Mona's Visit

When my husband and I first moved to Springfield, I started looking around for exciting places to visit. Tourist type things. Branson, the hill billy version of Las Vegas. The Dickerson Zoo. Rutledge-Wilson Farm. Bass Pro Shop. Wild Animal Safari Park. Not being the animal freak, my husband opted to delay our adventures until Mona would come visit. So, I had to wait for the zoo and the animal safari trip. I also had to wait for the drive through adventure trip of the caverns. No problem. I waited.

Finally, we received word that Mona was ready to come visit. YIPPIE!! We also decided that we would take her to Las Vegas and see all the things she missed on her first trip. Mona didn't come directly to us when she landed in the US. She first visited with her friend in Leavenworth. That adventure brought her to the Ozarks via relatives and Silver Dollar City, the hill billy version of Six Flags. She also got a chance to see Branson, so my husband and I didn't have to take Mona there. It turned out to be a good deal because we ran out of time.

Before we went to Vegas, we took the trip to the caverns. If you are planning a trip to Springfield and put the caverns on your list of things to do.....well, scratch it off. It not only was not worth the drive to the caverns, it was not worth the entrance price or the time spent. If you really want to see caverns, visit Virginia's Luray Caverns or go to Carlsbad. Skip the hill billy version of caverns in the Ozarks. Luckily, my husband suffered in silence and kept his comments to himself.

Next on the agenda....Las Vegas. We had a great time. We met up with the my husband's brothers and their families and our children and a good time was had by all. The first adventure on the list of activities was a jaunt to Freemont Street. My husband, the Beatles fan, got to see a live band from the Cirque du Solei show Love. They played Beatles music. Mona and I visited the junk tourist shops and bought post cards.

When the band finished, it was time for the Freemont Street light show. How coincidental that my husband's all time favorite band, KISS was being showcased? I couldn't have planned a better evening for him if I had tried.

After Vegas, Mona and I had animal adventures. First, we went to the Dickerson Zoo. We did have a good time. Unfortunately, we ran out of quarters, thus the feeding of the animals was limited. However, we did get to see the elephants get a shower and we got to feed the giraffes! Now, THAT WAS COOL!

The zoo was then followed by the Go Paradise Wild Animal Safari. I had more fun here. I highly recommend purchasing the Family Pack of animal feed. The individual bag just simply was not enough.