(created Mon., Jan 22, 2018)

During Easter Break, 2016, we had relaxing fun in Eminence, Mansfield and Springfield, MO, so we planned a similar for Easter Break, 2017, to Branson and the nearby Big Cedar Lodge.

The plans changed a couple times and we took one five day trip for Easter, 2017 and a three-day weekend for MLK Day, 2018.

For this trip, we stayed in Branson, at bluegreen vacation’s Falls Village.

This is the travelogue from our trip.

1. -Day 1 / Friday night - Ballwin to Branson
   
   

2. -Day 2 / Saturday - Two-headed snake at the Fish Hatchery and Fishing at Dogwood Canyon
   

1. -Day 3 / Sunday - Snow!, Mass at Our Lady of the Lake, and WOW - Wonders of Wildlife
   
   

2. -Day 4 / Monday - More Snow, lunch at Lambert’s, replica Hubble Telescope and the drive home
   
   

This page presents

1. -Day 1 / Friday night - Ballwin to Branson
   
   

2. -Day 2 / Saturday - Two-headed snake at the Fish Hatchery and Fishing at Dogwood Canyon
   
   

Day 1 - Friday night drive from Ballwin to Branson

On our way to Branson, as we approached Lebanon, MO, our neighbor called to inform us that the keypad would not open our garage door, so she could not get in to walk our dog.  We have since confirmed that the recent cold conspired to make the keypad not work.

Through a quick search, Ann Marie found Tom through Ballwin-Locksmiths.com.  Tom was able to get our neighbor inside on a cold night, and she walked our dog, Backes.

Tom was a great help and we recommend him if you’re ever locked out.

We arrived at Branson thankful our neighbors helped Tom at the front door and that our dog, Backes, was alright at home.

Day 2 - Saturday - Two-headed snake at the Fish Hatchery and Fishing at Dogwood Canyon

On the drive down, Dad checked his email for a few minutes and came across an email from the Missouri Department of Conservation.  They were announcing that a family had found a two-headed snake, and that the snake was available for public viewing.

Thankfully we were staying just around the corner from the MDC office.  Dad called and confirmed that we could see the snake, so after breakfast that was the first thing we did... see the two-headed snake at  the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, at the base of Table Rock Lake, just under the Table Rock Lake Dam.

As always, the Conservation Department staff are friendly and welcoming, pointing us right to the snake as soon as we walked in the door.

The snake has two heads, but the rest of the body is all one from the esophagus on down.

We saw lots of other animals, too, including a:

1. ⁃A mouse
   

2. ⁃many trout in a tank
   

3. ⁃A turtle whose shell was squeezed into an hourglass shape, likely from getting caught in a piece of plastic from a six pack
   

4. ⁃world record bass caught in Table Rock Lake
   

5. ⁃Snakes
   

6. ⁃Salamander and lizard
   

7. ⁃Armadillo
   

8. ⁃Outside - a red-headed woodpecker
   

9. ⁃Outside - several Cardinals in the tree
   

Many trout in a tank

A turtle whose shell was squeezed into an hourglass shape, likely from getting caught in a piece of plastic from a six pack

Outside - a red-headed woodpecker

Outside - several Cardinals in the tree

The winter of 2017-2018 has been interesting, seemingly a little warmer than usual, but when it has been cold, it has been colder than usual.  It was quite cold over Christmas break and that continued into our trip a couple weeks later.

Abby and I had wanted to go fishing but weren’t so sure we would.  Then Matt confirmed needing time for homework so we figured we’d fish as long as we could stand the cold.

It was chilly, about 25 degrees.

There were other people there, mainly eating in the restaurant, and one couple who fished for a few minutes.

Little Indian Creek flows through Dogwood Canyon and flows into Table Rock Lake.  We fished where we fished last spring, about a third of a mile up the creek from the Mill and bait store.  It’s a good spot for fishing, as we caught eight fish then and three fish this trip.

Abby caught two rainbow trout and Dad caught one... almost 2.5 pounds.  We were thankful for all of them - that was a good dinner!

We were cold when it became time to go home. 

The water on the fishing nets had frozen into funny shapes that looked like lopsided wizard hats.

And, the water had been unfrozen, but it was cold... so cold that the were still frozen when Dad cleaned and gutted and filleted them a couple hours later in the room!

But the skies were quite beautiful on this chilly day.

On the way home we realized we could use a small snack, so we stopped at Raymonds in Blue Eye, MO.  We shared a nice chicken enchilada.

A few minutes later we saw one awesome sunset!

and this one we captured intentionally blurry... focus was on close-up on purpose, to provide a blurry sunset.

After we got back to the room and had dinner, we enjoyed an episode of the original MacGyver, which we have on DVD.  We really like the new MacGyver, too, and watch it every weekend (it airs Friday evenings).

Links to the rest of this travel journal:

WOW1

WOW 2 - Galleries

WOW 2 - Aquarium

WOW3