We Spent 9 Days In The 1880’s

Driving from Kansas City, Missouri to Branson, Missouri brought back a lot of memories. Why? The reason for us to go to Branson is to enjoy Silver Dollar City. It is a theme park set in the 1880s. It has been going for 63 years. The workers and volunteers all wear period costumes. Kevin grew up coming here with his family most every year. After he and I got married, we took quite a few trips here when we lived in Missouri. I think this is my seventh time here. 

Kevin Just Couldn’t Resist! Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO 10/23

When we got to Branson we drove straight to our campsite. We unhooked HOWE (footnote 1), plugged in the power, did little else and off we went to Silver Dollar City! We were almost as excited as Christmas.  It is 10 miles from the campground. Silver Dollar City is 110 acres and has 2.2 million visitors per year. Kevin had joined a Silver Dollar City silver season pass group on Facebook and had learned there is free parking and a shuttle. It is a great tip: park in lot 5. There is always a shuttle that comes as soon as we get there. We never had to wait long. At the gate we purchased our tickets. We had researched and decided awhile ago that we would get the silver season pass. Prices for one day is $89.00 a person. Unlimited silver season pass is $154.00. Since we are here for 2 full weeks, and we want to go most days and/or evenings, it makes sense to get the pass. Got our passes and in we went. First thing, we were hungry so we went to Molly’s Mill Restaurant. Even at a little after 2:00pm, there was a long line out the door and a long wait. A lady behind us in line had to leave so she gave us a ticket for the free buffet and drink. That was wonderful. The restaurant has a buffet of southern fried chicken, meat loaf, fried fish, smoked pulled pork, all sorts of veggies, and carrot cake. It was worth the wait. Kevin asked our waitress if the Mine Restaurant is still open. She said no. When they opened the park up after being closed during Covid shutdown, they can’t get enough people to come work. So some of the restaurants, food booths, shops, etc are closed down. We noticed immediately that in the past it was mostly old people every time we were here, now it is young families. If we see older people they are usually with their younger families.

Pumpkins Everywhere! Craft & Harvest Festival, Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO 10/23

This month is Craft and Harvest Festival. They have all sorts of crafters doing demonstrations; pottery, blacksmith, glass blowing, cooperage, wood carvings of all kinds, leather crafts, soap making, wax, yarn, etc. Plus pumpkins everywhere. Plastic ones with cute designs with lights inside. At one building, there are 15 crafting vendors. The leather work guy told us there was a famous guy at the end, a movie star and a painter. Turns out to be Buck Taylor, who acted on Gunsmoke. He is a great painter and 85 years old. I had to send a picture to dad to see if he remembered him on the show and he does.

Branson Boardgame Cafe, Branson, MO 10/23

On our way to Silver Dollar City we saw Branson Boardgame Cafe.  The outside has big cutouts of phase ten cards, scrabble tiles, dominos, hat and person from monopoly, ship from battleship, a chess piece and other pieces I don’t know what game they are from. Play all day and eat there, too. What a fun idea! I think I remember seeing something like that in a Hallmark movie. HA

Lunch! Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO 10/23

At a food place there was a man cooking chicken, sausage, onions, peppers, green & yellow beans all on a huge probably 5×3 ft outdoor pan. It smelt so good and Kevin said he wanted that for lunch later. Rated: Once Every Trip Here.

Kevin On WildFire, Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO 10/23

Roller coasters: Kevin really likes roller coasters, me? Nope. I get so sick on them. I always encourage Kevin to ride rides but he says it isn’t fun by himself. I feel bad but it isn’t anything I can do. So here, I talked him in to riding Fire In The Hole. This is the last year for this roller coaster before they tear it down. They are building a new one in the firehouse district. He got off and said, “That was a little bigger when I was little!” 🤣 Come on, ride another one. Powder Keg – sit down, the coaster takes you up to the starting point. Then it blasts you so fast and is a shock. He liked that one. I sure enjoyed watching. He went on Wildfire and it is his favorite. Lots of loops and loops within loops. There was an observation deck where I could watch the entire ride. That was so cool and I enjoyed it. His grin as he got off was huge. Then he wanted for me to ride something and suggested the train. The train ride is fun, gets robbed, and lasts about 20 minutes.

History: We walked around and saw a set up of Chuckwagons and Dutch Ovens. Two guys and their wives. They visited and offered a cup of coffee made over the fire. Kevin liked it, mostly because it warmed him up. HA It was cold out. (I don’t like coffee.) We stayed for the demo and learned that the chuckwagons used to be grain wagons. Even though there were 1500 makers of these wagons, all of them were exactly the same size – 126×38 inches. Why, he asked. No one knew. Years of asking and finally he found a guy who said his grandpa had told him: with those measures, every 2 inches is a bushel. Isn’t that something?! That way the farmer and buyer knew exactly how much was there. What a fabulous calculation. Also learned the cattle drives lasted 20 years (longer than I thought) and the US is the only place in the entire world to have cattle drives. I thought it was funny to see one of the ladies in period costume and there she sits with a cell phone in her hand. She was doing something on it the whole time he talked. Just made us laugh of the crossover of time. 

Homestead Pickers, Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO 10/23

Music: In the past (how old do I sound! HA) this place had a lot of old-time music performers. Think southern gospel, hill-billy, blue grass. Now there is a variety of jazz, blues, modern, and old-time. One couple, Arbour Season, are husband and wife, full-time RVers in a converted bus with two little kids. Kevin said their music was excellent. (I am deaf so I only watch.) All genres but made it their own. Horse Creek is a group of 4 playing fiddle, banjo, upright bass and guitar. Spoken 4 Quartet is a southern gospel quartet. On a TV screen, while singing, it would show who first sang the song, or the words, as most of the songs are quite old. It added interest. The bass singer sang so low that I could feel it. Love that! We watched/listened to them a lot during our time there. Dawson Hollow, a group of 5 adult siblings. They said they had been playing there since they were little. We didn’t know their music or songs but I sure like feeling the bass and the drums!

Purchase: When you buy something here, they will deliver to the front gates and hold it for you. That is a great idea so you don’t have to carry things around all day. That could be a burden, as there are a lot of things one can purchase here! We bought a wood sign with a painted 5th wheel. The lady switched it out because the one we handed her was a 5th wheel with one door and the windows looked like HOWE. The one she painted for us has 2 doors on the 5th wheel. What? Anyway, we had travelmeanslife.com and our first names painted on it. It is really cute. We are going to use it to replace the names sign Kevin made that we have outside on the yard flag. 

Branson Landing, Branson, MO 10/23

One afternoon, Kevin and I went to Branson Landing. We parked next to Bass Pro and walked along the boardwalk. It was a beautiful, sunny day, with temps 74°. Fun to see fishing, pleasure, and tour boats on the river. Kevin had heard about a water feature here and we soon came upon it. The water would shoot up out of the nozzles going back and forth. Right on the hour, 3:00pm, music started, and a great water show happened, complete with fire, rainbows and a flag. It just lasted for one song but really neat to see. There are some loud pop sounds where the water shoots really high and then the blast of air. He said he hears that sound at the campground and now knows what it is. He at first thought it was gunshots. The area is like an outdoor mall with a variety of stores and restaurants. Very classy place, I thought. We went inside Paula Deen’s store. She has some darling kitchen things. Back to the water fountains at 4:00pm show. Kevin said they played a different song. Leaves are getting deader and colors are coming out a bit more colorful each day.

I had requested ASL interpreters from Silver Dollar City and worked with a guy named Logan. He was always quick to respond, gave me the full schedule when I asked, and got 2 interpreters for me. 

ASL Interpreters: 11:00am Church Kevin and I went in and got seats at the front row. Right before time the two ladies came in. They are so kind, friendly, and wonderful interpreters.

ASL Interpreters: 1:00pm Saloon Follies. I planned it this way: church and then the saloon. I thought that was hilarious. Someone said we should have gone to the saloon first and then to church to confess. HAHA

ASL Interpreters: Echo Hollow: Eastern Heights special concert. I remember when the whole park would close except for this place and there was always a great and funny show with music – all Ozark theme. This time, it was country and rock music and the interpreters couldn’t understand the words! During the second song, the guitar player jumped off the stage and handed one of the interpreters his phone. It was the song list, so then she could look up the lyrics. I had tears of gratefulness. The band was really good and put on a good show.

Kevin’s brothers and some of their family met up with us for a few days. They like Silver Dollar City, too! Kevin enjoyed going on the roller coasters, this time with some of our nephews and niece. We had a lovely time of fun, food, watching, and visiting.

What a fabulous time we had! We were there for two weeks. We went to Silver Dollar City 9 days, and they were closed 3 days. Wonderful time of remembering and making new memories as well. I have so many more pictures to show you…so I will post them mid-week. Be watching. 🙂 Thanks for reading.

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.