In excess of 23,000 Saturday. We arrived about 2:15 (after lunch at Lamberts on the way) and had to park at Stop 7. Waitaminit!! Stop 7??? South of the park and on the other side of IP Road. Grass-and-gravel hill by an eletrical sub-station. (When we left, we found busses running to "JD" and "The Bank," whatever/wherever they are.)
The park was jammed, busiest I've ever seen it. The word was they were staying open till 10:30 to accommodate everyone!
We went with our younger son and an older couple who are friends of ours (our retired Pastor and therefore my wife's ex-boss, to be exact). We got them in for $15/each and splurged on the Showlover's Pass for Christmas Carol (to save an aging knee in the party).
First place we went to was the Leather shop. We had to get my son a belt, and Pastor’s wife bought one of the leather coats. While I was checking out, a fella on a personal (not park) electric cart tried to go up the little hill there and his cart quit, got sideways, and fell over, hitting another guest. The Citizen at the shop rushed out in the middle of my sale (NO complaints, mind you, but my card was lying out, so I stayed there and couldn’t help). He called for help, but the gentleman insisted on getting up and leaving before First Aid could arrive. Several people had to help push him up the hill. I was gratified to see that there was a procedure in place but a bit concerned to see that the phone number to call wasn’t really handy. That probably indicates the use of it is rare, which is a good thing!
The Ladies wanted to spend some time in Becca’s, so my son and I took Pastor through GM. He got a kick out of it. We hit the Springhouse for some drinks and spent some time at Sullivan’s Mill, where the ladies further depleted the checking accounts ;-) While there, we ran into Duelist and his delightful family and chatted a few minutes. We also hit Christmas Hollow, but nobody bought anything there.
We walked down the Hill and took in the sights heading up toward the Opera House. We spent a few minutes in a short Showlovers line and were taken directly to the front row. Packed house; very good show. NOTE: the “snow” is heavier in the center, first couple/three rows ;-) Interacted a fair bit with the actors.
After the show, we couldn’t get back up Hill Street because off the impending parade (one bit of OTC we really have no interest in), so we ducked under the RR bridge and headed along the riverfront, stopping in the Toy Store so my son could buy a classmate a present for their Christmas party. After that, it was up around the S-curve to the train depot; the end of the line was halfway down the corkscrew, so it was a longer walk than we had anticipated. The line shrank fast, however. Two trains, one of three and one of four cars. One of the conductor’s said they were moving almost 1500 people an hour through there, about 500/cycle! The ride was its usual fine self, and Grandpa did an exceptional job. The only pothole of the day was getting on the train, however. Some people get awfully pushy. I understand that they want to sit together—I would like to sit with my family, too, but I decided that better approach to take was just to give in and let my wife, son, and friends have a seat while I sat further back. At least we were in the same car.
After the train, we hit a couple shops on the way back up top, including the candy shop so that I could pick up a special request from my older son (who couldn’t come this weekend). Then we stopped in at Molly’s for the Holiday Buffet. It had been a long day for the Citizens there!
A bit of last minute shopping at the HH (my wife was getting something for me, don’t know what yet) and then out the CM—which was nearly impassable because of the crowd. We had to wait on the east side of the ticket building for our ride to Stop 7 (and JD), the folks going to “The Bank” were actually lined up on the tree line. Busses and trams pirouetted and dosey-doed to get us all out, and the ride to the lot was shorter (in time) than the one to get us to the gate had been because we didn’t’ have to go ‘round the loop.
We were all pretty pooped at that point—good thing the hotel (Best Western) was close! We checked in and got into our rooms to the delightful music of the train whistle (till well past 10).
Two notes about the next day: we started off by attending Sunday services at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Kimberling City and were blessed by performances of their Handbell Choir and their Church Coir doing their Christmas Cantata. If you are looking for a place to worship while there, I can’t recommend this friendly church highly enough (only about 12 minutes from the city).
Pastor’s wife needed to do a bit of serious Christmas clothes shopping, so we went to Tanger before heading home. Although my wife found a great suit coat for me marked ‘WAY down, I will never again go there a week before Christmas. What a crowd!
All, in all, a great trip, a marvelous close to the 2011 year at the city. Can’t wait till Bluegrass and BBQ next year!
