Ok guys, I gotta confess...

[All Along The Watchtower]

...I spent the past week in Branson, Missouri with my family.

Go ahead and laugh.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Is there anything particularly amusing about Branson, Misery?

[All Along The Watchtower]

Is there anything particularly amusing about Branson, Misery?

Tourist trap for Middle America, basically. And by "Middle America", I mean white Southerners (mostly), of course. A smattering of wealthy retirees live there, but other than that, it's still a rather poor Ozark town.

[Knives]

I don't understand what's so bad?

[bgwah]

I'm only aware of its existence due to its appearance in King of the Hill.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

On my flight back from Denver the in-flight magazine from Southwest had a big section on Branson.  It seems like every well-meanin', white, Christian, 'Murican's wet dream. 

Would be completely unpalatable to a person like me. 

[Mr. Morden]

Is there anything particularly amusing about Branson, Misery?

Branson, Missouri = "Disneyland for Rednecks".

[TDAS04]

Las Vegas without the sin.  Tacky make-believe with a healthy dose of morality.  

Sounds like the worst of everything.  I hope that I never go there.

[tmthforu94]

I feel hurt.

Branson is about an hour and a half from where I grew up, and about two hours (roughly) from where I live now. I have extremely fond memories of taking weekend trips over there when I was little. I enjoyed the shows, but Silver Dollar City was always the highlight for me.

Great place - I'll likely be taking another visit there this summer. I'd recommend it to anyone.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Las Vegas without the sin.  Tacky make-believe with a healthy dose of morality.  

Sounds like the worst of everything.  I hope that I never go there.

A lot of the ads in the aforementioned magazine were taken out by businesses/personalities in Branson looking to attract tourists.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, had a healthy dose of hokey Americana and Jesus injected into it.  

I think I'd literally burn like Dracula under the morning sun.  

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Branson is also typically thought of as the second capital of country music in the US (the first being Nashville obviously.)

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I feel hurt.

Branson is about an hour and a half from where I grew up, and about two hours (roughly) from where I live now. I have extremely fond memories of taking weekend trips over there when I was little. I enjoyed the shows, but Silver Dollar City was always the highlight for me.

Great place - I'll likely be taking another visit there this summer. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I think it has a lot to do with what different Americans picture when they think of America, and everyone loves the places that match that mental picture.  Places like Branson seem to advertise themselves as the country encapsulated; whereas when I think of America the first thing to pop into my mind is New York or Boston.  

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Branson is also typically thought of as the second capital of country music in the US (the first being Nashville obviously.)

Ugh.  That too. 

[DINGO Joe]

...I spent the past week in Branson, Missouri with my family.

Go ahead and laugh.

Is Shoji Tabuji still playing?

My Grandparents retired on Bull Shoals Lake many years ago, so I got exposed to all that plus another strange wondrous theme park in North Arkansas called Dogpatch, USA that is long abandoned.

The Andy Williams show was one of the more baffling experience of my life.  Branson is a little more tacky and definitely more hokey than most tourists traps, but it's something one should see at least once in their lifetime.  

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is another interesting locale around there--half hipster historic town/half giant Jesus statue.  

[DINGO Joe]

Branson is also typically thought of as the second capital of country music in the US (the first being Nashville obviously.)

It's not really a creative place for country music, I have no doubt that more new country music is produced in Chicago each year.  It's a place where artists that you thought had retired or were dead have their own theaters and play an ungodly number of shows.  Nostalgia to nth degree.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Branson is also typically thought of as the second capital of country music in the US (the first being Nashville obviously.)

What about Bakersfield, CA?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Oh... and since this IS the Atlas.  

1992: R+21
1996: R+23
2000: R+27
2004: R+34
2008: R+37
2012: R+38

It's voting habits are atrocious.  

[DINGO Joe]

Branson is also typically thought of as the second capital of country music in the US (the first being Nashville obviously.)

What about Bakersfield, CA?

Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, nuff said.

[MaxQue]

That place seems like one Hell.

[Joe Republic]

I feel hurt.

Branson is about an hour and a half from where I grew up, and about two hours (roughly) from where I live now. I have extremely fond memories of taking weekend trips over there when I was little. I enjoyed the shows, but Silver Dollar City was always the highlight for me.

Great place - I'll likely be taking another visit there this summer. I'd recommend it to anyone.

This just confirms it.  You truly are Kenneth Parcell.

[TDAS04]

Oh... and since this IS the Atlas.  

1992: R+21
1996: R+23
2000: R+27
2004: R+34
2008: R+37
2012: R+38

It's voting habits are atrocious.  

It certainly is part of Ozarkia.

At least it has a better climate and more scenic setting than the sinful Las Vegas.  I've been there once and I never want to go back.  It just wasn't my kind of town.  NYC, Boston, DC, SF, and even Chicago are all cities that appeal to me far more.

It was actually Bart Simpson who compared Branson to a Las Vegas run by Ned Flanders.  I usually don't take travel advice from fictional characters, but Branson just doesn't sound like a place that would suit me.

[tmthforu94]

I feel hurt.

Branson is about an hour and a half from where I grew up, and about two hours (roughly) from where I live now. I have extremely fond memories of taking weekend trips over there when I was little. I enjoyed the shows, but Silver Dollar City was always the highlight for me.

Great place - I'll likely be taking another visit there this summer. I'd recommend it to anyone.

This just confirms it.  You truly are Kenneth Parcell.

Haha, my friends would get a kick out of that.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The Silver Dollar here is a place to go pick up 18 year olds. So Silver Dollar City sounds like a hell of a place. Sign me up!

[minionofmidas]

Branson is also typically thought of as the second capital of country music in the US (the first being Nashville obviously.)

Correction: Branson is where washed-up ex-stars of pop country go to make a few more bucks before they die - what Vegas used to be for non-country pop.

[angus]

Branson is where washed-up ex-stars of pop country go to make a few more bucks before they die -

That was always my impression as well.  Like, the Wayne Newtons of country do shows in Branson.  Some has-been movie actors also make the circuit, as I understand it.  Never been there, though.  I'd give it a tour if it were ever on my way, although I don't think I'd go out of my way to see it.  Sort of like Mount Rushmore or Dollywood or that big Corn Maze in Lancaster County, PA.  Maybe stop in if I were passing through, take a picture say, I've been there.

I have been to other parts of the ozarks.  Spent a week sailing at Lake Ouchita, AR, and another time a week swimming and camping at Beaver's Bend, OK.  Beautiful country.