I love going mini vacations and it’s even better when it is a girls weekend. Last week I spent the weekend with my mom, her childhood friend, her daughter, and friend, in Branson, Missouri. I, of course, wanted to blog all about it, because I am sure so many of you want to know everything we did, just kidding. But with the main focus of this new blog being food I don’t want to bore everyone with ramblings of my adventures. Instead, I will share my trip through what I ate, this way it can hit the highlights of each day ( you know my days revolve around the food) and not have too many details that no one wants to know ;).
I started out my weekend by heading home to Springdale. I stopped and ate lunch with my dad, I did forget to take pictures. It was a great meal at one of his favorite places Foghorns. I got three large grilled tenders tossed in Sweet BBQ Sauce with homemade chips. He opted for a pulled pork sandwich and cheesy tater tots. It was so nice to catch up and hang out just the two of us.
Once we made it to Branson we all met up at Joe’s Crab Shack for a late dinner after everyone got into town. They have a few fun drinks on the menu including this Bloody Marry with a crab leg in it. I really wanted some crab but not a whole bucket full so I asked the waitress if I could add it as a side to an appetizer, to my surprise she said yes. So I ended up with calamari and one clump of crab legs. Some of my calamari were rings while others were full tiny squids, I couldn’t eat those.
Mom got salmon and potatoes. It smelled great. The meat had a nice earthy sauce that went nicely with it.
Saturday morning we enjoyed a breakfast at the condo of bagels, yogurt, coffee and tea. It is a nice relaxed morning. We went and saw the Titanic Museum which is pretty neat. No cameras allowed at all but they did have some neat displays of all the food that was on board and the china that was used for first and second class. We had a nice fancy lunch at McDonald’s so that we would be hungry by dinner.
The McDonald’s there though was a little more fancy then you may be used to, though. You can self-order and check out at their build your own meal kiosk. Since being a brand ambassador for them last year, I have wanted to see how these work. It was a lot of fun and they had options that we had not had in Central Arkansas. Then they brought me my food and instead of being in a box it was in a nice little metal basket and a little fry basket for the fries. Oh and we happen to get a free frappe that they had extra. Our lucky day!
For dinner, we went to the Dixie Stampede. If you have no idea what that is then you really should look it up. The simple explanation is that you get to eat a country dinner while watching a show. The performers are all riding horses doing tricks and there is a friendly competition after eating between the north and the south. I don’t know how it is to be on the North side because I have always sat on the South and this time we even won the games.
We got a cream of vegetable soup and a fresh biscuit first. It was so delicious. Then out came a whole french hen, a slice of pork tenderloin, half an ear of corn, and a half of a potato roasted. And for dessert and apple turnover. There was nothing that wasn’t good about that meal and experience. The server for our row did a wonderful job of being entertaining and on top of everything we needed.
We finished off Saturday with drinks at the condo and a few of our group went to the local Piano Bar. I took a nice bath in the huge jacuzzi tub and relaxed.
Sunday before saying goodbye we had another tasty breakfast at the condo. After meeting with some condo people Mom and I decided to head to the Great American Steak and Chicken House before we left town. It was a delicious and huge country meal. They served us large squares of corn bread. I got a homemade burger on a pretzel bun, with three cheese, bacon, and bbq sauce. It was one of the best burgers out I have had in a long time. Mom got the chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and okra. It looked great and smelled even better.
It was a great weekend and the food as always when I go out was pretty darn tasty.
Where do you eat on vacation, known places, or those hidden gems?
