Driving through the Country

We woke up early and started our long trip of all day driving from Poplar Bluff, MO to Cosby, TN.

We had about 3 hours left of driving in Missouri before we got to Illinois. The land was flat with lots of corn fields and lots of very small towns. We drove the main highways which are not my favorite. I mean who doesn't LOVE a good back country road?! But we had anxious kids in the car who wanted to get to grandma's so we didn't detour much at all.

We went through a very brief part of Illinois for about an hour or so. We did make one pit stop to gas up get a drink and a snack so I have to consider it us being there, lol. 

The lower part of Illinois that we went through kinda reminded me of Louisiana. Kinda swampy, lots of flat land with bodies of water and bridges.

Zzzzzzz for Jolee.

I mean who the heck sleeps like this!!!

Only my child!

Our next state was Kentucky. We went straight through Kentucky without stopping. Lots of flat land that turned into rolling hills. We drove the lower part of Kentucky for about two or three hours.

Jewell will always remember going through Kentucky, haha!

We finally made it to Tennessee!!!

We had to make a pit stop at the road side stop to stretch our legs.

We went through Nashville and then finally made it to Grandma DoDo's house.

Dorothy and Richard were so excited to meet baby Jewell.

And we were finally glad we made it to her house. 

We unpacked, took showers and relaxed. 

We were there for the next two weeks and arrived with no plans except relaxing and taking it all in!

Silver Dollar City

The next morning we were up early and ready for Silver Dollar City 

I've kinda always wanted to go to Branson to see what they have to offer and since we were going up to Wichita Falls first before heading to Tennessee I thought here's my chance to go. Why not take a small detour and go to Missouri, lol.

When I was researching Branson I came across Silver Dollar City and thought it would be cool to change things up this year instead of going to Dollywood.

The theme park is one of the oldest in the country. It kinda mimics Dollywood.

 What I liked about this park was their children's rides where old timey looking, like something you would ride in the 1800's. It was cool.

When we first got there we ate and then got our map out and headed straight for the kids area.

Swings were first of course.

Justin and I took turns riding with the girls. 

The tea cups were fun.

I love how they look so old timey 

Jewell did awesome at just 3 weeks old. The temp was about 85 but it was humid and hot in the mountains. I bought a small fan and hooked it up in her stroller which helped a lot.

Justin's not much of rider, they make him nervous but he was a great sport and rode a few with the girls.

Around mid afternoon it was over cast and it cooled off a little bit.

Love the elephants

We took a break and watched a kids magic show. The girls LOVED it! Plus it gave us time to cool off and be indoors for awhile.

Yes, Dippin Dots Please

The old confederate section was my favorite! I loved the little balloon ride

Right after this ride they shut all the rides down because of thunder, lighting and rain.

It started raining around 5:00 which was a big bummer. They started shutting the rides down and the park down. So we took the girls to the gift shop and let the girls pick out a souvenir and then got ice cream.

As we were walking to the front Jolee and I decided to ride the indoor roller coaster together. It was the only ride open and there was NO one line so we rode it 4 times in a row!

Around 6:00pm they started opening the rides back up and there was no one left in the park. So we booked it back to the kids section.

The girls had one hour left to ride as many rides as they wanted to with no lines!

It felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. It was Awesome! The girls even got to ride some of the rides all by themselves without any other riders. We let them run wild. They were having a blast!

We actually felt like we had the park to ourselves almost the entire day. We went on a Monday and there was hardly anyone there. We never had to wait in any line longer then a couple minutes. It was the best time of the week to go. 

I'm glad we got to experience Silver Dollar City! 

We ate dinner and then decided to hit the highway for a couple hours. We were going to stay in Branson one more night but decided not too. My goal was to come to Silver Dollar City and that's what we did. 

The smoky Ozark Mountains in the distance

We drove until almost midnight and then called it quits

We ended up staying in Poplar Bluff, Missouri that night. 

Branson, MO

The next morning we woke up bright and early and ready to hit the road. I was excited to go through parts of this country that I have never been through. And so was Jewell, can't yall tell? HaHa!

We past by the Wichita Mountains through Lawton, then through Oklahoma City and then made a stop for lunch in Tulsa. Jewell had a few outburst so I had to get in the back seat with her and entertain her and feed her. 

If you have never been through Oklahoma it's very flat, lots of pairie land and fence posts. But the further we got out of Tulsa towards Arkansas there was lots of trees and rolling hills.

The girls slept, played on Justin's ipad, played on the Nintendo, read books and played road trip games. They never once complained. They have always been great car riders.

By the afternoon we made it to the North West part of Arkansas. We went through the Ozark Mountains. It was nice and pretty. Jewell seemed to enjoy it, haha!

We took a little break at the Little Debbie store

I was stoked! We got two boxes of Little Debbie's for the road. I mean who doesn't love a Debbie cake!

We finally made it into Missouri.

 It's very pretty, lots of greenery, mountains, rolling hills and even flat land in some parts.

By the evening we made it to the resort in Branson.

The resort we stayed at came with an awesome indoor/outdoor swimming pool, slide and splash pad.

The girls loved it! Jolee loved the slide

Justin got to swim with them and enjoy the pool.

While I watched Jewell take a nap and also people watch. There was some strange birds there to say the least, haha.

The pool went from indoors to outdoors.

They had a blast!

After the pool we went out for a late night burger and shake at Cakes and Cream Diner

Yum!

Branson is like Vegas but for kids. The strip in town is all lit up with rides, games and fun at night time. It is almost identical to Pigeon Forge, TN. After dinner we turned in for the night so we could get up early for Silver Dollar City the next day.