Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #69 – Happy Thanksgiving & Getting Ready for Christmas and More Travel!

 

Monday, November 22^nd., 2021…… We had to head over to the trailer this morning because we had an appliance repair guy coming to look at the washer/dryer. They arrived when they said they would and they started in analyzing. Turns out they found the pump was defective!  Huh! This unit was delivered new so go figure!  Anyway, they would have to order a replacement and return. We set up the next visit that would be first thing on December 1^st.  After they left, we went over to Walmart and shopped for Thanksgiving dinner. We got all of the requisite items and headed back home. We are planning on Penny and Butch, Cherrelyn, Jamie, and Corey and Brittany and their kids, Brandon and Lilly.  Butch’s son, who is here visiting his folks, had a mini stroke and is in the hospital. He’s conscious but not fully functional yet. Prayers to all of the family.   

Tuesday, November 23^rd., 2021…… Kirk’s guys were here today and we had them work out at ‘Cathye’s Island’. They had previously tilled the area and removed all of the vegetation but needed to get back in there with a smaller tiller and get around the trees a little better. It looks good! The weather still won’t cooperate with me!  I so much want to do one more cut on the lawn but it’s just still way to wet for that. I need at least a week of sun before I can even think of going out there. Weather report calls for rain in and out for the next week so I’m out of luck.

Wednesday, November 24^th., 2021…… Most of the day we worked on the house. The cleaning team was here last week and it still looks ok, but we needed to go over the floor to get all of the Rylee hair picked up, plus we needed to get the dog toys put away before tomorrow.  We both spent time in the kitchen prepping for tomorrow’s meal. Cathye baked two pies. We did all that we could beforehand and called it a night.

Thursday, November 25^th., 2021……  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  Cathye and I were up early and got the turkey in the oven. Penny and Cherrelyn and Britany are bringing stuff so Cathye and I had to only think about a few things. We had made deviled eggs and each of us made 9 and did our own recipes. We’ll see which one goes faster today! We had set up the dinner for 1:00pm. Cathye took off around 11:00 and went to get Jamie from Albany. I kept track of the turkey and made sure all of the drinks were ready to go.  We knew Butch wouldn’t be here. The hospital in Eugene will allow only 4 people to have access, but only one person per day, so they have divided days and today is Butch’s turn to be there.  We will send a special prayer at dinner out for him and his son and family. But we still wanted to have a Thanksgiving Day as a first for our blended family. It was very nice. The food was fantastic and everyone was relaxed and we enjoyed the day.  Oh yeah, Cathye had 9 egg halves left. I only had 4, but to be fair, I probably ate half of them myself!   

Friday, November 26^th., 2021…… The plan today was to work on transition from Thanksgiving décor to Christmas! I didn’t think we’d get anything completed, but I wanted to at least get everything out of the garage and staged on the back porch so she could go through what I have and blend it with what she has. I can’t wait to see what we can do! We did manage to get the tree up. It already has lights so that was the easy part. We got a handful of ornaments on it and called it a successful day!

Saturday, November 27^th., 2021…… More decorations going up!  We got almost everything done here at the house and Cathye even took some things to put up at her trailer. Even though she is not staying there, there is no reason we can’t make it look like Christmas there too!  I went up to the alcove in the entry way, where I keep the red ladder for the Christmas village display. Cathye caught ‘the elf on the shelf’ up there.

 

I also hooked up all of the window lights while I was up there. Those are wired to a wall switch but I need to find my plug switches for those in the dining room and front office windows. But it’s coming together!

I also made a call to Tim and Dana today. They will be coming over on Monday to give us an estimate for building the patio deck off the back porch. The plan is to have a space big enough for a spa and a bbq plus a nice seating area. I have drawn up what I want it to look like and have the area staked out so they can see the size. Of course, Rylee does not like the string barricade!

Sunday, November 28^th., 2021…… More decorating today. Cathye headed off to church and I started setting up the outdoor lights. I got almost everything done except the icicle lights, which I wanted to put up but needed help with. I staged the ladder and when she got home, I was ready.  We only got ¾ of them done before we were pulled away when sis came by. We needed someone to take our picture for the ‘ugly sweater Christmas tree photo op!

and when we went back out later, we got one more done before it got too dark to continue. We’ll get those done tomorrow morning. We relaxed and enjoyed the tree and watched tv until bedtime.   

Monday, November 29^th., 2021…… Today, we wanted to get to work on the rest of the outdoor lights, but first off was breakfast at Kevin’s. We also got some of the larger plastic bins moved off of the back porch before Tim and Dana came by. The lights out front were done and we got those boxes put away also. Or should I say they were trashed. The lights were previously stored in 20+ year-old blue plastic bins that were way too old and very brittle and since I had so many that we saved from Cathye’s move, I used them.  Tim and Dana got to the house around 3:00pm so it was light out and they could see everything. I went over the plan and they asked a couple of questions. Basically, the deck will extend out in a ‘t’ shape. One side of the t will have the bbq and the other the spa. The longer section in the middle will extend the roof line, only it will be more of a pergola. Tim suggested lexan, which he says will never fade, so we might go with that.    

Tuesday, November 30^th., 2021…… Today was Princess Jama’s day at the groomer. She got her Christmas bows and looked so cute! 

We spent most of the day prepping for our overnighter to Oregon Gardens. We leave tomorrow morning!

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #68 – Branson (Part 2)

 

Thursday, November 18^th., 2021…… Nothing on the agenda for this morning…  We drove in to the Uptown Café for breakfast. Poor service but the food was ok. We had tickets for the Showboat Branson Belle for the Captain’s Dinner Cruise tonight. 

We boarded at 3:30pm for the 4:00pm cruise. We decided to dress up for the occasion. I think Cathye was the best dressed lady on the entire ship!  We had some folks take a few pictures on the dock

and then we boarded. Our Captain’s Dinner tickets got us up on the first-row balcony, almost center ship, so we had excellent seats!  This was the view from our seats to the stage…

and this was where we were seated (just above the white arrow)…

The food and the service were both outstanding!  We found that with our package, we got a dinner choice. We each chose the angus steak.

We decided to walk the ship after dinner and before the show. It was super cold outside so we didn’t stay out there too long. We got back to our seats and settled in to watch the excellent show. It was a Christmas-themed variety-type show with a magician entertaining us between sets. Our favorite set was when the cast performed songs from 26 classic movie soundtrack hits in just under ten minutes, complete with costume changes! Very cool!  Sorry, no pics allowed, but it is something we recommend you think about doing if/when you visit Branson.  We got home about 7:30pm.  I don’t know what it was, but I found myself falling asleep in record time!     

Friday, November 19^th., 2021…… Since we extended a day, I needed to go back down to the office to confirm that and check in again. We got that done and then headed out. We have tickets for the 11:30am Branson Scenic Railway train today. It leaves from Branson Landing downtown. We stayed in our room until 10:00 and then hit the local Bob Evans for breakfast, then headed downtown and parked and got our vouchers turned in for boarding passes, each with a boarding number. 

They boarded in groups 1-41, 42-60, etc. We were 47 and 48 so when we headed back to the scenic observation cars, they were already taken. But it worked out because we found the last car in the line which had the most comfortable seats and settled in.

The ride was just ok. There isn’t too much to look at on this line, just a lot of brush, woods, and a couple of tunnels. The trestles were cool though…

After getting back to the station, we went to grab a quick meal at the Taco Bell drive-thru. Then it was time to head back into town and up the hill to The Sight & Sound Theater to see the play Jesus. I had been here before and knew Cathye would love this!  I chose center-section seats, but in the upper section of the theater so we could see the whole stage, including the sides, since this is almost a 270° viewing! 

Now, this was an A1 production, easily the best show we saw in Branson!  We left the theater and found we were right across the street from a Christmas light display called ‘The Joy of Lights!’ It was $30. per car and wasn’t too elaborate so we both felt it was not worth the $$. We got back to the hotel and walked over to Falls Creek Inn for drinks. We got seated at the bar and decided to have a sandwich since it was still early (7:30pm). Back to the room to relax and watch tv.  Tomorrow we leave for St Louis.  Summation for Branson - 1) try to find tickets without all of the sales baloney attached!; 2) stay long enough to enjoy a variety of shows and entertainment, 3) find another place other than Falls Creek Inn to stay, and 4) go with someone you can have fun with!!!  I sure did!   

Saturday, November 20^th., 2021…… We were up and out of our room around 8:00am. We stopped at Mickey D’s for coffee and then headed back up toward Springfield and then East on I44 and on toward St. Louis. Cathye had arranged for the kids to meet up with us at The Country Café for breakfast and we found that place with no problem, right off the interstate. We had a nice, although too short visit with Michael and Crystal

and said our goodbyes and continued on to the airport. Easy drive and we got the car returned and got checked in and got through TSA with no problems. We grabbed a couple of chicken wraps for the flights and waited. We got back to Seattle and then to Portland and then back to the truck with no issues. Just a long flight!  The drive home was ok and we got home at midnight. Penny had left for home before we got there but the pups were ready for us to get back!  It was a super fun trip and we can’t wait for the next adventure!

Sunday, November 21^st., 2021……  Wow, a short night’s sleep last night!  The dogs know when they think we should be awake and ready to go, but we didn’t!  But, once we were up and going, we were surprised that we weren’t tired at all!  Maybe it will hit later today. We got the dogs walked and then went to work on laundry.  Cathye and Robin had a presentation to make at church later today so she took off and met up with Robin to get that ready and set up at the church. I drove over a little early to see if they needed help. Once church was over, I decided to come back home to be with the dogs 

while she stayed for their Thanksgiving luncheon. Once she got home (with leftovers for me), I ate and we relaxed for the rest of the day. Well, we still had clothes to wash and dry and fold, but we still had time to relax.      

 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #67 – Branson (Part 1)

 

Monday, November 15^th., 2021…... We got up at 2:30am. The drive up to PDX (Portland) was made with no problems. We parked again in the long-term lot and headed to check-in. (Yes, I closed the windows and locked the truck this time!) Cathye used Alaska Airlines miles to get us business class flights both coming and going. I love the extra legroom! On these flights, we found we get premium class treatment with alcohol included. Yay! It was a 31- minute flight to SEA (Seattle) and then a 4-hour flight to STL (St. Louis), but it was ok. We took the shuttle to the car rentals. This time, I took the car rental duty and we got on the shuttle to the Emerald Aisle at National and we picked out a Nissan Kick (suv). We actually enjoyed it. Our cars do not have the lane detection and proximity warnings nor the auto dim/bright features that this car had! Nice! Our first stop was to the local Steak & Shake for a quick burger meal. Then we made the 2 ½ hour drive - the last part being gravel roads - to Vienna for the first stop. This was at Cathye’s son Michael and his wife Crystal’s home there. Her two nephews (Terry & Gary) and their family had driven over to be there for a visit. It was nice. I keep meeting relations all around the country!  We had a long day, so it was nice to finally call it a night.

Tuesday, November 16^th., 2021…... We slept in a bit this morning. Later, Crystal had made us an overnight-crockpot-breakfast, which was delicious! Then we went out and got a tour of their place. They have 23 acres, most of it wooded, with access to Clifty Creek, which they say has a nice swimming hole in the summer! All of it was very nice. Then they drove us Clifty Creek Park so we could hike to the natural bridge there. We didn’t make it quite to that point because it was a downhill hike – which we knew we had to go back up! – so we headed back and then looked at it online. Haha!  Here's the picture of the bridge we saw...

                                     
And here's the picture from the online website.....

We would have liked to see it. Maybe next time. Cathye was a bit sore the next morning so I’m glad we didn’t go much farther. We also stopped at the cousin’s farm to see their animals…

Later, after we were back home and packed up, we then followed them to lunch at Pappo’s Pizza.  It was right on I44 and we will go back again if/when we are in that area. 

We drove down the road a bit and went to visit Uranus! Yep, I wrote it right! We enjoyed Uranus. They specialize in packing fudge in Uranus! Plus, a lot of funny gag items, including a jail! We all got on the ‘wanted’ posters. We thought it was funny that they had one for McCracken, which is Cathye’s last name! So, we switched wanted posters!  

I didn’t find a hat I liked, so I bought a Uranus Fire Dept. t-shirt:

We said our goodbyes and headed on toward Branson. I did a detour in Springfield to show Cathye the Bass Pro Shop’s ‘Mother Ship’. This store sits on several city blocks and she was duly impressed! 

We continued on to the ticket counter to get our ticket package, which included the hotel reservation confirmation. We managed to extend our hotel stay one extra night like we wanted. The plan was to add one or two more shows on Friday and then do Silver Dollar City on Saturday before heading back to STL. We wanted to add “Jesus’ to our list but they wouldn’t do it at the ticket place unless we agreed to do a VRBO/BnB ‘open house’ sales pitch. No Way! So, we drove to the hotel and went online and booked it directly with the Sight and Sound Theater. I even got my pick of seats! Once we got settled in our room at the Fall Creek Inn, we walked next door to their restaurant and had dinner. This is one of two places in the area that is famous for their ‘tossed or throwed’ rolls!  The meal was good. We had margaritas and I had chicken fried steak and she had coconut shrimp and we left full and happy, despite the earlier sales pitch which put us off for a while. We went back to our room and watched tv for a short while before crashing after our day.

Wednesday, November 17^th., 2021…… We slept in this morning because our show (Daniel O’Donnell) wasn’t until 2:00pm. It was at the Welk Theater, which was right next door.  We had coffee in the room, then showered and dressed and headed out. The weather was wonderful! We drove into town – well actually it’s called ‘the strip’ – and had breakfast. We chose the Chicken House. We got the -buy-one-get-one-half-price buffet, which was pretty good and very filling. Plus, I got my grits too! After that, we drove to the Ozark Country Campgrounds to check it out. We have camped there several times and I wanted to see if they had improved the park for our future use. Not!  They have actually taken away over ¾ of the spaces and replaced them with park models/trailer modules. I’m guessing these will be daily/weekly rental units come summer. They must think that they will be a more constant rental income instead of the RV’rs. I sure hope they can rent them out!  

I also took Cathye to my favorite fishing place – Cooper Creek on Lake Taneycomo. This is actually the White River, coming out of Table Rock Lake, but they call it a lake because they don’t leave the dam locks open all of the time, so the river becomes still, like a lake. It was nice enough to fish when, but I knew we weren’t there for that. 

We continued on to check out the fish hatchery. You can see the 200' high dam in the background

and then went up and took a look at the lake. Beautiful!  We will be on it tomorrow afternoon when we go on the Showboat Branson Belle for the dinner cruise and show. We went downtown and saw Dick’s 5 & 10 store and got a few things there. Then we stopped at Chik-Fila for a quick lunch. It was delicious. We got back to the room and changed to go to Daniel O’Donnell’s show. He is an Irish singer and has a large following in the US. I never heard of him, but he’s one of Cathye’s favorites.  He is a terrific singer and his show was really entertaining. We weren't in the best of seats but still worth being there.

We got out of the show and made our way down the street to our room. Later, we walked the other way and went to Danna’s BBQ for dinner. We had been there before with Rick and Janie so I knew the food was good. We split a pulled pork patty melt, which was surprising good!  We had some time to go back to the hotel and rest before the next show up that evening. We made the drive back up the strip to The Dick Clark Theater, where we were seeing ‘SIX’. We have both seen them before so we knew what to expect. No instruments. All the music and sounds come exclusively from them, via only a microphone. They are amazing.  They make some serious music with any instruments! Excellent show, made even better because we had 4^th row center seats!  

When we got back home, we looked up the Branson Train, which we had seen while we were downtown. We thought we’d book that if we could.  We got the tickets ordered and had to go to another of the many, many ticket buildings in town and – yep – we would have to go through the same song and dance sales pitch for hotel/motel stays the next day when we picked up those tickets!  We found that most of the attractions are turning over bookings to these vultures. We will always try to go directly to the show’s website, when they allow, (like the Jesus show).

Branson part 2 coming soon…