When I was very young, a promotional packet arrived in the mail from the Branson tourist office. It contained tons of brochures, travel magazines, and informational material. My parents had no interest in visiting Branson, Missouri, so they tossed the packet at me. And it's been my dream vacation place ever since. (Actually, it's been the place I've dreamed of moving to, but that's another topic.)
When I was a teen, my family moved from the East Coast to the Midwest, bringing me closer to my dream spot. And yet, somehow, I've still never managed to make it there until now.
I woke up before the sun yesterday morning, took care of my pets, and hit the road before my roommate was even awake. I'm not a nervous driver, but I do get bored easily and can't sit still to save my life. So spending an unreasonable number of hours cramped into the driver seat of my car wasn't the most pleasant experience in the world. I was dead exhausted before I made it halfway. Thankfully, my brain sparked back to life as soon as it had new sensory input to process -- which Branson offered in abundance.
Since it was my first time seeing the town of my childhood dreams, I wanted to start by driving from one end of main street to the other and take in all the sites. I started by going by Branson Landing and the train depot, then took a turn onto main and headed into the heart of downtown. This ended up being a miscalculation on my part. Tip for any future Branson tourists: do not try driving down main street/Country Blvd on a Saturday afternoon! It was bumper-to-bumper traffic, large crowds of pedestrians crossing in front of cars, and the local trolleys (more on them later) constantly getting in the way. In total, it took me about thirty minutes to drive the five miles from Branson Landing to the Toy Museum.
My first stop was at the opposite end of Country Blvd, at the "World's Largest Toy Museum". I was not exactly expecting this to be a major highlight of the trip, but man was I wrong. What I'd intended to be a quick stop soon turned into almost two hours. The main toy museum was amazing already. Room after room absolutely filled to capacity with toys from every manufacturer, franchise, and decade you can imagine. I saw original A-Team figures, Superman memorabilia from the 30's to today, and a 101 Dalmatians collection that I would could kill to own. The best part for me was the flood of nostalgia that hit me when I found the display case full of Furbys... and the lone little Wuv-Luv nestled in with them. But I'd say a close second was the MLP display.
After I was done in the first building, I stopped in the gift shop to pick up some postcards and other random souvenirs. Then it was time to walk across to the big building that houses the BB-Gun and Western museums.
I can't even begin to describe the pure joy I felt upon walking inside and discovering that the western portion of the museum was dedicated more specifically to B-Westerns in particular. I go into this more in the B-Western shrine on this site, but I loved those movies as a kid, and still have a lot of fondness for them as an adult. This museum had everything I could have wanted. Original movie posters, buttons, old metal lunch boxes, comic books, breyer horses painted as the famous Wonder Horses, autographed photos, etc. It was amazing. There were dedicated rooms for Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, the Lone Ranger, and Red Ryder. Additionally, there were a ton of smaller displays for many of the other B-Western and TV Western heroes. There was even a section with books, Breyer models, and merchandise for Black Beauty. How cool!
The next portion of the building consisted of a massive winding room dedicated to sci-fi franchises. The majority of it was Star Trek and Star Wars, but I was also delighted to find displays for Stargate, Doctor Who, and even He-Man. The next room was a jarring change of pace as we left galactic exploration behind to enter several rooms of Barbies. The displays documented Barbie's journey from the original releases through to today's dolls. I'm not much of a doll fan, but there were some really gorgeous dolls included in these displays. Lastly, the museum ends with a quick walk through a "Life in the 50's" exhibit which was pretty cool. I was informed while buying a t-shirt in the gift shop that there's also a big Lionel train display in the downstairs of the building, but I was running late already so that will have to wait for a future visit.
Thank you, World's Largest Toy Museum, for providing me with an afternoon of fun and nostalgia.
After the museum, I let google maps choose a more strategic route to get back to the east end of town. This time avoiding the traffic, I managed to make the return journey in less than fifteen minutes. I parked in the South Landing parking lot and hiked through the 100 degree heat to the Bass Pro Shops store. From there, I hopped aboard a trolley to go explore Branson a little more up-close.
The local trolley -- which is called "Sparky" apparently -- is a free service that is provided by the city of Branson. It has a regular route that consists of twelve stops around the downtown area. The trolley takes continuous loops through these stops, and passengers are free to board and get off as they please.
I rode the trolley as far as the downtown shopping area on main street before disembarking. As much as I hate shopping normally, I genuinely wish I would have had the time and energy to explore of this area. I did get to see quite a few cool little shops, though, and picked up some great souvenirs. I've never seen so many niche and novelty stores in one place before. Definitely going back to do my Christmas shopping later this year!
Loaded down with bags and exhausted beyond belief, I knew it was time to wrap up my visit. I hopped on the next trolley to roll through. Since I had to ride through all the remaining stops before reaching my car anyway, I used the opportunity to get to know the layout of the town a little better. Branson is not fancy by any means. It's old and small and more than a little bit worn out. But there's a special charm to it that warmed my heart. I think I'm in love with a town. It was my childhood to live in Branson someday, but riding through the cramped little streets on the adorable little trolley... idk, I think I really could be happy living there. Someday.
The trolley let me off back at Bass Pro Shops and I thanked my incredibly sweet driver before stepping back out into the August heat. The walk back to my car was a lot longer than I remembered it; in hindsight, I should have grabbed one of the parking lot shuttles instead of making the journey on foot. Oh well.
Pretty soon, I was loaded back into my car with all of my shopping bags and souvenirs. A quick stop at a gas station and McDonald's -- then a risky u-turn after I went the wrong direction heading out of town -- and then I was on my way back home.
So, did it live up to almost three decades of wishing and dreaming? I don't know. As a kid, I definitely built up an unrealistic fantasy of a fancy resort city. But, as I grew up, I began doing actual research on the town, and I think I managed to build a very accurate idea of it in my head. In that sense, I think it was pretty much exactly as I had pictured it. And yet, there was something incredibly surreal about actually standing in each of the locations and I'd only dreamed about before. I walked down main street, stood on Branson Landing, rode the trolley, touched the display cases in the toy museum. My fantasy became solid and real for me. That's a feeling I simply can't describe.
Yeah, I'd say it was worth the gruelling drive and the early wake up. My first trip to Branson was a resounding success. Honestly, I can't wait to go back again.
(And maybe, someday, it could be a pretty cool place to live too...)
Background Image by Valentin Salja