Well, guys for
all those times that the "little woman" dragged you
shopping this is pay back 
time. While traveling through Missouri
in route to Branson we passed through a town called Springfield,
Missouri. After seeing several signs for the Bass Pro Shop I knew
that we just couldn't pass through without
stopping there. To be truthful I really kind of thought "Oh
yeah, I'll do this story for the guys (yawn)". But I want to
tell you this had to be one of the most spectacular stores I have seen in a
long time. Would you believe this store features 
more than
300,000 square feet of outdoor adventures? You have to understand
that this is the National Headquarters for Bass Pro. They sell
everything you could ever want for hunting, fishing, or any
outdoor activities. In addition they have a section that sells
RV's and boats. As you walk in the main lobb
y you see animal
trophies all over the walls. Then you see the beautiful fireplace that they have just inside the main door.
As RV'ers of course we had to go and look at their stock of
Tracker RV's. They had some strange looking fifth wheels that I
had never 
seen before. After that we perused the boat section.
There were a couple of small snack bars and a beautiful
restaurant called Hemingway's that was on the balcony level that
overlooked the interior of the store. The food was
fantastic! After having filled our tummies we went off looking at
this and that. They had one area that featured classes on fishing
reel repair. I don't think this guy at the left finished the
class. Either that or he's contemplating a whole new way of
fishing for the Raccoon family. We looked at guns in the gun
department. And right next to the gun department they had
an
indoor shooting range. They had clothing ranging from cold
weather cammies to hot weather gear. There was one section that
had footwear for everyone in the family. They even had a jewelry
counter for us ladies. As we wandered around (by now somewhat
footsore) we found several large aquariums in 
different
parts of the building. I understand from their brochures that
they have regularly scheduled feeding times for the fish. There
was also a small trout pool. Next there was this lovely dancing
bear and I just couldn't pass up a little spin around the dance floor. After we had finally tired of looking at the different
sales departments we decided to take a look at their
"little" Fish and Wildlife Museum. There is a charge
for entry into the museum but it was will worth it. Folks I'm
here to tell you this is no little museum. The folks that created
it did a really fine job. The museum features Trophies and
Records, African/Asian animals, Oceans, Dioramas and Collections
of different adventure
items; such as, fishing reels,
fishing lures, etc. The Dioramas are some of the finest I've
seen. They have no glass between you and the animals which makes
it seem so much more real. We were able to meet Rick Collins who
is the Wildlife Operations Manager. We also found out that they
are currently in the process of building a new wing
to house a huge new museum. In addition they are
building a new Bass Pro store in Cincinnati Ohio (our old home
town).
Finally, when our feet couldn't take anymore we decided to head
out to our truck having spent at least 5 hours inside the store.
For once, I never heard a word of "shopping complaint"
from my hubby. I understand that Bass Pro has several stores
around the U.S.