Friday morning, Shalina Truglio came to pick me up – we had a lovely little lunch @ BJ’s and then continued on to the airport. Flying is SO not my favorite activity – it makes my head hurt like crazy funky and I don’t handle it well when surrounded by strangers and access to only a very small bathroom…so lunch with a dear friend was a delightful distraction. My plane was delayed about 4 hours, so I spent my afternoon in the airport reading the Help and drinking a black iced tea/lemonade from Starbucks. It wasn’t how I expected to start my trip, but it wasn’t a total loss either! Ha! I finally landed in Springfield around 11:30pm their time and we headed STRAIGHT for Steak & Shake to get dinner. Steak & Shake is kind of gross – I’ve been there NUMEROUS TIMES (it’s kind of a World Changers Debriefing Classic) but it was the ONLY THING OPEN in town and it is RIDICULOUSLY cheap (seriously like $3.99 for a meal!) but In-N-Out is probably that cheap huh, and WAY better, ok I digress. After dinner, we went back to Em’s apartment where we literally hung out and chatted until after 4am.
It had been almost a year since we’d talked in person and there was much to say…so Saturday came a little later than expected, which really didn’t matter at all anyway!Saturday we headed straight for Branson, Missouri – the Senior Citizen Entertainment Capital of the WORLD! Ha! It is quite the place!
We pit stopped at the Tanger Outlets for a little shopping adventure in Gap and Banana Republic and then drove down the “strip” – it is NOTHING like THE STRIP, but it is hysterical to see!
My personal favorite was the Titanic Museum – and Em was particularly partial to the King Kong scaling the side of the Empire State Building atop the Wax Museum! Ha! Branson is also home to the World’s Largest Fiddle, so in honor of Megan, I stopped and saw it. In that very parking lot, we were greeted by the friendly elves who are somewhat overstaying their welcome as I venture to say that Christmas is over.
HOWEVER, the Branson landing would disagree with me as they are still celebrating in STYLE with a gorgeous Christmas tree and Santa’s Silver Reindeer – who I’m sure would LOVE to get back to the North Pole. The Branson Landing is really pretty – and Em and I had a photostrip made – which is a personal FAVORITE activity. After turning into a human popsicle, we went back to the car to melt and then got on the road for Valley Springs, Arkansas – the land of Emily’s childhood with a population of: 167.
Her dad is the superintendent of the school system and her mom is a teacher. DARLING! We went to Miguel’s Mexican Villa for dinner and then watched a home video before ending the night with an episode of Grey’s Anatomy and a LOT of chatter.Sunday we went to church in the Valley – and then had BBQ for lunch. BBQ makes me SO VERY HAPPY. I think I am really southern at heart – there is just something about pulled pork that ALWAYS sounds fabulous to me! Ha!
After lunch we went to the Buffalo River National Park and walked around. It was too cold to stay outside of the car for too long though – so we skipped a few rocks (or attempted to) in honor of Michael Page, and called it a day. It started to snow just as we were leaving Valley Springs – it was SO FUN! The snow flurries around on the ground like a Voldemort vapor. Back in Missouri, we stopped for dinner at the Springfield Mining Company and then grabbed frozen custard at Andy’s – a Springfield FAMOUS spot. Sunday was a very kick-back day – but that is ALWAYS ok in my mind!Monday morning we got up and went to Ozark where I purchased a “button ring” as the souvenir from my trip.
Ring purchases are a definite MUST for me and Em after our great New York City Macy’s rings purchases in the summer of 2007. THAT ring is currently missing a diamond (which makes me REALLY SAD and somewhat angry at the same time…I don’t think diamonds should fall out of rings. EVER. I realize that is unrealistic and yet it is still my personal opinion!) so this new ring is an excellent replacement. I love it. It is unlike anything else I own and I’m pretty sure it is one of a kind. The button itself is from the 1880’s and is hand painted. I love having a small piece of history on my finger! After the great ring purchase, we went to LAMBERT’s “home of the throwed rolls” for lunch with Henry and Chris. 
Lambert’s is quite the experience. You get there and they hand out brown paper towels. A guy is walking through the restaurant literally throwing rolls at you, hoping you will catch one, and there are “pass-arounds” which basically means you get WAY MORE FOOD than you order. First up was fried okra…YUMMY!!! I miss southern food! I ordered a pulled pork sandwich (which was AMAZING) and sent over half of it home with Chris! You’re welcome new friend When we walked outside after leaving the restaurant and it was SNOWING. I had been hoping for snow all weekend and it was finally falling. It was GORGEOUS.
We stood outside and played in it for quite a while – I was like a small child – filled with wonder and excitement. If I had the appropriate clothes on, I probably could have stayed out there FOREVER. After lunch we went to Missouri State University where Em gave me the tour of her office and then the BASS PRO – Springfield is home to the National Headquarters so the shop is particularly HUGE (including a Starbucks at the entrance – I’ll take a grande soy peppermint mocha with half the peppermint and no whip please, and THANK YOU BASS PRO!). 
Bass Pro is a strange place – and one that makes me entirely uncomfortable. You are outside while being inside and there are dead animals EVERYWHERE. That is STRANGE SAUCE for this California girl. From Bass Pro we went to meet Sarah – Emily’s sister and then ended the evening at Em’s apartment. It was snowing pretty good by the time we were ready to say goodbye and drive to the airport…I had been slightly apprehensive about getting snowed in all day…but truth time was finally here. We got to the airport and they told us we were ahead of schedule and would be taking off early. It was a laughable comment – but I didn’t know that yet. I got on the plane early as they had indicated, but it all went downhill from there. The plane got stuck on the ice and wouldn’t move forward or in reverse, so they brought out the de-icers. It took approximately 2 hours to spray the plane down and get the runway plowed for take-off. At that point, they realized there was not enough fuel on board to make it all the way to LA, so we were going to have to land in Phoenix to refuel. LONG story short, I didn’t land at LAX at 10:00pm…no no…it was more like 3:00am. THANKS to an amazing friend (rachey) I still had a ride home from the airport and went to bed right around 4am. It was a hard night…but it was SO GOOD to see my Emy. COME to LA soon love!
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