Jefferson City, Quaint Capitol of Missouri

We did a quick drive through Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri. It was small and lovely. It felt quite personal for a capitol and had a bit of an eastern feel. They obviously take pride in their history and held onto a lot of their beautiful old buildings. It was a good diversion from the highway.

Now we are home, safe and sound. It was great to see Rachel in her new college environment. The girl really has her act together.

We had a great visit and fun exploring little towns between here and there.
We saw more Baptist Churches than I have seen in a long time. And we saw lots of puppy farms and trucks full of chickens on their way to be lunch. We saw a sign reading "We buy quality puppies." What about the seconds?
The grass was very green and the ponds were full. And we finished our drive under a full moon.

Little Miss Snotty Reviews Branson

The main drag

Slow traffic

Tourist attractions?

The hotel where we did not stay.

Branson is like a white gated vacation community. It is not the melting pot of America. We looked hard to find any black people. We saw 4. Two tourists and two locals. I don't think I saw any Hispanics and of course there were a few Asian tourists.
We were alternative because we did not want waffles for breakfast. The breakfast server, a mannered white woman seemed shocked that we did not each want a waffle and not even want to split a waffle. The coffee was brown but weak. There was powdered coffee whitener on our table.
I don't think a whole foods market would do well there.
It reminded me of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Slow traffic, cars full of rubberneckers, water parks, go cart tracks, flashing lights and yellow and orange buildings. Walmart and tourists who probably don't walk much because they are a bit chunky. Steak houses and not many sidewalks.
I am prejudice about these kind of places. I know it. If you are from a small town with no interesting plays, movies or galleries, this could be fun. And it was clean, very very clean. And it was safe, very very safe.
It is not innovative, original or enlightening. I confess, I have stereotyped this place. I did not go to any shows or even eat there except for the motel breakfast. I did read their local paper as we drove out of town. It projected a corniness and was written with "dats" and "dem" and "thur's." There were way to many pictures of skits of older men pretending to be hillbillies. It reminded me of guys who never got over boy scout skits. Ugh.

The motel was not a chain and it was clean and reasonably priced. The drive from I44 to Branson was very pretty. It reminded me of the foothills of Tennessee or maybe even the rolling hills in southern Indiana along the Ohio river. We drove out to the dam to see the lake and that was lovely as well. It is easy to see why that was a natural spot for people to want to create a tourist community.

Will I go back even with a free room offer? Probably not.

Rachel turns into a tough Mizzou Tiger!

We found a Tiger Store in the mall and I saw how the freshmen turn into Mizzou Tigers. I think Rachel is getting that school spirit.

Be Careful What You Order

Horse riding in the mall in Columbia, MO looks like fun.

Be careful when you order the happy hour beer!

So we went to Mexican Restaurant in Columbia MO and they had 70 ounce margaritas for almost nothing and we decided we did not want that many sugary calories. They offered us a smaller drink for $2.79 and it was a delicious Blue Moon Beer. We went into shock when they delivered two of these to our table. So how big are our kidneys? I had to lift the thing with two hands carefully! How can I "lighten-up" with a beer this big? I could not drink it all and neither could John and we sat there a long time drinking slowly. We were trying to stay on our diets and eat and drink lightly. That is very difficult, obviously, when you eat out in this country! I recently tried a mohito and really liked the mint and club soda flavors and a tough of rum, maybe I should have ordered that. It could not have been this big, could it?

Diets. I gave myself a C plus on my dieting skills last week. I did start exercising again but oh that sweet tooth. It gets me every time. Yes, I ate lots of salads and was well disciplined most of the time but, I was not the perfect dieter. And then the trip and the beer. By the way, the alcohol content must have been low. There was no buzz off that beer which is fine with me.

Tomorrow is a new day. I will keep trying to lighten up. It is hard when you travel or eat out. Live to eat or eat to live? I love cooking and I love good food. The balance of life can be a bit difficult. I hope to do better next week. Abundance of food and stuff, could be worse!

Branson?

Well here I am. Sitting in Branson? Yes, little miss snotty about Branson is sitting in Branson eating dark chocolate pomegrate, milk chocolate bing cherries and drinking a glass of Barefoot Zinfandel. OMG

John and I are on our way to visit our freshman daughter at Missou, wonderful photo journalism student that she is and we did not want to drive 6 hours on Friday night. So, I searched the web and refused those interstate hotels at $89 a night and decided to go to motel city, Branson and find an inexpensive but good hotel. I found the Alpenrose Inn with a $55 room and great reviews. So far, so good. It is very clean and not plastic.
They describe themselves as "Bavarian." That is pushing it. So for an 3 hour away escape this might do. I will not be going to any of the corny shows, Andy Williams who must be 105 years old now, but it is a new experience and that is kind of fun. It is so dark and a bit rainy so I don't have a clue what this place really looks like.
When I went back to the car to get my cell phone I could hear someone at a local show singing an old 60's song so I guess old people music is a bit too familiar now.
So now I have to admit I've been to and stayed in Branson. and off season is probably the time to be here, drinking a good Zinfandel and eat chocolate.
We will leave early in the AM after this motel's recommended breakfast and visit with Little Roo. She is doing fine and glad we are coming to visit.
I'll be looking for pottery and galleries on the way out of town. Think I'll skip all these famous and not so famous performers. I just cannot get into harmonic country music.

What some people will do to avoid plastic interstate motels!

Ian will be in the shop at some point glazing tomorrow. If you need clay, tools or glazes just call and I will give you his number. He has been working hard at his new job and not around the shop much lately. He will be in the Brookside Artzz show next weekend handing out maps and brochures as well. I will keep the shop open for biz and so you all can see where I have moved. His booth will be in front of my old shop.

Guess I'll be cleaning a lot this week. Just have to get the place up and running soon.