BRANSON "PHOTO SAFARI" EXPEDITION!

If the only image that comes to your mind, when you hear the word "safari" is an exotic wild creature like the one shown in this photo (which can be seen at "Wild Branson"), then hopefully these photos will get you to think "outside the box" when you hear the word "safari".

My Webster's dictionary had a surprisingly simple definition of "safari":  The tome simply said it was "a  hunting trip".   Although one has to pay an admission fee to get a photo of the giant reptile that introduces this article, there is no admission fee to take a photo of the giant reptile painted on the outside of their building, providing a fantastic backdrop for a group seated at the adjacent palm tree-shaded picnic tables. 

The safari I am talking about in this blog eschews hunting live animals.  Rather, it involves motoring all around Branson to do a "PHOTO Safari"!  This safari will not require attraction admission fees, and could be done with your group, in the form of a scavenger hunt, or a timed event between two teams.  You can add or subtract photo opportunities to these suggestions, but for the purposes of this blog, all the photo opportunities had to be done at locations that do not require an admission fee, and are open to the public. As an example, the gigantic octopus at the entrance to the Branson aquarium can be photographed as much and as often as you want---no admission fee required!

I was able to take many of these photos when I was attending a Branson Tourism Promotional Trip, sponsored by Myer Hotels (www.Myerhospitality.com).  The Myer family operates several wonderful hotels, which I was able to visit.  However, the actual Myer Hotel where our group stayed, was the Comfort Inn, adjacent to the Thousand Hills golf course/condominiums.  I screen shot this photo of the property that was on their website:

Since the property has the phrase "Thousand Hills" in its name, I am using the Bible verse that references a "thousand hills", as the memory verse for this blog post. 
The Bible verse explains how all the cattle on a thousand hills belong to the LORD.  And, after you have been in Branson for a while, you will come to understand that it does indeed, have a THOUSAND hills!  Likewise,  the Myer family wants their hotel to honor the LORD, and I was thankful that they lived out this goal by having a Gideon Bible in the drawer of the bedside table in my room.  (The exact Scripture reference is Psalm 50:9-10 that says, "I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.")

I am not putting the address of the photo "props" used in this blog on purpose, so that folks will get out and explore all the thousand hills for themselves!  Also, if one really does want to conduct a "competitive" team event for a photo safari, having all these locations listed together in a single link to my blog would take away from the fun of discovering them on your own!

Once you have arrived at the easy to find Branson Ferris Wheel, you only have to look across Highway 76 to find a plethora of photo props!   There is a pedestrian crosswalk, that leads across the street to the (cracked facade) of the Ripley's Believe it or not Museum.

There are so many delicious restaurant choices in Branson, that one may get a glimpse of what they will look like if they do not use a bit of self discipline, by putting their head in the photo prop of a VERY rotund, overall-wearing tourist, that is in front of the Ripley's museum.

Everyone knows that the superhero that is big and green and bulging with muscles, LOVES to have his picture taken with admirers, so snap away!

If your photo safari group is made up of retired folks, there is no better photo illustration of the word "re-tire", than this gigantic woolly mammoth, that is made from tired-out tires, that have been "re-tired", to cover the form of an extinct mammal!

Any group members of your safari who went around their neighborhood as kids collecting Roosevelt dimes, to fill up their "March of Dimes" card for polio research, can appreciate a photo op that happens to be an automobile, COMPLETELY COVERED IN DIMES!!  (One reason dimes were chosen as their fund-raising symbol, is because President Franklin D. Roosevelt was afflicted with polio, which caused paralysis of his legs)

The only clue I will give about locating this postcard-themed wall mural, is that it is in the downtown area!  (Notice that in four of the artsy letters that spell "Branson", you can see a hill.  That means, you only have 996 more, and you will have seen ALL of Branson's 1000 hills!)

Moving father downtown, above Lake Taneycomo, you can see the original "Rainbow Bridge", that crosses Lake Taneycomo.  A newer modern bridge sits beside it:

While you are downtown at Lake Taneycomo, you may want to see who in your group is able to catch the best photo of the fountain at Branson Landing spurting out water ( and sometimes flames!)

Anyone in the group who is looking for their "Knight in Shining Armour" can end their search at one of Branson's many lodging options:

And, did you know Branson has  WINDMILL??!!

In recognition of the "Bible Belt" nickname for this area, did you know that at the Shrine of the Holy Spirit, there is a stone replica of the Ten Commandments, that Moses brought down from one of those "original" thousand hills, aka, "Mt. Sinai"!!

 

On a more secular note, there are numerous interesting automotive props that can be seen outside the car museum, located at the Dick Clark Theater. 

As a word of caution, if you are doing this Photo Safari as a Scavenger Hunt or competition, participants will need more than just a photo of the item listed on the Scavenger Hunt items to locate.  They will need photo selfies of the person or team WITH the item in question.  When this event was done a while back, the organizer did not specify that the photo had to include the person doing the activity.  Hence, some Internet savvy participants just googled the item, then took a screen shot of the item, then turned in their results, without ever venturing out of the "starting gate"!  Hence, the need to specify "current selfie photos" of items listed!

Movie fans will recognize a vehicle that looks like the one used in The Blues Brothers movie.

This yellow school bus gives new meaning to the phrase "Short bus ride"!

 

Wouldn't the photo below be a great photo prop for a group picture of dentists??!!

If you are conducting a Photo Safari around Halloween, what better location for a photo than the Ghost Busters vehicle??!!

If you are looking for a different kind of "horse power", than what you find under the hood of an automobile, check out the bronze horses, in front of one of Branson's many theaters:

If your trip is all girls---sometimes called a "Chick Trip", what better place for a group photo, than in front of this giant chicken found along Highway 76!

If your Branson visit includes "Man's Best Friend", you may want to check out this very photogenic weiner dog tunnel in one of Branson's "Bark Parks":

Even before the famous movie by the same name, The Titanic was remembered as a sad and tragic maritime disaster.  As it happened, one of the ladies of the group that did a photo safari with me last March, had a family connection to one of the passengers who perished when the Titanic sank.  We remembered her descendant with a brief memorial service at the bow of the Titanic replica that sits at the front entry of the Titanic Museum. 

 

Like many other cities, Branson has an arch that provides the perfect location for a group photo  The arch denotes Branson as the "Center Pointe of Entertainment".

No photo safari would be complete, without a photo of the GIGANTIC fingers, holding a GIGANTIC camera!

When you are traveling around Branson, on The Red Route, The Blue Route, The Green Route, or The Black Route, you will come to MANY forks in the road.  However, only ONE of those forks is sticking into a GIGANTIC meatball!

To make the point that a Branson photo safari can be done year round, I am including many photos I took when a group I was with, did a rainy day photo safari.  We knew in advance that rain was a likelihood, so colorful umbrellas were encouraged.  However, if this activity were being done as a promotional event for a particular corporation or location, matching umbrellas with the appropriate logo, could be used for all the shots.  Here is an example of a "Nature Conservancy" logo umbrella:

The Branson area is a photographer's delight, and anyone reading this blog will probably have some additional locations that would like to add to their photo safari.  Most of the photos above were taken in the main area of Branson, but because I wanted to end this blog with a DAM GOOD PHOTO, the last photo shows our group when we ventured a few miles south of Branson, to the bottom of Table Rock Dam.  Therefore, I can say this Photo Safari Expedition gave me "MILES OF DAM SMILES"!!  Tricia

 

TITANIC EXPEDITION - 100 Year Memorial

I have traced my interest in "all things Titanic" to the old television series called "Sea Hunt", starring Lloyd Bridges, that was popular in the 1960's. That television show influenced my goal of learning to scuba dive. My fascination with earning "badges", prompted me to take a specialty scuba diving course called "Wreck Diver". While taking the PADI Wreck Diver course, there was quite a lot of discussion about the Titanic ship wreck, and probably each of us amateur divers imagined ourselves as explorers of this historical artifact buried deep in the ocean.

Since April 15, 2012, marks 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic, there are numerous special events going on this spring, in the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada to commemorate the occasion.

This photo is a reminder to let readers know that even though the motel across the street from the Titanic Museum in Branson was damaged by the tornado that swept through that town last month, the Titanic Museum there is in full operation.

This photo of the front of the two-story permanent Titanic Museum in Branson illustrates how the architect has designed the museum to give visitors, aka "passengers" the feeling they are actually boarding a ship when they enter.

There is even a feeling of movement as the bow pierces the water near the "boarding gate". This is a much more elaborate setup than the first Titanic museum exhibit I attended to see a showing of items recovered from its shipwreck site. That was back in the 1990's when Titanic artifacts were part of a temporary exhibit held in conjunction with the "Memphis in May" activities in Tennessee. However, the state of Tennessee can now boast of having a permanent Titanic Museum, built much like the one in Branson, in the popular vacation town of Pigeon Forge. Although I have driven by the Pigeon Forge location, I have not been able to tour it yet, and look forward to doing so in the future.

The ticketing area for the museum has the look and feel of a cruise ship terminal, and is located at the ground floor level of the museum.

While visitors Que up in the "boarding area" a crew member (dressed in appropriate shipboard attire) gives them a brief orientation and distributes the individual audio recorded devices to hang around your neck, which will guide you through the museum. (You can see them hanging in the cabinet pictured.) You will also receive a printed, souvenir ticket with the name of one of the actual 1912 passengers on board the ship. During one of my museum visits, I learned that someone with the same last name as some of my ancestors, had been on board the Titanic AND they had survived! Of course, this set off a frenzy of activity to see if I was related to the Parrish passenger, who did not perish!

I convinced this handsome crew member to let me take a photo of him. When I called him "Captain", he had to give me a navy lesson on how many stripes were on his uniform, which were not enough to earn the title of Captain!

The first time I visited the Titanic Museum in Branson, shortly after it opened, I had spent so much time enjoying the hundreds of exhibits, that I did not have enough time to thoroughly enjoy all the gift shop had to offer. Fortunately, the gift shop is always open to the public when the museum is open, and one can return to the gift shop as often as desired to make purchases, without having to buy a museum ticket each time.

The gift shop sells souvenirs of every possible kind, including clothing with the Titanic/White Star Line logo.

Since the gift shop is located at the base of the Grand Staircase, you will also be able to visualize the staircase as the location for your very own photo memory, such as a wedding or vows renewal ceremony. Phone 1-800-381-7670 for more information.

Although some passengers survived the Titanic disaster, many did not. There was a massive rescue and recovery effort, headquartered in nearby Nova Scotia, where a stadium used for the ice skating game of curling, was turned into a temporary morgue for victims.

A few years ago, when touring Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Eastern Canada, our guide took us to one of the cemeteries in that city where the majority of recovered victims --- 121 bodies --- were buried. Most of them have small gray granite markers with the name and date of death.

Some families paid for larger markers with more inscription.

This victim was still a teenager when he died.

This tombstone for "The Unknown Child" was paid for with funds provided by sailors of the cable ship that recovered his body, since no one claimed the body.

This gravestone gained brief fame following the release of the 1997 film Titanic , since the name of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film was Jack Dawson. Many filmgoers, moved by the story, left flowers and ticket stubs at Dawson's grave when the film was first released. I was greatly moved, not only by the movie, but by the way a seminar speaker (Ron Hutchcraft) used the story of the Titanic to convict me of shortcomings in my own life. The speaker pointed out how many of the lifeboats carrying survivors of the wreck were not completely full. In other words, those who had been rescued did not go back to rescue more, even though there was space in the lifeboat. We may see this as a heinous crime, but the speaker pointed out how we as Christians are guilty of the same "crime". We have been "rescued" through our profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but we do not try to "rescue" others who are still out there in the darkness. We just stay content in the safety of our own "boat of salvation". When preparing to write this blog post, I went to that speaker's website, and noted that he had several parables related to the Titanic that he has used on his daily radio broadcasts. Colossians 1:13 from The Message says "God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating." The 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic is a good time to remember that WE, as Christians, are called to be "rescuers" of the perishing. Who will you rescue today??? Miles of "life-saving" smiles ! Tricia