Branson, MO - Days 2 & 3

Our second day was a little low key. Ari went for a ride with our host, Sheryl and had a great time in the morning.

We had lunch at Guy Fieri's restaurant at Branson Landing. Once again, the food and service was outstanding. We are getting a bit spoiled. 

We spent a little time walking around Historical Downtown Branson mostly window shopping.

We did end up buying a quilt from a quilt shop.

Next up, was the Country Comedy Jamboree at the Grand Music Hall. 

We were in a really good mood walking into the theatre.

Unfortunately, we were so disappointed in the show we left during intermission.

The show was really dated. We were expecting a comedy stand-up show, but it was really more of a variety show, similar to the shows done in the 1960's. The jokes were stale, the wigs were ill-fitting and awful looking. A lot of the humor was just mean.

I was actually depressed after attending the show.

The next day, we decided to return to Top of the Rock and see the museum. We were worried we would be charged the $10 vehicle fee again, but we showed our receipt and they let us through. We showed the museum receipt and we were allowed into the museum, so we were happy that we were able to get the full value on the tickets we bought.

We had lunch at Arnie's Barn - the restaurant next to the museum. Once again, the food and service was excellent. I feel like we are on a roll.

The museum is extensive and well curated. It starts with fossils from the Ice Age and takes you through local history of the Ozarks area up through the Civil War.

Statue of a Crow warrior.

Pictures below are from different museum exhibits...

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass, speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.

The strength of the fire, the taste of the salmon, the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away, they speak to me.

And my heart soars.

-Chief Dan George

Children of the Middle Waters

The Osage

Long ago, before the French and Americans settled the prairies and woodlands that would later be known as Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, Wakondah (the creative force) sent the Sky People (Tzi-sho) to the Earth, to meet the Earth people (Hun-kah) to form  Ni-u-ko;n-ska, the Osage. Each village consisted of the Sky clan, the north side of the village, and the Earth clan, the south side of the village, following rules set forth by the elders, known as The Little Old Men.

What is life?

It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.

It is in the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself at sunset.

 - Chief Crowfoot

Blackfoot Man's War Shirt

A painted man's shirt with seed beaded, decorative panels and small weasel fur drp[s. The shirt is made with native tanned hide, sinew, and seed beads.

Great Plains war shirts are widely considered the ultimate example of Native American art. 

To create the war shirt, the warrior would fast in order to receive spiritual power and inspiration. He would then consult a highly skilled female beadworker to execute his specific design. For example, this shirt uses ermine fur and the ermine is considered ferocious and tenacious.

This shirt was probably created sometime around 1850.

"The idea of full dress in preparation for a battle comes not from a belief that it will add to the fighting ability. The preparation is for death, in case that should be the result of the conflict. 

Every Indian wants to look his best when he goes to meet the Great Spirit, so dressing up is done whether in imminent danger in an oncoming battle, or a sickness or injury in times of peace."

- Wooden Leg, Northern Cheyenne

This painting depicts Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, meeting the indigenous people in the Missouri area. His group was the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River.  de Soto continued into Arkansas in search of gold. He contracted a fever and died May 21, 1542. Because the natives had been told that he was an immortal sun god, his men concealed his death. In the dark of night, they wrapped his body in blankets, weighted it down with sand, and buried him in the middle of the Mississippi River.

Geronimo, the Apache chief. This is an actual photograph taken before he rode with Theodor Roosevelt at the 1905 inauguration.

All beings are to be respected, for all have souls.

In truth, we depend on all the creatures in this world.

For in order to survive, we humans much consume plants and animals - life must be taken so that we may live.

It is only with this awareness that we learn humility and find balance. Our lives need to be in a circle, not in a square, nor a straight line.

- Black Elk

I had thought paintings like these were basically the imagination of the artist. This artist, Ed Copley, would only use Native Americans as models and he would consult with them so that everything in the painting was authentic.

He also would not allow other artists to see how he worked because he put so much time and research into each painting. 

These are two Cheyenne warriors from the northern part of Montana. 

The warrior on the left looks through a bundle of fresh cut arrow rods and selects the straightest rod, then hands that to the other warrior, who adds feathers on one end and inserts an arrowhead into the other end.

Once the arrowhead is in place, he ties and wraps it using sinew. After that, he applies hot glue from a glue pot to seal the sinew and make it waterproof.

An arrow maker would spend most of a day just to make a few arrows. The straighter the arrow, the better the chances it would find the target.

Photograph of Annie Oakley along with a story.

"I was eight years old when I made my first shot, and I'll still consider it one of my best shots I ever made. I saw a squirrel run down over the grass of the front house through the orchard and stop on the fence to get a hickory nut. I decided to shoot it and ran into the house to get a gun which was hanging on the wall and which I knew to be loaded. I was so little, I had to jump up on a chair and slide it down the mantel and then to the ground. I laid the gun on the railing of the front porch and then recalled that I had heard my brother say about shooting: 'It is a disgrace to shoot a squirrel anywhere but in the head because it spoils the meat to hit him elsewhere.' I took the remark literally and decided, in a flash, that I must hit that squirrel in the head or be disgraced. It was a wonderful shot, right through the head from side to side. My mother was so frightened when she learned that I had taken down a loaded gun and shot it that I was forbidden to touch it again for eight months."

Wild Bill Hickock, Deadwood, South Dakota, 1876

"Union Army officer, army scout, lightning fast gunfighter, feared lawman, stage coach driver...gambler, actor, marksman, buffalo hunter, showman, gold miner...toughest man west...or any place east...even his dog chews tobacco, drinks whiskey, and gets drunk!"

As you can see, we enjoyed our visit to the museum. I enjoyed collecting more stories and learning more history. We easily spent a couple of hours viewing the exhibits.