Seven

We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in Branson last weekend.  

 

Prepare your heart for an overload of pictures.  We talked a week before our anniversary that it would be nice to get away for the weekend.  We really wanted someplace affordable to meet our last minute budget, in the Ozarks of Missouri or Arkansas, a cabin of our own, and dog friendly.  That's a pretty tall order and we actually changed our minds and decided to stay home until Sonia reminded us the name of the place they have been.

The Alpine Lodge had everything we were looking for.  This was our cabin for the weekend.  I didn't want to leave and I can't wait to go back!

They were dog friendly, all of the cabins have a view of Table Rock Lake, and the pool is unbelievable.  See the picture below.  

I almost don't want to advertise this place too much so people don't book it up.  This is the kind of place you never have to leave, but is close enough to lots of fun things if you want to go out.

We drove down to Big Cedar and Top of the Rock to do the golf cart nature tour.  It was so much fun and had plenty of places to stop and walk and take photos.  I may have overloaded on the waterfall pictures, but waterfalls are my favorite!

That Amish Bridge was built by the same family who brought Arnold Palmer's barn from Pennsylvania to Missouri.

This is the entrance to the cave.  There were waterfalls inside the cave!  My pictures from inside the cave were all too dark - of course.  But I tried to get some pictures.  Oh well, you'll have to check it out sometime.  

Stand back - he's all mine!  After seven years of marriage plus the three years we dated I never get tired of this guy.  I still get butterflies and goosebumps.  He's my best friend and favorite person.  He's the leader of our family and takes such good care of me.  Thanks be to God for this precious husband of mine.  

After the tour, we hopped on the shuttle over to the golf course.  

That's the driving range!  Even I want to go hit golf balls there.  

Here's the famous sink hole.  They are building a hotel and you will be able to take a tour down into the sink hole eventually.  That was part of the golf course and when the hole caved in this is what was left.  It's amazing!  Also, how ingenious is it to turn this thing that can be so awful into something so beautiful (and I'm sure profitable).  

There was a wedding that day so we didn't get to go into the chapel.  We ate lunch at Arnie's Barn which has a Mexican menu and we drank Arnold Palmers.  I didn't get a shot of the barn, but it was not very barn like anymore.  Super pretty building!  There is a world class Native American museum that we didn't go to this time.  

We hit up the outlet mall for a handful of shops, then went and got Pickles to go on a hike.  We took her to the lake and she was super brave.  

Then we stayed in the rest of the day.  We took a nap.  I read on the balcony and watched the sun go down.  I cooked a quick meal and we played Phase 10 that night.  Seven is the wool and copper anniversary so we each bought each other socks. I also got a copper colored bucket from the Target dollar spot and filled it with Starburst for Matt.  His mom gave us a copper owl shaped lantern.

The next morning we had our traditional anniversary breakfast, checked out reluctantly, and went to downtown Branson and hit up the shops.  I bought a sign for Fall.

Then we headed home.  We stopped at the Truman lake visitor center.  That's super cool!  It's a great spot to get out and walk.  The museum inside is neat and the view is spectacular, I even saw a bald eagle and a groundhog eating a walnut.  There is a living history museum on the grounds where you can walk through some old buildings.  I highly recommend taking the time to check it out.