As usual, I am incredibly late in posting about our trip to
World Fest a few weeks ago. But, here goes anyway...
It was eerily similar to the
Cincinnati trip in that all the plans got turned on end at the last minute. But, just like Cincinnati it all worked out well and we had a terrific time. Originally, we were going to meet my brother and his family and camp side by side at
Table Rock State Park in order to spend time at Silver Dollar City's World Fest. The weather predictions were sort of wild and crazy - swinging between strong thunderstorms and freezing temperatures. That kind of got our attention. Then my brother realized he was scheduled to speak at a function in Oklahoma that same weekend. He considered trying to come to Branson, return home to the function, then come back to Branson but that just couldn't have worked well so they had to, understandably, bow out. Finally, the day we were scheduled to leave had high wind advisories throughout the state. High winds like 30 to 50 mph! ugh. We had just about killed ourselves getting the camper de-winterized and packed to go, but the thought of pulling through those winds was sobering, to say the least. At the last minute we decided to go ahead and go, but to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Branson. I think that turned out to be a good decision, as we saw a semi that had been flipped over en route. The winds were definitely crazy that day.
Once in Branson the weather turned out to be quite lovely. We even got too hot! It was 92 degrees on that Saturday! We spent several days enjoying World Fest at
Silver Dollar City but also managed to catch two iMax movies,
Tornado Alley and
Ozarks: Legacy and Legend. We had all become interested in Tornado Alley while watching
Storm Chasers a couple years ago. The producer/director of Tornado Alley was featured in a season while getting footage for this very iMax movie. It was pretty good. Jonathan and I wanted to see the Ozarks movie and I am so glad we went back. It was a wonderfully done history of southern MO told through the story of a family through the generations. It was produced by Silver Dollar City and we recognized some of the musicians and actors in the movie, including one of the Fiery Fiddlers from
last years World Fest. That was fun! We bought a copy of that one to bring home.
Here are some photos from our trip. I highly recommend the
festivals at Silver Dollar City. Our favorites are
World Fest,
Harvest Fest and
Christmas Fest. However, we are planning to attend
Bluegrass and BBQ for the first time here in a couple of weeks. I have a hunch that one will jump to the top of our favorites list. :)
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| Footprints folk group again - this time with their stilt walkers |
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| We love the steel drums from Trinidad and Tobago |
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| Rhythms of Rajasthan from India |
In addition to the festival acts we enjoy the
demonstrating craftsmen and year round performers at Silver Dollar City. Including...
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| the sawmill |
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| Wilderness Church |
and of course, the food! :)
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| Potatoes on a stick! :) |
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| so willing to share... :) |
All in all, a wonderful trip. We can't wait to go back in a few weeks!
Laura, thanks so much for posting this! I've been checking each day, looking forward to the report. It all sounds like so much fun, and we're really disappointed we didn't get to join you this year! The movies sound great, but the addition of the Irish tenor with the Celtic harpist really must have been fantastic! (We bought all of Dearbhail Finnegan's CD's last year, I think.) Anyway, if we couldn't go, at least we can enjoy it through your pictures and descriptions. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePEACE - Kerry
Laura, looks like a really fun trip! And I can't believe how tall Jackson is!!
ReplyDeleteKerry, we sure missed you all! Hope you can join us in the fall. :)
ReplyDeleteKristine, we enjoy visiting Silver Dollar City. It is definitely one of our favorite family destinations. Wish you could join us sometime! And yes, Jackson is growing like a weed - and quite happy about that. :)