Summer Lovin'

I love summer time! Last summer was devoted all to raising Banner and I cannot believe how much he has changed in a year. Don't get me wrong, he is still a monster dog! But those monster dog moments have  become less and less. He still loves to chew on things, drink from the bathtub faucet, sleep on the bed and couches and go crazy when we have company. But how can you get mad at a cute face like that? He makes up for it by being such a lover. He loves to cuddle, sleep right next to you, and wake you up every morning. I guess we will keep him!

Last week Kyle and I went to Branson, Missouri and we had so many fun adventures! Most people thought we were crazy to go to Missouri because really, who goes to Missouri? I was really starting to wonder if we were going to have an awful time. Thankfully we had a lot of fun and it was nice to get away for a whole week! This trip created some first for Kyle and I which I think is difficult to achieve when you have been dating/married for 11 years. Here's a little list:

Our Firsts in Missouri
1. Flying together on a long plane ride- I learned that Kyle likes the window seat
2. Renting a car- we had a cool Dodge Charger
3. Eating fried alligator tail (for me)- tastes like chicken
4.Taking Kyle to the E.R.- ticks are NOT cool

The only downside to the trip was that it was packed full of activities that I didn't get much relaxation time. I guess it's a good thing I'm still on summer break so I can recuperate :) Anyway, after going through the 700 pictures that Kyle took here is a recap of our Missouri trip in pictures.

 Our comfy condo with a kitchenette

We visited the Springfield National Cemetery to see some cool old tombstones and also the civil war graves. We had planned to visit a couple of Civil War battlefields so I thought it would be interesting to see the cemetery as well.

 It was really sad to see all of the little white tombstones that are of unknown Civil War soldiers.

The Wilson's Creek Battlefield in Springfield, MO.

The forest area to the right of this picture is where were first met Kyle's friend Wilson the Tick that I lovingly named after the beautiful battlefield. 

Wilson's Creek

 This is the house of the Ray family. Their property was used as battle grounds and they observed the soldiers fighting in their corn fields. 

 Jefferson Avenue Footbridge- Supposedly people walk on this bridge and wait for trains to pass underneath. It was pretty quiet when we went and since I'm not crazy about heights, I wasn't too excited about watching a moving train pass underneath while I was standing on it.

 Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO- This cavern was one of 3 that was visited and I thought it was the safest because we sat in a tram the entire time. The other two caverns had us climbing lots of wet, slippery steps and crouching down in tight areas as to not slice our heads open on rocks.

 Veterans Memorial Museum in Branson. If you ever go to Branson (ya right, I know) you HAVE to visit this museum! It had lots of interesting artifacts on almost every war.

 Toy Museum in Branson

 Scenic View of Branson

 Trout Fish Hatchery in Branson

  Here fishy, fishy, fishy....

 This park is extremely overpriced beautiful and not worth seeing! It is owned by the same person that owns the Bass Pro Shops. We waited three hours for a tram to take us through the park because the tram just left as we arrived. I guess we could have walked, but it was a hot 6 miles and we would have had to pay to walk too.

Indian burial caves that contained three bodies! Spooky!

 The waterfalls were beautiful, but I was a little upset to find out that they were man-made.

Here comes the scary/adventurous part of the tram ride.

 As we pull into this open area of animals, we see a group of elk. OK...no problem...until...











...they started charging the tram!!! I thought the guy driving the truck was going to back us up and get us the heck out of there. But instead he got out of the truck and grabbed a big bag of food and spread it all out next to the tram for the lovely charging elk to eat.

Luckily they were happy after that! Whew!

This guy horned his way in and the elk were not happy about that.

Same thing happened with the buffalo, but they move a LOT slower.

Baby buffalo!

 Then we start to see this horrible rain clouds. I told Kyle that it's going to start to rain and he said "Yeah right, it's not going to rain!" About 5 minutes later....

 we were covered in water! It was actually hailing and pouring rain with thunder and lighting that was striking the ground. Luckily the guy driving the truck busted out some ponchos and we hid underneath them. Of course, me being the California girl that I am, I am yelling "Look! Look! It's hailing!" I'm sure the other tram riders got a kick out of me!

 Last battlefield on the trip- Pea Ridge Battlefield in Arkansas.

On our last night in Branson we went on the Branson Scenic Railway. This was an hour a half train ride from Branson to Galena, MO. It was nice and relaxing, but not very scenic since we had done so much driving and saw pretty much the same thing that we did in the car. 

Now that I have experienced Missouri I am completely in love and I did NOT want to come home. Unfortunately, there are many creepy crawlies in Missouri that will keep me from moving there. Plus they get this white stuff in the winter time that makes it very cold. I guess (for now) this California girl will stay in California.