From Big City Lights To Branson Missouri
A few decades ago as a young independent city-girl living in the Chicago land area dreaming of exotic places to go and visit never once did a trip south to Missouri enter my mind. My adventurous sister and her husband made a big move from the west moving several states closer to Chicago, but keeping south found a home and nestled in the Ozarks.
Excited to take a trip to see her, I found the road-trip ambiance suddenly changed after leaving the St. Louis area heading southwest on I-44 as my car started the climb into the majestic Ozark Mountains. Another thing that stood out back then was the smiles and friendliness of the people living in the Ozark area. Following the map and directions, I found my way into the middle of no where driving past road signs identifying places like Kissee Mills, Hilda and Cedarcreek, each only having just a few houses along the road, and the never-ending rolling hills with beautiful fields filled with cattle, horses, a feed barn with groceries and a post office all wrapped up into one.
I actually stopped to take a picture of what was once called “Sanders Country Store”. Of course, Mr. Sanders and his family owned and operated the country/feed store and also rented out a small space for the US Postal Service. How quaint!
My next surprise was a trip to Branson, Missouri. My sister was living about 20 miles east of Forsyth and that is about 20 miles northeast of Branson. My parents had their own small airplane and informed us that as the crow flies, the trip from my sister’s house to Branson would only take about 10 minutes. They would fly in from Chicago and land at the College of the Ozarks airport. A drive to Branson for us could take about an hour considering all of the pop-up hills and sharp curves with no guard rails which I was unaccustomed.
On our local drive to Branson I heard stories of Branson’s Country Music Shows, a visit to Dick’s 5 and Dime shop, a store down memory lane not to be missed, the country little shops with the hillbilly humor and souvenirs, the restaurants that served biscuits and sausage gravy on their menu for breakfast, an unheard of meal from my young city-life experiences. Then I heard about a place called, “Silver Dollar City”, a city back in time! I laughed, really, isn’t Branson and surrounding area just that, a city back in time, about 20 years back.
Looking back, never hearing about Branson in the late 70’s, and then fate, once finding her, I fell in love with the Ozark Mountains, people and community. What a pleasant life changing surprise when I got here! I made a leap of faith and relocated to the beautiful and majestic Ozark Mountains.
Advancing time to the present and the evolution of Branson, like a transplanted local resident I can now tell stories of the Old and the New Branson. Branson has gone through several changes over the years much like a blossoming teenager, the explosion of growth and development is exciting to watch as Branson emerges into her next phase.
I can’t wait to tell you another discovery I found here and love….. Morel Mushroom hunting….. An exciting and challenging adventure/sport to share on my next Branson Blog.
