Episode LVI: Traveling South for the Giving of Thanks

This Thanksgiving weekend my lab-mate (Rafael) and I wanted to go on a road trip. As it turned out, Rafael’s dad (who lives in Brazil) scheduled a business/pleasure trip to The Midwest which entailed him arriving in Kansas City on November 27^th. Unbeknownst to him, at the time, was that November 27^th happened to be Thanksgiving Day in America! Therefore, beginning Thanksgiving morning, Rafael, Rafael’s dad and I took a road-trip toward Branson, in the south of Missouri.

Our first destination was Springfield, MO where we spent a few hours eating and visiting the famed Bass Pro Shops flagship store, an outdoor-goods store that has its own indoor waterfalls, rivers, aquariums and shooting range. After that the majority of our time was spent in Branson. Here are some of the highlights.

Thanksgiving dinner: We were grateful to get to Branson just in time to eat a late Thanksgiving dinner at a traditional family-style restaurant. On a related note, I managed, for seven straight days, to eat at least one Thanksgiving-type meal a day (i.e. turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing). I was a very thankful man.

Festivities: As soon as Thanksgiving was over, and indeed before it had even begun, Christmas was EVERYWHERE in Branson. And I mean EVERYWHERE! The first night we went on a 2 ½ mile driving tour through a park that was covered in holiday-light extravaganzas and cute little animatronics displays. The second day, at the theme park Silver Dollar City, every single building was bedecked in bright lights, and the highlight of the night was a spectacular coordinated show where the giant central Christmas tree, along with the surrounding shops, blinked on and off and changed colors in synchrony, dancing along with the music which was broadcast all throughout the park. It gave me some serious goose bumps (or maybe I was just cold).

Attractions: For the first time ever, I went Black Friday shopping! Which felt to me just like shopping, but early in the morning. At least I was at a really lovely mall built along the river. Then I went to the Titanic Museum, which was a really well-done production, with both artifacts and elaborate recreations of the Titanic experience. Finally, we saw the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede (Christmas version, of course)! It was a four-course dinner served to a very entertaining show, which began with an incredible juggler, ended with some remarkable horse riding and competition, and included singing, magic, ice-skating and a nativity scene that descended from the ceiling.

Finally, we decided it would be fun to go into Arkansas for just a bit. We traveled around through a couple of towns, and decided we would go to Bentonville, where we could see The Original Wal-Mart, and where we could drop in on my aunt and uncle! (And cousins). It was great fun to be spontaneous, to see the family growing up (I think Brett is about 6’10” by now, while Jenna can speak excellent Spanish), and catch some football highlights of KU winning a crazy game. Below you see the Pluimer family, with me, next to the humungous Christmas tree. Assuming that Brett is about 6’10”, I’d have to say the tree is about seventeen feet tall!!!