What IS the perfect family vacation? I would think that the perfect vacation would be affordable, offer something fun for every member of the family, and be in a place where everyone could completely relax. Also, it would be great to find a hotel that is pet-friendly, too, so that the furry members of the family could go along (I would HAVE to travel with my tabby-point Siamese, Livvy– she loves to travel with us and is like one of the kids!).

Guess what I found! A hotel in a part of the country that fulfils everything for a perfect vacation, and more! It’s Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing. We really, really hope to go there sometime soon. I just found out that Branson Hilton is a pet-friendly place, too! I am thrilled!

In case you don’t know, Branson, Missouri is the mecca of midwest entertainment. We are familiar with the name because the kids’ favorite Christian music artists and comedians hold concerts and conferences at the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. Branson is a VERY family-friendly area. They have something for every member. We have come up with a *small* itinerary of things to do there. One of our big travel dreams is to drive across the country, with stops at various places. Branson is definitely one of them.

There’s Silver Dollar City in Branson. It’s a “wild west” historical town, very similar to Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY. We love places like that. There’s the Titanic Museum. I am a Titanic trivia buff, and would love to see the museum. There’s also Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum– we’d spend ALL day here! We are KOOKs, you see (Keepers of Odd Knowledge, lol). I also love the building design, haha!

There’s also Marvel Cave nearby. We have GOT to see it. It was discovered by the Osage Indians around 1500 AD, and remained virtually unexplored until 1869. The kids have never been to caverns, and I know they would love it. 

Besides all the adventurous, historical, and cultural things to do in the area, the entire area around Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing is filled with shops, restaurants, theme parks and dozens of shows at the live entertainment theaters. During holidays and summers, there are parades and special events for chidren and families. It’s a really, really nice place to go. Rates are very good– check out the links for more information. Branson promises to be a perfect family vacation!

The Perfect Family Vacation

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It Is Pretty Neat!

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This was another really tough one for me this week! I find bugs to be very, very scary.. but it’s late October here and all our bugs are either frozen by now or are migrating down to annoy you folks in the south, hee. But I brainstormed with the kids and guess what? I FOUND SOMETHING REALLY REALLY SCARY! It’s THIS:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am the computer technician in the house, and we have.. SIX computers! So when I see this, my hair goes white and my knees start to clatter.

But you know what’s worse? That image is from a screen saver! It’s a program you can download and install on your computer! (Or as a nasty, nasty prank but we don’t want to be doing that, do we? An infuriated co-worker or spouse would be ever scarier!). You can see for yourself– information about this scary screen saver program is here.

One other scary thing I thought of was a work of art we saw this week at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute museum. I didn’t get a photo, though– I was videotaping. It’s a short video, you can see the big bug here. It was quite startling to enter the museum and see this huge spider dangling from the second floor! The artist did a great job, too– it looks real!

How did your Photo Hunt go today?

Photo Hunters: Scary!

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I left off describing how much fun the Innovation Room was. We spent most of our time in here. This was a really great place for kids of all ages. The displays were hands-on and extremely informative. Here are some photos of the fun we had.

This section of the Museum was SO COOL. There were so many things to see and do, and not surprisingly there was a crowd of people wanting to try everything. Below is a photo of my son looking through is a periscope that goes up through the Museum roof. You can see the city of Corning through this. It was amazingly clear! We all loved playing with this.

Here’s a wacky glass mirror. There were several of these kinds of mirrors here. The teens loved them most, for some reason.

Here are those white statues I mentioned in Part 1, when we first entered the Museum (except then, I was a full storey below them).

These scientists are sitting in front of a failed experiment by a Corning glassmaker. He and his students tried to create the largest piece of cast glass in the world, but the thing kept cracking. So what did these guys do? They kept their cracked glass and put it in the Innovation Room, as a lesson to us all! It looks like a huge frosted-glass wheel.

We also enjoyed an interactive laser light game. I took a short video of my son trying to bend the light.

We slowly dragged ourselves out of the Innovation Room. We could have spent much more time there, but we didn’t want to miss the Hot Glass Show. This is a very popular event where we watch glassmakers in action. I was able to take a video of their craftsmanship (it’s about 5 minutes long). The film gets grainy in a few close-ups. I was using a digital camera to take the video, after all; and unfortunately, YouTube’s compression process makes it blurry. Nonetheless, it is a marvel to watch how these guys handle the glass– they make it look so easy!– and how pliable this material is. It is truly amazing.

After four hours in this Museum, we were ready to rest our feet and have some lunch. We meandered in the gift shops for a few more minutes before making our way back to the streets of Corning. Our next stop would be at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art. Yippee-ti-yi-yo! Stay tuned for that!

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY Part 3

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Very few places are open during the winter, and the lighthouse museum is no exception. But we love the lake, and having seen it in the summer, we wanted to see it in the winter, too. We got the added benefit of experiencing lake effect snow firsthand, too (without having to wait for the snow to blow across the state to Central NY, where we live).

Sodus Point is in Wayne County, and the place has a lot of history. The town was formed in 1789. It is said that the name “Sodus” comes from an Indian word “gleam in the water.” I didn’t see too much gleam (due to the thick clouds and snowfall), but I did see an overwhelming multitude of apple orchards. I have never seen so many apple farms and orchards as I have in this location in New York State.

Sodus Point has a lovely, natural harbor, and became a central port in New York State for trading along the Lake. As it’s importance grew during the early 1800s, and as America and Britain were clashing over sea trade agreement, it is no surprise that Sodus Point became a target. The village of Sodus was burned and destroyed by the British in 1813, during the War of 1812. After the war, it was rebuilt again. Sodus Point is now a popular vacation resort.

The lighthouse on the premises was built in 1871. It replaced one that had been built in 1824. The lighthouse no longer functions as a lighthouse; it closed in 1901, and is now a museum.

The grounds are very nice, but sparse. There are benches. A worn path lead us to an ivy-covered arbor. Beyond the arbor is a stone with a plaque, commemorating the old lighthouse.

From here, we wandered to the lake. Great thick sheets ice covered the sandy beach. Waves crashed into the ice, producing sprays of icicles that sometimes went airborne. Our feet crunched on top of the ice. The edges of the ice looked like the baleen of whales. Underneath these “teeth,” the water rolled, causing the ice to emit crackling and groaning sounds. We dared not move too close to the edge of the ice.

The kids collected seashells (even in the snow!) and did their usual exploring. The snow was beginning to fall heavily. We decided to trudge our way back up the hill and drive around the lake edge.

Sodus is a little town. I think the population is about 1,000 or so. Many of the houses looked weary. Then again, it was winter and the clouds were thick and gray and overcast everything with their gloom. The falling snow made the scene cheerier.

This cute tree caught my eye. It’s a Christmas tree, fully decorated, hanging on a crane! Funny!

And this little red tugboat looked so perky, despite being beached for the winter.

This section of the lake (the marina) was frozen over. I wish I had been able to take a photo of what we saw next– people atop these little sailboat-like boats scouring the ice. The sails were white but the boat was bright yellow. There must have been skis or something like it. The wind was blowing and the skiffs were shooting across the ice very quickly. It looked like such fun! I was driving when we saw them and couldn’t take their picture. Sorry. It was so neat to see them!

We got a few pictures of the boats. They were covered with bright blue tarp, but looked sad underneath. I guess I’d be sad, too, if I had to sit out winter on the ice, waiting for spring to be free again.

We did see large areas of open water. Signs spelled it out for anyone who didn’t notice: “DANGER. Open water!” We saw people all over the ice. Some folks seemed to be out for a stroll on the lake; others were fishing.

Brrr. It’s looking blustery on the lake by now.

I don’t know if Lake Ontario freezes over during the winter. Anyone have any ideas? My kids say it doesn’t, because the lake is so active. This winter has so far been rather mild (with only a few days below zero so far), so this year’s weather may have changed the outlook. Does Lake Ontario freeze over?

The weather was turning more threatening, and the skies were growing dark, so our travel here had to end. We will return in the summer and explore this end of the lake a little more next time. Life by such a large and influential lake is so unique. An entire subculture grows around it, I’m sure. I’d love to visit during a fishing event or when cargo barges come in. I’ll bet there’d be a lot of action then!

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Sodus Lighthouse, Sodus Point, NY

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