Annual Excursion 2006 - Springfield Lake & Bass Pro

In the tradition of our annual outdoors excursion which began last year in the Ohio, Hocking Hills. This year Ray and I had many more restrictions on time and so needed to limit our excursion to a three hour fishing trip on Springfield Lake and a visit to Bass Pro, of course.

The lake is only about 10 minutes from our apartment so it made an ideal place for us to go to maximize our fishing time. However, despite our efforts, we did more paddling than catching fish. The new canoe came in handy and we did have some good fun out on the lake despite leaving empty handed.

-a peaceful morning on an Ozark lake........priceless indeed!

We met Kristy and the girls at Bass Pro and the girls gave Ray the grand tour.

They showed him the turtle pool......

...the big catfish......

...the big stuffed bear....

...the trout pool.......

...then they took us into the taxidermy museum.

A museum full of dead animals, only in the biggest sporting goods store in America.


Ray had a great time photographing these very captive subjects from around the world.

Molly was very interested in the baby animals within the museum including this baby cheetah.

Molly's view of her parents.
We had a great time checking out the museum and indoctrinating Ray into the heart of Springfield (Bass Pro). It was now time to head south for a trip to Branson.

Our First Visitor - Ray Experiences Missouri Flavor

Ray took the 10 hour drive from Texas and arrived in Springfield at dinner time.

When I got home from school I found him being overrun by Molly and Neleha who were so very happy to have their first visitor.

We decided to eat at Lambert's so Ray could really experience the local Ozark flavor.

During our expected wait the girls wouldn't let Ray have a minute of peace. He really didn't mind though, he has so much love for our girls and they for him. In many ways, Ray is just like one of the family. To be honest, I don't think the girls actually know that we are not related.

Once we were seated I caught some rolls and we instantly got some fried okra to snack on while we waited for our main dishes.

Our food was served in skillets and it was so good!

Ray's first catch of a "throwed roll"
I am not sure if Ray was sold on Lambert's from the food or when he caught his first "throwed roll", but all the same he was as sold on the place as we are. We all ate well, probably too well!

So to work off all those extra calories I talked everyone into a game of disc golf.


We went to McBride park near our apartment and took in 9 holes (or cages).

We all had a great time...at least for a few holes and then the girls decided they wanted to play on the playground so Ray and I finished up alone.

We joined them later on the playground and had a fun time trying to keep up with these girls.

Kristy was doing a much better job of keeping up with the girls than Ray and I was.


We had a great time burning those great tasting Lambert's calories and having fun with Molly and Neleha.

At some point we must have decided that we burned too many calories and decided to go redeem a coupon we got from joining the zoo for a free dozen of doughnuts at Krispy Kreme.
We got a wonderful surprise when we entered the store, they handed each of us a free fresh from the oven plain glazed doughnut. We soon learned that when their red sign is on it means that they are making donuts and anyone entering the store will receive a free fresh doughnut.

They also gave the girls free hats and from then on the girls (Kristy and mine as well) favorite donuts are Krispy Kreme's. After we enjoyed our fresh warm treats we watched, through the observation window, as fresh plain glazed donuts were going through the production line.

fresh donuts being glazed

Molly and Neleha became Krispy Kreme customers for life.
I think Ray got a good taste of Missouri during his first night here, he probably gained a couple pounds while doing so. What are friends for?

Our New Apartment

Molly thought that we needed a family photo within our new apartment. So here it is.

Things are slowly coming together for us in our new place. We still have a ton of stuff in Ohio that Kristy's parents have been very generous in storing for us at their place. We intend to bring a little back every time we visit them. One big plus to living in an apartment that I always took for granted is the maintenance free environment it provides. Sure things may go wrong, appliance will breakdown, the grass will need to be cut, but someone else has to do it all. I never really minded doing any of it but it was always a time issue, being in school, especially now, time is a luxury. What little time I have left after school responsibilities I like to spend in more important activities, like spending time with Kristy and the girls. That has been nice, we have actually been able to spend more time with each other than we have in a very long time. Things are very well.

Bass Pro Shops - "Outdoor World"

One can not live in Springfield, Missouri without coming to terms with the very prominent presence of Bass Pro. It is so bad that when you receive directions anywhere in the city from a local, they always start with "do you know where Bass Pro is?" You see Springfield is home of the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops and this is reflected in their "grandaddy" Outdoor World retail store. A three story sporting goods store which encompasses many aquariums, a very large indoor waterfall, three restaurants, an extensive boat display showroom, and all the outdoor/sporting equipment that one could ever want. On top of all this they also have a catalog outlet store that sells refurbished and discontinued items at huge discounts. They also own a multi-million dollar National Wildlife and Fish Museum. Both of these are within walking distance of Bass Pro.

Although I was able to take in some quick visits to Bass Pro with Molly and Neleha, on this visit Kristy was able to come along and we were able to take our time in checking the place out.

The girls love this particular aquarium because it has a huge 125 lbs catfish that is usually very active. He is HUGE!


The photo above is the one everyone gets when they first come to Bass Pro. In fact it is on all the billboards coming into the city.

There are little pools and streams full of trout throughout the store which really gives you the feel of being outdoors.

The 3 story waterfall also adds to that atmosphere.



We sure had a good time exploring the Outdoor World inside Bass Pro.


Our exploration made us so hungry that we decided to grab a bite to eat at the McDonald's found inside Bass Pro. They also have a Starbuck's and a Hemmingways restaurant.

During our first major tour of the store we discovered that they hold daily free fish feeding shows. So a few days later we returned to watch one.

The setting is at the base of their largest aquarium which is filled with many species of fresh water fish.

A diver with a microphone is actually in the tank and hand feeds the fish. There is also a host of the show on our side of the glass that talks about the many species of fish that are in the tank and throughout the other tanks within the store.

After the show we looked at canoes and boats. Kristy got a wild idea that we could sell our current canoe to her brother since he expressed interest in it and we could take advantage of a current sale on the Bass Pro brand of canoes. She called him up and ran the idea by him.

We decided to think about the canoe idea for awhile before we actually went through with it so we went and checked out the motor boat showroom. What a fun time the girls had.


In the end Eric said he still wanted to buy our current canoe and so my sweetheart talked me in to the new canoe (and she is not a big fan of canoeing but she knows how much I love it). I'm sure I didn't put up much of a fight.

A great store that I am sure will be seeing much more of us.
p.s. check out the sign above the girls......very true indeed!