Branson, Lodge of the Ozarks

the guys I dealt with were great at the branson wood resort and I would tell everyone to go and see these young men and let them show them a great time and we will go back again and again

Branson, Missouri, Lodge of the Ozarks - We drove to Branson from New Orleans in 12 hours. Once there, we enjoyed the cooler weather and some down home entertainment. My wife and I took her parents with us. They are in their mid 70's and my wife and I are pushing 50. We went to two shows per day and enjoyed every one of them. The better ones were Andy Williams/Petula Clark, Shoji Tabuchi, Yakov Smirnoff, Mickey Gilley, and Jim Stafford, but some other people I really wanted to see were not in town when we went. We were there right before the Memorial Day weekend when everything shifts into high gear. You can go to http://www.bransontourismcenter.com/showschedule2005.htm to see the complete line-up. Suffice to say, you could go to a show every day for a year and never see the same one twice because of the ever-changing shows. I went to see Yakov Smirnoff only because everyone else wanted to go, but it ended up being the biggest surprise to me that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Andy Williams/Petula Clark's show was every bit as entertaining as I knew it would be. Some planning does help, because we didn't get to see some shows since all of our nights were booked with shows that we could have seen at matinees and other shows that we wanted to see were night time shows only (like the Presley's and the Baldknobbers). The women folk loved the outlet malls and father-in-law and I did some exploring and visited some of the local scenic overlooks and watering holes. One thing we noticed is what we did not see ... no police, no taxis, no riff-raff, none of the urban mumbo jumbo that we were trying to get away from once we left the Big Easy. It seems to be a great place to retire from the corporate rat race and still work at any of the theaters as a ticket seller, gift shop worker, or usher in a stress free environment.