Take 5

Actually, we took 3. Nancy and I took 3 days to get away at good old Branson, MO. It was just a time to be alone together, which every couple should take once in a while. Weeks ago Nancy was staffing a booth at a conference for her work, she's a field director for Stonecroft. At a booth near here was a woman who worked for the Dixie Stampede in Branson. She and Nancy became friends pretty quick and enjoyed hanging around together during the slow times of the conference. She gave Nancy her card so on the way to Branson we gave her a call. She invited us to come see the show.

Now you have to know that this type of entertainment is not my first choice. Yet the invitation was there so we took her up on it. Teresa gave us a tour and then took us to the where we could enjoy the pre-show. She was quick to note how wholesome the environment was and that most everyone involved was a Christian. The pre-show was a juggler who holds 13 records in the Guinness Book. He was good and a lot of fun to watch. At the end he was quick to explain to us that his goal was to provide entertainment without foul language or subject matter.

We moved into the main venue which is a 1000 seat arena. It's set up in a horseshoe of about 15 rows high, surrounding a dirt floor stage area, roughly the size of a hockey rink. The show is a dinner show. Let me tell you that if the entertainment was lousy, I would still recommend it for the food. Wow, that was such a good meal. The show itself was, in the end, a patriotic display of traditional Americana. The horsemanship was wonderful, the music was well, tolerable (you know me and country) and the show itself was good clean fun and excitement. Clearly, I'm recommending it to you.

The rest of the week had much less in the way of entertainment value. Instead it was simply time together to focus on "us." Clearly, I'm recommending that as well.