Missouri DUers- I feel for you. Just got back from Branson

[w8liftinglady]

Went there with my partner,his sister and brother-in-law....all very dedicated Democrats.

EVERY supposedly benign music show we saw made jabs at President Obama.

my brother-in-law told me it was a VERY conservative area.

What the F5ck? I thought Texas was bad.

Branson and the Ozarks WERE absolutely beautiful.

Keep the faith.

[booley]

1. thanks

Kansas City and Saint Louis are comparatively progressive compared to central and southern Missouri.

Or to put it this way, if Missouri is part of the Bible belt, KC and StL are the loops that keep it from falling down around America's ass.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. It is so beautiful there...

the key is not to enter Branson at all, because of exactly what you experienced. It is a very narrowly marketed bit of nostalgia culture going on there.

[w8liftinglady]

7. believe it or not, we plan to go back there.

And avoid the shows. The scenery was absolutely beautiful.It looked like there was a lot to do just camping and such.

I will probably avoid The Tea Party patriots headquarters.We have one here.

[MadHound]

19. Go north of Branson,

There is a wonderful little lake sixty miles north of Springfield, Lake Pomme de Terre. One of the ten cleanest lakes in the country, and just lovely. Stay away from Lake of the Ozarks, hit Hermann, come by Columbia for a fun time(and good Thai food, just got back from dinner, yum) and Rock Bridge State Park. Mark Twain forest is beautiful, as is the Current River(hit it in the fall after the tourists are gone.

I've spent my life exploring this state, and the natural wonders throughout are amazing.

[w8liftinglady]

33. That sound beautiful!

I really did fall in love with Missouri.Thanks for showing me some different places to check out!

[cbayer]

3. Branson is hardly the pinnacle of liberalism in Missouri!

It caters to a pretty homogenous population, if you know what I mean.

BTW, there are some great horse camps in the area where you can take daily rides, help take care of the horses and share meals with lots of interesting people.

It is indeed a beautiful part of the country.

:hi:

[smoochpooch]

4. Even Yakov? Nooooo!

I know what you mean, I live in Springfield and had to educate my neighbor about this debt ceiling bullshit last week. He thought the debt was the reason there are no jobs, probably because no Dems are telling him otherwise.

[Sky Masterson]

5. I am a Missouri duer and Branson is like backwoods deliverance

I'd rather stick my d_ck in a blender than go there.

[KamaAina]

27. You have some kind of grudge against your duck?

:evilgrin:

[Sky Masterson]

36. My duck is totally qwackers

:P

[DURHAM D]

6. Yep - I spent a year in Branson one weekend.

awful place

[rurallib]

8. me too - daughter lived in Springfield

Hot day in september. We pull into a parking lot. All our windows are down.
We park behind a pick-up with a gun rack. I make a wise-ass comment while getting out and son-in-law pushes me back into the car.
He then proceeds to tell me that they WILL shoot first and ask questions later and please keep my mouth shut.
Thank the stars they now live in Minneapolis.

[kctim]

31. Yeah, we ALWAYS shoot first and ask questions later here

:crazy:


Oh no! A gun rack!
:scared:

[Lint Head]

9. Branson is infested with right wing country music artists, sycophants

and country music has-beens. Vegas use to be called the bone yard of the music business. Branson now has that distinction.
The mountains and landscapes are very beautiful. Too bad it's littered with right wing bigots.

[REP]

10. Branson is NOT Missouri - it's a tacky theme park to suck money out of wallets

Branson used to be a nice little town with an amusement park nearby, long time ago. Now it's a horrible shrine to vulgarity that attracts a few nice people (you) and a lot of backwash.

[Release The Hounds]

13. "It's like Las Vagas, it it were run by Ned Flanders"

[Art_from_Ark]

14. "Nice little town with an amusement park nearby"

If I'm not mistaken, that amusement park was Silver Dollar City.

[REP]

18. Yup.

I thought it was fun, but I was just a snot-nosed brat at the time :-)

[Art_from_Ark]

20. I never was able to go to Silver Dollar City

although I did make it to Dogpatch USA twice in one week, back in September 1972.

[REP]

21. SDC had live blacksmithing and stuff like, plus rides

I was the kind of geeky kid who fell for edumacatiomal crap like that and loved it. My great aunt and uncle lived in Branson, and we'd go to SDC when we visited.

I was also the kind of dweeb kid who went apeshit for Shaw Gardens in St Louis. When I went back to St Louis as an adult, I insisted we go there - and still went apeshit for it - and that was before I started growing orchids, too. MoBot is the only thing that makes St Louis worthwhile, says the native KCian.

[Art_from_Ark]

22. I remember their commercials on TV

Especially a scene with a blacksmith making horseshoes, and there was also some roller coaster, and a "clock" that started with 1880 and ended with 1889. Some of my friends took family trips up there, but my family did not have the means to get there. So I had to be content to rely on the Boy's Club and my school to take me to my state's answer to Silver Dollar City, which at that time was Dogpatch USA in the Arkansas Ozarks.

[smoochpooch]

23. +1 on the Botanical Garden, but the Cards are what make STL go.

The town would seriously dry up and blow away if it weren't for baseball (speaking as someone who lived there for 6 years.)

KC has the cooler ballpark though.

[REP]

25. That and Busch!

Royals Stadium is one of the nicest - and cleanest - ballparks. Used to love to go to games there. One of the very few things I miss about KC!

[alfredo]

11. Redneck Vegas

[pinboy3niner]

12. I got back from there 11 days ago

My group was scheduled to see a country music artist, but he decided to canceled his summer shows, so we were at the mercy of the booking agent's choice of a substitute show.

The substitute show we got to see in the "country music show capital of the world"? A magic show (!). It was pretty good, but I was surprised when the magician's final illusion involved him sitting in a chair and doing a rope trick to illustrate a story about his grandmother with a Christian message.

"Forget it, Jake," I told myself. "It's Branson." :)

Everyone in Branson took very good care of us (it was a reunion of my Army Infanty company from Vietnam), and our hotel manager even attended our banquet and gave a speech. I had a wonderful time, and I'd go back, too.

My only regret is that it was not one of the several times a year that Paul Revere and the Raiders perform there. Now THAT would have made my trip even better! :)


:hi:

[SpiralHawk]

35. "Don't take it so hard." - Paul Revere & The Raiders

[Dawson Leery]

15. Branson: The graveyard of D-Grade Country Acts.

I have never been to Branson and never plan on going there.

[wizstars]

16. I kinda think Arkansas bled into us.........

...or maybe it was Kansas...or Oklahoma...or maybe something blew in from Texas--that happens sometimes....

[MadHound]

17. The Southern tier of Missouri is conservative hell,

This is the area that gave us Ashcroft and Blunt. Springfield is the World Headquarters of Assembly of God church, along with being home to Falwell Sr.'s alma mater, Bible Baptist College.

It is better the farther north you go, along the I-70 corridor, and throughout the state you find pockets of really cool people, even if some of them are hillbilly.

And the scenery, the natural world is stunning in this state, top to bottom. We have four definitive seasons, and spectacles of nature both stunning and sublime. I was coming home this evening and saw a mushroom shaped cloud display at sunset that was just glorious.

Our state politics are moderate Democratic at the best of times, with periodic Republican ascendencies to raid the state(ala Matt Blunt) leaving the Dems to clean up the mess.

Funny though, here in Missouri we pity the liberals in Texas, Tennessee, Florida, etc. Yeah, we've got a state half full of conservative yahoos, but those and other states seem to be completely full of conservative yahoos(not to mention bad drivers in Texas:evilgrin:)

I suppose it is all a matter of perspective.

[pstokely]

29. Dems have no presence outside of KC, STL, and Columbia

A lot of anti-choice DINOs in that state

[MadHound]

32. Oh you'd be surprised

Lake of the Ozarks area has a large liberal contingent, Hermann Missouri is old school Democratic, along with a number of liberal/Democratic enclaves throughout the state.

Hell, I find a number of suburbs in KC and St. Louis be seriously scary when it comes to being conservative, places like Ballwin or Blue Springs, OMG!

[Broken_Hero]

24. Yep, its rough

I live in SW MO(Mac County), this county is so damn red. If memory serves, Kerry lost this county with a 1300 or so votes for him, about 8k against.

My wife, and her cousins tell me that when they were younger there use to be a very inappropriate sign for African Americans posted on the "Welcome to McDonald County" sign. A strong amount of militia, and skin heads. In short, if you are non-white many in this county doesn't like you, at all. Heaven help you if you are hispanic.

[pstokely]

26. Las Vegas if it were ran by Ned Flanders

nt

[Shagbark Hickory]

28. Next time someone says most of the country isn't conservative, think of Branson. nm

[postatomic]

30. Please don't judge the entire state based on Branson

And yes, it is a beautiful area.

I love Missouri and always meet wonderful people when I go there on photo jaunts. Wonderful liberal people. You were in a isolated pocket of the state.

[name not needed]

34. You should have gone to Bronson, Missouri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOJ1vmjffyc