This past weekend we had a little getaway to the Branson area for our “babymoon.”  We didn’t want to do anything too long to extravagant. Babies need lots of things (read: we’re spending a lot!) and I’m saving most of my vacation time for maternity leave…but we could swing a few days in Branson.

Tyler is off W, TH, and F right now, so I took off Thursday and Friday and he took off Saturday and Sunday so we would have 4 days together.

We left home early Thursday and headed to Branson. We got to town a little before 11, so we drove up to the Chateau to enjoy the view.

Then we headed down to the Showboat Branson Belle for a lunch cruise and show.

We love the Showboat. We went several times when we were dating and enjoy the eating, sightseeing, and the show.

It was a bright, sunny day.

The water was beautiful! We had a great lunch and then had time to walk around the boat before the show. We enjoyed the breeze from the shade.

After the show, we headed into Branson and checked into our hotel. We were staying one night at the Hilton Branson Landing. I had won a free night at the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference, and we were just now able to use it.

The room was HUGE and so comfortable. And the best part? It was so quiet- we never heard anyone there. 

The view overlooked the shops at the Branson Landing. So after we got checked in, we did some walking around and had dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack.Before we did too much shopping, Tyler wanted a snack – so we stopped in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop for a chocolate covered brownie. He was happy!

We spent the night, got up, had a yummy late breakfast at the Belgium Pancake and Waffle House, then we did some shopping at the outlet mall. We spent the afternoon at the Sight and Sound theater seeing their “Moses” show. It was incredible. What they can do with special effects is unreal.

After the show, we headed down to get checked into our room at Big Cedar. We bought a timeshare room from Craigslist for the weekend and it was GREAT.

We got all settled in and then we drove up to Top of the Rock for dinner at Arnie’s Barn.  It’s an old barn from Pennsylvania that was moved down to the Ozarks. The view and the sunset are spectacular!

We had a great meal of Mexican food (with AMAZING bacon guacamole!! yum!!) and then settled into our cabin for the night.

The next morning, we got up and played a round of putt putt at Big Cedar and then hit the pool/lazy river.

We got pretty sunburnt and came back for a nap. A glorious nap.  Naps are my love language.

That evening, we trekked back into Branson to meet our fishing guides for a bowfishing tour. I booked it through the Big Cedar marina, but the guide said fishing was better on Bull Shoals just outside of Branson….so that’s where we went.

You bowfish at night, so it was getting dark as we hit the water.

Tyler takes quickly to anything, and this was no exception. He jumped right in.  I opted to just sit and watch. Too many moving parts to go wrong for me. I didn’t want to break a bow or injure anyone! ha!

The sunset on the water was beautiful!

The moon started coming up. The guys said if we were regularly fishing, a full moon isn’t great because the fish don’t bite. But we weren’t waiting for them to bite. We were hunting them!

It didn’t take long to spot a sizeable gar in the water.

Tyler shot and hit it! 

We didn’t see a TON of fish, but a good amount. He got a big 25+ pound buffalo carp and two gars. He was proud of himself. 

It was a late night back to the cabin, but we slept in Sunday morning and then were back at Top of the Rock for brunch.

Before brunch, we took a good look at their sinkhole, which happened just over a year ago.  They are excavating hoping to find the cave.

We had a gorgeous view for brunch and enjoyed some wonderful food- prime rib, french toast, a great salad bar…but the dessert was the best! I got pretty much all the fruity stuff, and Tyler got everything chocolate. We were STUFFED.

After brunch, we drove up to the College of the Ozarks for a walk around their Father’s Day car show. It was neat to see all the old cars. Tyler was in heaven!

We had planned on returning to Top of the Rock for their golf cart cave tours, but it was pretty hot and we were tired, so we just headed back home.

A great weekend! We were greeted at home with a clean house thanks to my MIL- which was a wonderful surprise!

Now to do the laundry and get unpacked. 🙂