2014.07.19 Jewelry, Pie, and the Road Home

 

There was some discussion among the adults about visiting the Ralph Foster Museum at the College of the Ozarks before we began our trek home today.  The Captain on our Duck tour Monday referred to the museum as the “Smithsonian of the Ozarks”.  What would prompt someone to give that moniker to a local museum? How about the fact that it is home to the original vehicle used in the Beverly Hillbillies!  Culture!

Even with all that going for it, we decided we would rather go home than get cultured.  This decision was warmly received by the kids.

As a way to add some spice to what would ordinarily be a boring drive home from Branson, we decided to eat sushi for lunch.  One of the best sushi places in town was in a strip mall across the street from our hotel, so we loaded up and were ready to eat.  The only problem was that we arrived about 45 minutes before they opened.

Fortunately for us, next door to the sushi place was a business called “$1 Jewelry”.  On a Saturday morning at 11am, this place was literally one of the busiest stores we were in all week.  My guess is that not all of us were waiting on the sushi place to open, so this was a pretty impressive feat.

Stimulating the Branson economy.  One dollar at a time.

Stimulating the Branson economy. One dollar at a time.

Upon leaving the jewelry store, we met up with KK at a convenience store on Highway 65.  He had been on a solo shopping spree at some other stores, and did not show much regret that he missed the jewelry shopping.

During this meet-up, we had the fantastic idea to head north out of town and eat lunch at Lambert’s in Springfield.  Known as the home of the “thrown rolls”, this place has the nifty gimmick of throwing the bread rolls at you.  This idea was so fantastic that hundreds of other people and a few tour buses also had the same idea.  The line out the door was beyond belief.

We quickly bailed on the idea of eating there, and went around the corner to the Belgian Waffle and Pancake House.  Hard to go wrong with a name like that.

No lines here.

No lines here.

We had a real personable, down home waitress help us.  When Miles ordered the “Diet Breakfast Platter” (its actual name on the menu), she sized him up and said, “You’ll enjoy that.  That’s just a heart attack waiting to happen, you know.”

Miles with a "before" picture of his Diet Breakfast Platter.

Miles with a “before” picture of his Diet Breakfast Platter.

The food was pretty tasty, but we all left room for dessert.  When you check in with the hostess, you stand right next to their pie display.  That left an impression on us.  Pretty good marketing if you ask me.

KK was the first to place his dessert order.  He explained to the waitress that he would like a slice of the coconut cream pie, but he imagined it must be a pretty good sized piece to cost $3.59.  I think there was some unsaid agreement between them that she would take care of him.  In any event, I think his slice of pie was slightly larger than mine.  Good job with the schmoozing, KK!

KK and his larger-than-average slice of coconut cream pie.

KK and his larger-than-average slice of coconut cream pie.

Miles was once again asked to chauffeur KK and PK in their truck.  KK probably didn’t spend 20 miles behind the wheel of us truck during the entire trip.  And that is just fine with him.

The final three hours of the trip home was without incident, which is the ideal way to wrap up a vacation.  Many thanks to my parents for going with us on this getaway.  We had a relaxing time!

One thought on “2014.07.19 Jewelry, Pie, and the Road Home

  1. Charles Prewitt

    After all the Beverly Hillbilly episodes we watched when we were younger, sad to say very disappointed that didn’t go see the Truck. Still sounds like had great time with your family.

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