Missouri Adventure

This past week we turned a “taking care of family business” trip to Missouri into a mini vacation. Lyle and his siblings were to meet in Rolla for a couple of days for the disbursement of their parents’ household goods. We went a couple days early to spend some time with one of his brothers and sister-in-law who invited us to stay with them at their time-share in Branson.

The route we traveled took us through historic War Eagle, Arkansas. I have family history there so I’m eager to return another time to explore the area.

We did stop briefly to visit the “War Eagle Public Library.” (Did you think I would be able to resist?)

We had made arrangements to meet up with a long-time blog reader in Harrison. She treated us to coffee and a muffin at a delicious local bakery, and we had a good time sharing common interests. We hope to get together again sometime.

And, of course, I had to check out the Little Free Library there as well.

The next day we browsed the shops at Branson Landing…

…and only bought a coffee. That’s actually all we did as far as touristy things in Branson itself.

On Wednesday we drove to Rolla for the initial walk-through at Mom Cook’s house. That only took a couple of hours, so we had time for a little sight-seeing on the way back to Branson.

Our first stop was at a tourist trap on Route 66 in Uranus. We weren’t much impressed as it was pretty tacky and somewhat vulgar. We gawked at the World’s Largest Belt Buckle (as certified by the Guiness Book of World Records) and debated if it could really count as a belt buckle if it didn’t actually fit a real belt.

Then we stopped at the military cemetery at Fort Leonard Wood to visit Dad and Mom Cook’s grave. (They share a headstone. Her name is on the back of his.)

We wrapped up the day at the ginormous Bass Pro Shop in Springfield.

My sister-in-law and I aren’t much interested in fishin’ and huntin’ but the store is just so interesting to walk through. There are live alligators and turtles and fish, as well as taxidermy-ed critters of all descriptions, mixed in with the merchandise displays.

Thursday was spent taking care of business, and then on Friday we wended our way home again.

We are looking forward to exploring even more as we have the opportunity. Stay tuned!