Branson, Missouri

 One hundred thirty five miles north of Greenbrier finds us inBull Creek RV Park, site number 27, just north of Branson, Missouri.

Bull Creek forms one boundary of the park and provides a cool evening respite from the heat of the day.

Today’s driving weather was clear, but warm and humid. When we arrived at the park, the only thing we wanted to do was hook up the electricity and turn on the ac! Park we did, disconnected the trailer from the truck and stretched out the electric cord…..found it to be 6” short of making a proper connection, so….

It’s three pm, near the hottest part of the day and we need power! I should add that all the park utility connections are at the extreme back of the rv site and the trailer connections are near the center of the trailer. Raise the entry steps. Hook up to the truck. Back up 12” (to make sure). Disconnect the truck. Pull down the steps…You get the idea.

Twenty minutes later, we had everything settled and the ac on! Relief!

We expect to be in Branson a week. What is there to do in this little Missouri town?

Number one on our list was to see a performance of “Queen Esther” at the Sight and Sound Theater. Of course, we’re far from stage performance experts, but to say this production was wonderful is to minimize the hard work of hundreds of actors, construction technicians, electricians and lighting engineers. It required almost four years to bring the production to the stage with over 11,000 square feet of construction. The opulant Persian city of Susa is brought to life in 270 degrees of motorized sets. Sections move, rotate, lift and lower to show dozens of scenes throughout the show.

This is the biblical story of Esther, a poor jewish girl who becomes queen to King Xerxes, and is instrumental in saving her people from death. A feel-good story, surely, but done with such professionalism that our attention was riveted for over two and a half hours! Theater lighting, a music score performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Republic, and exquisite costumes combine to draw the audience deep into the story. I particularly found the 40 foot tall set structures and the 300 foot wrap around stage very interesting. It is quite a show, and very much recommended! There have been several productions over the years including stories of Noah, Jesus, and in 2025, David, portions of these are available on streaming platforms and Sight and Sound TV.

The backstory is that in 1960, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer named Glenn Eschelman, with an artistic flair and a strong moral compass put together a slide show of his photographs. His desire to serve God led him to form a media studio that grew into Sight and Sound Studios, bringing the Bible to life for millions of people worldwide.

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed during the performance, so these will have to do…

A day later:

The Clay Cooper Theatre is a venue for several different performers in Branson, from Elvis tribute shows to music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and more. We bought tickets for a production by Clay Cooper and some 80+ dancers, singers, and technicians. 

This show is themed around music, primarily country music, but with a wide variety of other genres added in, and patriotism. The performers, including Clay Cooper, are all extremely proficient in singing, playing musical instruments and dancing, and the show kept us laughing, clapping and wiping an occasional tear for almost three hours! Well done!

The show opened with a rendition of a mexican hat dance played on a guitar using a battery operated kitchen mixer!

Several tribute songs were done, Merle Haggard, Pat Benatar, The Four Seasons, Ronnie Milsap, and…

The entire evening was a wonderful, musical, patriotic and moral celebration. A must see in Branson.

The last time we were in Branson, we met two very nice ladies who worked in a restaurant called Tequila’s. It’s a ways out of town but we wanted to chat with them again, so we got dressed up and ventured out to West Branson for dinner.

 

The restaurant has a public entrance with all the “hostess will seat you” stuff, nice booths, and a good view of the Ozark Mountains. That’s upstairs.

Not for us.

Downstairs is cozy and comfortable, with Trish and Julie as bartenders, servers, table cleaners, and conversationalists.

And the fajitas weren’t bad either! 

So we’ve accomplished our Branson goals. Saw a couple of shows, ate some good food, did some shopping, and enjoyed the beautiful Ozark Mountains. It’s a beautiful area!