Christmas Vacation

For the past 2 years, our family has escaped at some point during the month of December to Branson MO and Silver Dollar City MO (yes, the same place Jed, Granny, Ellie May and Jethro  of the Beverly Hill Billies was from).  We have gone as guest of our minister, who has season tickets and a timeshare in the area.  Last year we went before Christmas, and this year after Christmas.

When we went last year, we went to the top of Inspiration Tower (by Shepherd of the Hills).  The view is awesome on a clear day, and you can see clear into Arkansas.  There is also a Vigilante Ziprider from the top of the tower that runs down the hill.  JD has been talking about doing the zip line all year, along with Elizabeth, and then finally Emily got the bug.  So, yesterday, they zipped, while Rebecca and I watched.  The zipline is 1/2 mile long.

You can barely make out the platform under the tower where they start their zipline trip down the hill.

The ride is gravity fed, and the less you weigh, the slower you go.  From the top, I could see Elizabeth (in the back) kicking the entire way down.  I asked her why she was kicking, and she said because she was trying to catch up to Emily and JD.

At this point, they were almost half way down the hill.

The entire trip down the hill takes around 45 seconds.  They loved it.  I prefer the ground.

Afterwards, we went back into town and ate, then went to the Veterans Memorial Museum located on the strip in Branson .  It is a small building, but don't let the size fool you.  It has ten rooms full of items on display and represents all branches of the military, as well as the Red Cross.

If you take this trip as a homeschool field trip, I would give it at least 4 hours.  Pictures are allowed, so you can take plenty.  I would also take a notebook and pen, as there are several things you will want to write down and study.  One display we want to do more research on was a son's telling of his mothers experience as a Red Cross volunteer.  He had her uniforms, a collection of photos and letters.  He has written a book of her experiences which we plan to get and read.  The book, Mom at War,  is by Todd Parnell.  I am ordering it from Amazon with my swagbucks, as it is one I will want to keep in our home library.

Many uniforms are on display, and most also tell the history of the person who wore the uniform as well.

One of the many war posters on display.

More uniforms

Many guns--the wooden on in the front was a training gun.

Interesting German helmet.  A plumber found this in Dallas TX in 1990 while working under a house.  It is unknown how it got there, probably brought home as a souvenir and forgotten about.

Uniform and objects from one of the concentration camps in Germany.

These are items from a German concentration camp.

Since I am big into family genealogy, I had to check the names on the walls.  I found quite a few from our tree.