It all started when Timothy came home and told me about a deal at Bass Pro Shops. He said someone told him we would have to pay $200 for a 3-night, 4-day stay for any location. Usually, we kindly say no and move forward, but, I decided to look into it because I realize it has been a while since our family has been on a vacation. Living in Florida, we actually miss the winter season, so I decided to book this hotel to a location we have never been before, the Ozarks in Missouri. We figured we would want to stay a little longer than a few nights since the drive in itself is a full two days. My parents gave us a week with their timeshare to add to that, and boom, we are booked to go to Branson, Missouri to take a two week vacation in the mountains.
After a long journey with 4 kids, we made it in great timing and even further than we thought. We actually were going to stay in Harrison, Arkansas (just below Branson), but decided to stay in Springfield (north of Branson). We actually learned later that Harrison is where the Klu Klux Klan was formed, and even still (somehow) exists today. I am so glad that we kept going north. We made it to one of our favorite restaurants, Lambert’s, where they give you unlimited sides and (literally) throw unlimited rolls at you. The next day, we started our journey at the largest Bass Pro Shop in the country, with a trip to an award-winning aquarium that was in the same building!
Springfield is a nice, low-key city. We made the most of the rest of the day at the aquarium, and let me tell you, it was totally worth it. Bass Pro does an amazing job of high quality work. It wasn’t like any other aquarium that we have been to (and we have been to a lot!). It took a few hours to walk through the whole thing and we were blown away in every turn.
One of the most special things to me was, we went at the same time that Timothys dad passed away a few years ago (late January). He is the one who gave Timothy a passion for being the outdoors-man he is. He passed the passion of hunting and fishing onto Timothy, who is also passing these to our children. Timothy was loving every minute of being at bass-pro and especially the aquarium. I am usually the one to rush through these, but my husband has taught me to slow down, and appreciate things like this more. I thought about his dad loving where we were and wishing he was there to share this memory with us and kids children, but I thank God that he was a great father to Timothy and taught him everything he knows, so we can pass this on generationally with our kids, and so on, and so fourth!
To be continued… 🙂