The Granny Gang Does Branson
A Fun Stuff report – by Suzanne Hill FitchI wanted to tell you about our summer vacation. After spending 4 days together in Las Vegas, in 2005, Judy Reiler Cochran, Joan Litherland Ford, Syble Horn, Elayne Stewart, Hallie Schilling Shoemaker, Patti Bobo Dozier, Winona Jones Dutton and myself decided to push our luck and see if 8 women could get along for a week. (I would love to tell you about our trip to Las Vegas, but what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas).

So on May 5th of this year, seven of us (Patti had to miss the trip, due to unfortunate timing of hip surgery) loaded up in a Suburban and took off for Branson, Missouri. With Winona at the wheel, and Elayne as our trusty navigator, we back seat riders spent our time laughing and singing “On the Road Again” and all the old songs from our dear Austin H.S. days. We made it to Hot Springs, Arkansas the first night, where we did what we do best—eat and shop.

The second day, after a brief stop to see the Winona Wildlife Preserve (no kidding) and a short visit with Judy’s daughter, we made it to Branson. Joan took quite a lot of kidding about our lodge, as she picked it out over the Internet, but it was fabulous. The weather was unseasonably cold and rainy, ruining Syble, Elayne and Joan’s plans for golf. One night we had a storm that turned our little backyard creek into a raging river, but we managed to find plenty to do: eating, shopping, going to shows and stalking our nextdoor
neighbor, Charro. After making the nightly shows, it was back to our lodge for late night cards, dominoes and popcorn.

Our favorite shows were The Platters, where we sang along all the old songs, and a luncheon cruise on the Branson Belle Riverboat. We spent one day in Eureka Springs (see below), cruising the shops and on to the Passion Play that evening. On our late night trip back, we were stopped by a police officer, who after shining his flashlight inside the car
decided he had nabbed the notorious “Granny Gang.” After many laughs, he let us off with a warning not to cause too much more trouble.

Unfortunately, Friday rolled around too soon and we had to pack up and head back to Houston on Saturday afternoon, still loving and speaking to eachother, laughing and planning for our trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, next May.