Branson + Mike = Tension

I honestly don't think I'll ever ask Mike to go with me to Branson ever again. He is absolutely no fun there. He gripes about the traffic, he gripes about the old people and how slow they are, he gripes about how much everything costs. He just gripes about everything!

We were going to go to the Titanic, but we got in a fight and he said we were going to go home. And we did. But first Shael wanted some taffy that we didn't get a chance to get at Steal Your Dollar City, I mean Silver Dollar City, so we went to downtown Branson to get her some taffy. Well, guess what? There was an arts and crafts show going on and some of the streets were blocked off. We ended up looking through every booth, just about. We spent a couple hours traipsing through the downtown area before we even made it to the taffy. We finally made it out of there, after looking in two leather stores (both the same place, different location) and me trying on a pair of bright pink leather chaps. Yeah, I felt like a dork, but the chaps were nice. The lady said she'd make us a deal. All three matching pieces, the chaps, the vest and the jacket, all for only $550. Well, how 'bout just the chaps today, then? I'll give 'em to ya for only $200. No, not today? Okay! They were top quality leather, but $200 for a pair of pink chaps was a little much, in our opinion. After we got out of there, Mike said he would go to his guy in Spavinaw and ask him if he could order that brand and get them cheaper. Get this, the brand name was Eunik. Pronounced like eunuch. How appropriate that a pair of pink chaps be called eunuchs.

We finally left downtown Branson and headed to Springfield. We ran across the new traffic circle on the way back to Highway 65. Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament! Since we don't either one have the homing device to Lane Bryant like Diva, we had to guess where the mall was. It was an easy guess since we found an exit to Battlefield Drive and the name of the Mall is Battlefield Mall. We found the mall easy enough, but had no idea where to go in for the shortest walk to Lane Bryant. Naturally, we walked in on the farthest end from Lane Bryant. When Shael asked what kind of store Lane Bryant was, Mike told her it was a store for big boned women. Nice. But, I got me two new bras, now the girls don't have to look at the same bra every day. I was down to one bra and I wasn't about to succumb to the uniboob.

From the mall, we did use Mike's homing beacon to make it to BassPro. There he spent an ungodly amount of money without the slightest bit of bitching on items he really didn't even need. He bought a tent that he can strap to the bike. That was what he went for. No problem there, but he bought two just because they were so cheap ($20 each). Then he bought a little collapsible cooler just because he thought it was neat and might come in handy some day ($13) and he could strap it on the bike easily, too. Then he goes out into the clearance tent and finds some two way radios that have a 7 mile radius on sale from $59 to $39. He buys them, even though he doesn't need them. Just because they were cheap.

We ate at the biggest Braum's I've ever seen and then we were off. Shael got dropped off at Mike's parents' for a few days worth of visiting. I told her to call when she got ready to come home. I figure by Friday she'll be calling. An entire week, just about. I'll let her live it up, she's got summer school starting soon. I went in and used their bathroom, stood in the living room for about 5 minutes and then excused myself for the picnic table in the back yard. I could feel the cat hair getting stuck in my throat and I didn't want a repeat of last week. No freakin' way. So, I stayed outside getting munched on by skeeters while Mike bs-ed with his Dad. Not for very long, though. His Dad can be hard to visit with and Mike doesn't like to stay too long when his Mom is gone. She was gone to church.

Then we came home. He did fill my car up with gas in Wyandotte before we got home. I thought that was a nice peace offering. The Lucky Turtle Casino was full on a Sunday night. Fuller than the churches in town. How sad is that?