After the Country Market we loaded up the bus again (no "freshen up/ nap" break for us today) we headed to the Lake where the Branson Belle Showboat awaited us. They have show seatings at noon, 4 and 8. After seeing the energy expended by the performers and the wait staff, they really earn their pay.
The Belle seats just over 700 at capacity w/ 80 staff and crew. As I mentioned previously, the weather had really taken a dip and the wind was gusting about 35-40 mph. We had been warned by the bus driver, that when the wind is up that high, the boat is not taken out on the lake for the cruise. The white caps were getting high and it was COLD. I'm sure the temp did not matter whether the boat sailed or not, but it was very nippy when standing out on the deck. ANYWAY OUR CRUISE DIDN'T LEAVE THE DOCK. We had our dinner and time to go to the gift ship (naturally) and then a very good show, all on a showboat tied to the dock. To be honest, I doubt if the experience would have been any different if we had sailed. The drapes were pulled on our level and we couldn't see whether land was swooshing by or not. The motors were vibrating and the feeling was of being on a moving boat.
By now the shows are blurring together, but this one had a quartet who sang Christmas songs AND CHANGED CLOTHES IN A MATTER OF SECONDS EVERY TIME THEY LEFT THE STAGE . Amazing, they must have each had two or three dressers helping. This was the only show that had a medley of sacred Christmas music. Other shows may have had one, but this group did about 8 or 9 of the carols we hear in church. There was a ventriloquist whose "dummies" were real living dogs (three of them). He had trained them to open their mouths when he nudged their back in a certain way. Very funny and quite clever. He had Cds and DVDs to purchase---we didn't.
The "stars" of the show in my estimation were another pair of Russian dancers (he was previously in the Russian circus and she had been in the Bolshoi) WOW! They did circusy things--hanging from long drapey fabric and swinging gracefully toward each other and doing circus moves while suspended. Then they did adagio dancing and she was lifted and tossed and twisted every way possible and some ways not possible. They were definitely show stoppers. I am wondering why all the most exquisite dancers seem to be Russian---must be the training as children. Anyway a really good program for the last show of our trip.
We traveled back to the hotel, N and I took in the bus trash, and then we got to our room. We rearranged our stuff so as to be able to put our bags out at 7:30 for pick up and kept our overnight bags separate so we'll be sure to have what we need for Friday night in Fort Smith. We thought about using the hot tub, but in public places like this the temperature has to be kept low because people unfamiliar w/ hot tubs, have a tendency to turn them too high. The one we have at home gets turned pretty high, but we only stay in 30 min or less. We read some, I blogged and then we retired early. Tomorrow will not be a long day of travel, since we're not going too far, but I'll definitely get deeper into book #2.
Talk to you more tonite, If you read this, you might want to comment. Ask questions, tell me what you think. E
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