Baldknobbers

We had an interesting Memorial Day Holiday. We spent it in Branson, MO where we were looking at some investment properties. I’ll give you some highlights.

Our luck with air travel continues as we got up at 4:15 am and rushed to the airport for a 6:30 am flight. We made it OK only to circle the Kansas City airport for over 2 hours as a 1 hour flight became 3.5 hours in the air. And the anticipated magic shows in Branson started early as mom’s suitcase disappeared during the flight and didn’t show up with mine in Kansas City. Then we had an hour wait in line for the rental car. Thank goodness the missionaries gave us a lesson on the Godly attribute of Patience; otherwise I was going to tell the Avis person where she could shove those……

On the way to Branson we stopped off at the church site in Independence. It was really interesting as three denominations are squared off on or near the old temple site. Mom flirted with one of the Apostles from the Church of Christ while I took some of the tracts describing why we don’t need temple ordinances. They also had some stones found buried marking the original temple boundaries.

We then headed across the street to visit with the Congregation of Christ, the other denomination, and their great and spacious building – The Spiral Tower of Babel.

Deeply symbolic they chose to model the spire after a sea shell the architect’s granddaughter found at the beach. They preach Peace unto all the world and we got to witness a Peace Prayer session near the Japanese Garden. On that day’s menu was Madagascar. I don’t know if it was the country or the movie, but it was nice. We got a tour of the building all except the sanctuary. They were cleaning the carpet. In the presentation they did everything they could to not say Joseph Smith First Vision. They said divine experience, spiritual awakening, encounter with the spirit, etc. They had original copies of the first printing of the Book of Mormon but no word on how we got it.

They impressed upon us how Emma was an elect lady and so her son Joseph Smith III was to be the Prophet after Joseph Smith Jr. death. It passed on to the male heir until there were no more male heirs and then a committee made the decision. According to her the committee could pick anyone they wanted, except the committee called the 12 apostles when Brigham Young was the president. He was a sex maniac that introduced the church to polygamy. Their current prophet is not a Joseph nor a Smith but Bill.

Enough fun and games we drove on to Branson and toured around the new development and it was so fun. There is tons of things to do and had so much fun exploring the town. There is an old section of small shops and ice cream parlors. A fairly current area along the narrow highway of cheap tourists traps like the Titanic, multi level go carts, and Ozark trinkets. There were also dozens of theaters with shows ranging from redneck BaldKnobbers to Chinese Jugglers. Something for everyone!!!
Traffic was a killer. Then the newest section was upscale shops along the river. The area also had amusement theme parks, outdoor shows and lots of lake. There are tons of things to do.

We took in two shows – Yakov the Russian comedian, who was great, and Bart Rocket who did magic and comedy and piano and a ventriloquist act. He was OK but after 90 minutes of one guy doing everything I felt Bart fatigue. During church on Sunday mom thought she recognized a young couple and had seen them before. I bet that she was mistaken and so after Sunday School she went and asked them if we had ever met before. Mom was right and they had attended the ward in Frisco that snowy week in January when we couldn’t go to Costa Rica – and he recognized me from Frisco as well. They are part of the Dutton’s a major variety show in Branson – a good area for Mormon entertainers because they keep the lyrics very clean here.

We did find two houses to buy, but there is only enough in the kitty to pick one and we are negotiating the best price. Get ready for Branson may be the headquarters of all our family vacations in the future. Much closer than Costa Rica and you too can meet the Dutton’s.

Remember Memorial Day this year and all that Don is doing to protect our family and nation. We love your service Don, keep up the good work.