Branson Day 2 of 11

We boarded the bus in the morning and went to the Hughes Brothers show called  "IT".  They are a family group of five brothers, their wives, and 33 children.  They were wonderful.  I took many pics in the theater with no flash and got just a few good ones to share.

There are over 50 singers, dancers, and musicians entertaining us on stage.  It was a very good show and I loved it. 

These are some of the older boys

The younger boys

The brothers

The family.  I tried to put in some pics of the girls, but the pics did not turn out so great.  After the show we were served a wonderful lunch there at the theater, served by family.

After lunch we boarded the tour bus with a guide and we traveled around the Branson area.  One of the places was the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.  Here I spotted this interesting plant.  It is called American Beauty Berry.  So pretty.
 I wanted to get some great underwater pics of the big breeding fish they have so down I went in the cold.  LOL  No, we went down to the aquarium level of the visitor center and took these next pics.

The hatchery is the largest trout-rearng facility operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation.  It produces between 350,000 and 400,000 pounds of trout each year.  Both rainbow and brown trout are raised at the hatchery with 80% of production going into the lake were they were raised. 

This is a rainbow trout.  This is an the large aquarium level they have at the visitors center where we also saw a short film about the place.  About 1,200,000 fish are raised each year. In the aquarium they had on display some of the breeding stock for the hatchery.  These guys were BIG.

We are at the bottom of the damn and you can see some of the runs, where the fish are raised.   They must cover them because the birds think the fish is for them.  There are 10 flood gates on the damn as you can see and two years ago they had so much rain they had to open all ten gates.  Our guide said that people came from miles round to see this sight.

We also traveled to the College of the Ozarks or also known as Hard Work U.  This building is a kind of visitor center for the college.  They had rooms, restaurant, gift shop (all the gifts are made by the students).  It is a very interesting place. I will tell more in other blogs, but it is late and we have a very busy day tomorrow with 3 shows to go to. 

Inside I spied these window framed in copper.

Copper ceiling in the dinning room.

wood inlay of the college logo.

Next are 2 very beautiful and interesting chairs made here on campus by the students.

 

must be comfy for Rog.

We came home from the tour and had 45 minutes to eat and then get back on the bus to go to the Shji Tabuchi Show.  We were told on the tour by our guide that we must go into the bathrooms and look around when we got there.  Wow!!!

They were big and beautiful.  Notice the ceilings too,  In the ladies room there were door after door to the stalls.  The decorations were amazing. 

Is a little fuzzy, but this is what is behind the closed doors. 


 
This is another area of the bathroom all the sinks, sitting area, fireplace in the back behind the ladies. Notice the chandler
Close-up of the chandler


Now to the men's bathroom .  I was not the photographer for this so did not get all the pics I wanted.  But they have a pool table.

 
Here you see the sinks and I was told that all porcelain fixtures were black with brass knobs and stuff.  Over the top beautiful.
This is Shji Tabuch.  He was originally from Japan.   As a child he began to play the violin and continued playing into his teens.  Then he saw and heard country western music and fell in love and came to the U.S. and started playing here.  He became a citizen and all.  He is a wonderful entertainer and violin player.  I do not have pics of his show because the lighting is so much less than the other show they did not turn out.  He had a band to back him up and a group of singers including his daughter.  It was a great show too. 

Looking forward to tomorrows shows.