Disney. We decided at the beginning of the summer that since we live in Missouri and are such big Disney fans, we needed to add a visit to Marceline to our summer bucket list.

The town is about 4 1/2 hours from Branson, so not exactly a "staycation" but we were only going up for the day, so not really a vacation either. Marceline sits in the northern part of Missouri, about halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City, 80 miles north of Columbia. We left the house around 6:30 am, arriving in Marceline around 11:30, only stopping to fix our tail light.

We ate some sandwiches out of the cooler we brought and headed straight for the Walt Disney Hometown Museum.

The museum is inside of the old Santa Fe Train Depot where Walt sat foot in Missouri for the first time.

It closes at 4:00 and so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to see everything.

When you walk in, there is a table sat up where you pay. We paid cash (I can't remember if they take credit/debit cards), were given an admission ticket, and signed the guest book. The first part of the tour is by a guide. And not just any guide, but someone who grew up in Marceline and had met Walt. Kaye had the privilege of having Walt stay at her house when she was young. She shared this and several other very interesting stories about Walt, his life in Missouri, his journey as a cartoonist, and his many trips back to visit Marceline. As you can see from the sign above, there was no photography allowed so we didn't take any pictures. Kaye's stories were fascinating and we enjoyed every second of our guided tour. After she was finished, she led us to a door to let us see the rest of the museum by ourselves. Before we took off though, another very nice lady by the name of Inez came in with us for a couple of quick stories. She also took a picture of us by this Mickey Mouse statue.

Before she left, she said that they used to have a rule where you couldn't take pictures, but they have lifted that rule! Thanks D23 (The Official Disney Fan Club) for begging them to allow pictures. It worked! We continued through the next door for the self guided portion of the tour.

After taking in as much as the information as we could, we went upstairs to see the Disneyland model. In 2006, Toonfest guest Dale Varner showed pictures of the Disneyland model he had built. While it had been on exhibit during fairs, it didn't have a home where it could regularly be enjoyed. He offered to donate it to the museum under the condition that he could continue to work on it and add pieces. Sadly, Dale died just a few years later before it was completely finished.

There was one final room that we went through upstairs but I was apparently too busy reading to take many pictures. From here you can actually sit and watch the train pass by. We heard it a few times while we were downstairs but weren't near a window so we weren't able to get any pictures.

We finished our tour on the top floor and went back downstairs to the front area where we started. We spent some looking around before checking out the gift shop. Before leaving we talked with Inez and another volunteer for a bit. I'll admit now, I didn't really have this entire day planned out. There was only a little information online so I figured we'd play it by ear (which is very unlike me.) Luckily, Inez had a pamphlet with a map and list of Disney sites to see around Marceline. We started towards the Walt Disney Elementary School.

In 1960 when Walt was approached about changing the name of his old school to Walt Disney Elementary, he was thrilled. He even had artists paint murals of Disney characters throughout the school. If you visit when the school is open, they will gladly take you around to see the murals. Because we were visiting in July, when school is not in session, we only peeked through the front doors.

We could have probably looked through some of the classroom windows, but I was kind of feeling like a weirdo as it was so we decided to head down to Main Street. Our first stop was E.P. Ripley Park. It was named after the president of the Sante Fe Railroad who donated the land to Marceline for the park. If you go to Disneyland in California, you will find one of the trains also named E.P. Ripley.

Across the street was the post office. Even though it was closed for business, the main doors were open for customers who needed to access their P.O. Box.

At this point it was time to check out the rest of Main Street.

Ghost town?

This is when we discovered virtually nothing was open. I know there's less than 2,500 people that live here, but come on! I'm not sure if this is how it normally looks on a Saturday afternoon or if it's because (as we later discovered) the Redneck Games were held in Marceline that day. No, I'm not kidding. I really hate to reveal this information because I don't want Marceline, or all of Missouri for that matter, to appear to be nothing more than a bunch of hillbillies, but that's what was going on. Regardless, almost everything was closed, so I cruised Main Street alone on foot. It was over 100 degrees out so my hubby and daughter stayed cool in the air conditioned car.

E.P. Ripley Park

Buildings across from the park.

If you decide to stay overnight, the Uptown Theatre has a Bed & Breakfast upstairs with 5 Disney themed rooms.

All around you could find little Disney embellishments.

Since everything was closed and I was unable to buy myself a little souvenir (even though I found one by peeking in windows), we moved on to our next destination.

In all honesty, there really wasn't anything for us to do at these stops so we just took pictures. Had we not already eaten the sandwiches we brought, the park would have been a nice place to have a picnic.

Our final destination was Walt's barn and dreaming tree. I'd read that it was an easy to miss spot because there were no signs. They now have a sign, but I can see how it would have still been easy to miss. Before you even get there, you will see Walt's old house...sort of. It is his old house, but it has been completely re-done.

Just past the house you will see this sign and a small parking area. And by small, I mean it will hold 3 cars.

Now for the sad news. Walt's dreaming tree has been struck by lightening a couple of times and looks nothing like it used to, however, they have planted a new one with a seedling from the original tree.

After making my husband take several pictures of me sitting "dreaming" under the tree, which came out with me looking ridiculous, we continued down the path to see Walt's barn. The barn is not actually the original. It is a replica that was built in 2001 by a group of volunteers. Inside you can leave your own message or memory on the walls. While there was a sharpie inside the barn, I recommend bringing your own...just in case.

This is where our day ended in Marceline. When doing a little research before the trip, I came across some posts about visiting. Some people were talking about taking a week long vacation here. Unless you are going to be in the area visiting St. Louis or Kansas City, and make a day trip out of it, there's really not a whole lot to do in Marceline. I am in no way putting the town down, it's just that it is very small. The reality is, we were able to see everything in a half day. Now, if we would have eaten lunch at a restaurant or had some of the stores been open, we could have probably extended it to 3/4 of a day. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and encourage any Disney fan who is in the area to make the trip. I do know Marceline has some special events (like Toonfest in September) so that would definitely be the time to stay a little longer. I would have planned our trip for that particular weekend but we will be in Disney World. :)

Missouri Institute of Natural Science

2012-08-05T15:10:00.001-07:00

This summer we made kind of a bucket list of things to do. We had a wide variety of activities on it from going to Silver Dollar City to playing with sidewalk chalk. Last weekend we decided to do some of our "bigger" activities that were a little more time consuming.

Friday, after searching for some yard sale bargains in nearby Springfield (yes, it was on our summer bucket list), we headed south of town to the Missouri Institute of Natural Science. First and foremost, I need to tell you why this place exists. Back on September 11, 2001 while the entire nation was glued to the TV watching news of the terrorist attacks, road crews were blasting through rock to build a new road. Once it was discovered that the nation was under attack, all blasting came to a screeching halt. The problem this particular road crew had was that holes had already been filled with explosives and they could not be removed. They also just couldn't leave them there, ready to go off at any moment on public property, so they got special permission to detonate what was already in the ground. The blast revealed an unknown cave. According to one of the volunteers that showed us around the museum (his name escapes me but it started with an E, so that's what I'll call him), what typically happens when a cave is discovered during road construction is they shove some rock and dirt in front of the hole and continue on with their project. That information is shocking because there is no telling how many amazing caves have been discovered but not explored because they just get covered up. Anyway, because the road crew was not going to be able to continue on until the next day, one of the guys decided to call his friend, Matt Forir, who is a Professor of Speleology at Drury University and the Geologist for Greene County, Missouri. He told Matt they'd found a cave and to come check it out if he wanted to. The first thing Matt sees in the cave is claw marks on the wall, 16 feet high, from the now extinct short-faced bear. It turns out, this cave is the oldest known Ice Age fossil cave in North America. The largest congregation of peccary (a type of Ice Age pig) tracks were found very well preserved. Other findings include mammoth bones, wolf bones, horse bones, snake skeletons, large cat claw marks, animal dung, and fossilized millipedes in what is now known as Riverbluff Cave. While the cave is off limits to the public (there is still much to be discovered), an entity was needed to run, support, and maintain Riverbluff so the Missouri Institute of Natural Science was born.

The museum was actually only built in 2009, so it's still relatively new, and is a constant work in progress. When you pull up, you wouldn't even know it's a museum. It sits in the outskirts of Springfield and is just a plain, unassuming building with only a few small signs. If you are picturing the Smithsonian, get that out of your head. If I'm remembering correctly, the museum houses Matt's own personal collection of fossils, a large variety of minerals, as well as the Riverbluff Cave discoveries. Each time the cave is explored, something new and wonderful is found. Because of this, the museum will just continue to grow over the years. While it is small, it is anything but insignificant. Oh, and it's free to get in!

Picture borrowed from Missouri Institute of Natural Science Facebook page. I forgot to take a picture of the entire inside but this gives you an idea of size. It's not a very big building.

We walked in and were immediately greeted by a couple of volunteers. E gave us a run down of the layout and displays. It's a self guided tour but since we were the only ones there, E spent a lot of time at each display with us. He told us stories, the history, and information about the fossils. Even though they were behind glass, he would pull many of them out to let us hold or take pictures.

After looking at the two large displays of fossils, we move to the minerals. I've always been fascinated by rocks and minerals. I collected them as a child and really enjoyed the Geology class I took in college. Even if you've never had an interest in them, you can't help but be in awe of their colors and shapes. My pictures do not do them justice.

These rocks look completely normal when under a regular bulb but under black light, they take on a completely different look.

The next section of the museum is the part I'd been most excited about seeing. It's completely dedicated to Ice Age fossils and Riverbluff Cave.

Peccary

Short-Faced Bear skull

Mold of the peccary tracks found in Riverbluff Cave.

Gomphothere (extinct elephant like creature) Jaw.

Once you are done exploring the museum, you can actually go out and search for fossils yourself! I'd completely forgotten about this being an option so I didn't come properly dressed for sitting around digging in dirt. Not only that, it was about 150 degrees out. Anyone who lives in this area can tell you, 2012 has been one of the hottest, driest summers on record. Even if I had worn the right clothes, I don't think we would have wanted to sit out in the baking sun to dig for anything. Luckily, they are open year round so we will definitely make plans to go back out to see what we can dig up. It's $4 per person (for the dig only, museum is free), is self guided, and you get to keep anything you find! E told us about 2 young boys (around the age of 10) who came out completely prepared and ready to work. They had watched videos on youtube about digging for fossils so not only did they bring all the proper tools, they knew what to look for. Within an hour and a half, they had a boatload of fossils to take home. One of them, according to E, was an incredibly rare find! Even if you don't know what you are doing, it sounds like it's well worth the time to dig. One thing to keep in mind though, is their hours. They are only open M-F from 8:30-4:30. During the school year, that doesn't really give a lot of time to take the kiddos out, however, if you call them, you can schedule a time on nights or weekends to visit.

The museum runs their day to day operations on donations. No one ever once asked us for one but they do have a large box set up if you want to throw a few bucks in. They also have a donation section on their website as well. Even if funds are tight right now, the museum is free and worth the trip out.

The Haygoods

2012-07-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, we went to Night Water at White Water. As we were leaving, a couple of people were handing out vouchers for one of the shows in Branson. Knowing that I was going to start this blog, I grabbed one for each of us. It was a voucher to see The Haygoods for free, all we had to do was show our them our White Water tickets! There were only four dates for which the voucher was good for, and since we'd been camping all weekend, that coming Tuesday was the only day we'd be able to go.

When Tuesday rolled around, I left work a little early, rushed home for dinner, and left for the show about 45 minutes before showtime. Google Maps showed us that the theater was on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, right off of Hwy 76. Now we live in Branson, so we avoid 76 (also known as The Strip) at all costs and use back roads as much as possible. Having never been to the RFD-TV Theater, we wanted to leave fairly early, so we'd have sufficient time to get there, park, and get seated. I'm usually late for everything and absolutely did not want to try and sneak in after the show had already started (if they'd allow us in at all). It sounds nuts but if you have to take 76 to get anywhere, you need to leave VERY early. Traffic is incredibly slow moving on that road so it can take 20 minutes to go just one mile. It's not near as bad during the off season but keep that in mind anyway.

We arrive at the theater at 7:00, giving us a full 30 minutes before the show was to start.

When we walked in, I find the ticket counter with a pretty decent sized line formed.

The line actually goes around the wall and all the way back to where I'm standing.

Although I heard some grumblings about about how slow the line was moving, it only took about 10 minutes to make it to the front. I overheard a guy behind me say that he'd already paid for his tickets, but he was only given a voucher and still had to trade that in for a ticket. I'm mentioning this because although I don't know if he bought them online or at one of those shops that sells tickets to shows, he still had to wait in line. So if you purchase early, unless you have an actual ticket with a seat number, you are also going to have to wait in line.

Once we get to the front, I give the lady my vouchers, show her our White Water passes, and she gives us our tickets. As we walk away to start taking some pictures, I notice that the line has gotten quite a bit longer. With plenty of time left, I walked around taking some pictures.

While taking this picture, a man behind the counter came up and joked about me being a spy from another theater! I laughed and assured him I wasn't but, although he was funny and very nice, I don't think he was buying it.

Gift Shop

After snapping a few pictures, we decided it was time to go find our seats. There were two entrances to the theater and while we did manage to pick the one closest to our seats, the theater isn't that big so if you go to the wrong one, it's not too far of a walk.

The show ended up starting about 10 minutes late, which was fine because they kept us entertained by throwing huge sacks filled with balloons out into the audience to see which section could get theirs from front, to back, to front again the quickest.

Now going into this, other than having heard of The Haygoods, we knew nothing about them. I assumed they were probably a family of singers and hoped that if they were, they sang more than just country. I might live in Branson, but I do not consider myself a fan of country music. I went through a brief period 10-15 years ago where I listed to it, but that's where it ended. Lucky for me, they came out singing "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas! It's one of my favorite songs (even if it is a couple of years old) so it was definitely a good start to the show. It didn't really show off just how talented they are vocally but that's probably because they were bouncing around the stage a lot. They played another song (which I can't remember at the moment, even though I made notes) then preceded to play a few country songs including "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", both of which I knew.

Banjos are cool.

This is where I should mention, not only are they (as I assumed) a family of singers, but they each play multiple instruments and rock at it! Catherine (the only girl of the family) plays more instruments than any of her 6 brothers, but they are all incredibly good at what they play.

Back to the show. So after a few country songs, they said they were going to play some bluegrass music. I'm not very familiar with bluegrass, but had they not said it, I wouldn't have known that's what they were singing. One of the songs was by Mumford & Sons, which (according to Wikipedia) is a folk bank from the UK. Even though I didn't know the song, it REALLY showed off just how awesome they are vocally.

After the folk music they did two instrument only songs. One was by The Beatles and the other was by Michael Jackson. Of course, they were fantastic.

About 50 minutes into the show, we had intermission. Like many shows, they set up a table where you can buy cds, dvds, and even a little bear which gives you the opportunity to take pictures with a few of the Haygoods after the show. They bring out the guy who is going to be manning the table and introduce him as their dad...it's the guy that was joking about me being a spy at the concessions counter! Because he was wearing a suit, I'd assumed he was the manager of concessions or something. I never once thought it was their father!

Dad Haygood

Intermission lasted about 15 minutes and they started back up singing "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams.

They then decided to slow it down a little by playing the Bruno Mars song "Just The Way You Are." This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the show because they had a kiss cam. There was a large screen behind them and one of the camera operators would zoom in on a couple, then they had to kiss. Although I don't attend professional sporting events, I'm pretty sure they do this type of thing there. A couple of times, rather than zooming in on a couple, they'd zoom in on an individual and put a little thought bubble above their head, which was hilarious. I'm pretty sure I didn't actually hear most of that entire song because I was too busy laughing at what was going on with the kiss cam. Speaking of funny, throughout the entire show, they did little things that were funny. It's not a comical show but they definitely made us all laugh many times.

After a few more instrumental tunes...

...they announce that they have yet another talent...TAP DANCING! They were awesome.

The only part of the show we were not allowed to take pictures (audio or visual recording is never allowed) was when they did Rednex "Cotton Eyed Joe." They all used clear instruments that lit up but at one point the whole place went black and out come people similar to this.

Image borrowed from glowcity.com

The whole show finished off with the song "America the Beautiful" which had me tearing up a little. I forgot to look at my watch but I think from start to finish, it lasted about two hours. That sounds pretty long but I never once got bored or wished it would hurry and end.

Leaving the theater, we saw a table set up where, I believe, the people who bought teddy bears get to meet the group. We didn't stay long enough to see how it worked though. One thing I will mention is it can be a pain getting out of the theater parking lot. Because the light to get on 76 is so close, it becomes a bit of a cluster at that intersection, depending on which way you want to go.

So, what did we all think of The Haygoods? We loved it. I knew the majority of the songs they played, thought they had incredible voices, was very impressed by their instrumental talent, and loved watching the guys tap dance. I asked the hubs what he thought and he said it was about 1000x better than he thought it'd be. It wasn't geared toward older people or younger people so there was really something for everyone. The kiddo said it was better than she thought it'd be and very entertaining.

There's one thing I want to note though before you rush off to buy tickets, they do three completely different types of shows throughout the year. During the summer,they know a lot of kids will be in the audience so they adjust the show to make sure they are entertained. During the spring and fall, they have a more mature audience so they have their traditional show. In November and December they switch over to do Christmas songs. Also, their website says that they are the only show in Branson that changes every year so if you plan on seeing them next summer, they might have a completely different set list. Regardless, I don't think you'll be disappointed!!!

Introduction

2012-07-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! For my very first blog post EVER, I would like to introduce myself and tell you a little about the point of this blog. My name is Andrea. My husband, 11 year old daughter, and I have lived in Branson, Missouri for almost 2 years. We LOVE to travel and see new places. Since Branson is a vacation destination, we have so many wonderful things to do and see right in our own backyard. In between our own vacations, we have started to pretend as though we are tourists and see new things in our own area, like a staycation! Although I am from the Southwest Missouri area, I must admit that I haven't seen even 5% of what Branson has to offer. As we visit different attractions and restaurants around the Branson area, I'm going to keep track of it all here. You'll find information, pictures, and a review for each place we visit. Although this blog is about Branson (and the surrounding area), I will probably include some posts about our other vacations as well.

Feel free to comment or ask questions about anything we do. I'm always happy to help!