Well, as you read this, I’ll have just returned with my wife from Branson, Missouri, after enjoying a relaxing weekend which included a trip to the premier theme park in mid-America.

The park is Silver Dollar City, and its official Web site is the Family First pick of the day.

Silver Dollar City was a very important part of my childhood. Countless theme parks have opened since this place began enchanting youngsters in the early 1960s, but they have held their own with them.

As a child, we used to make yearly sojourns to Branson, then a sleepy fishing village on the shores of Lake Taneycomo, one of many formed by repeated damming of the once-wild White River.

In those days, entertainment consisted of fishing, seeing the Shepherd of the Hills show, and going to Silver Dollar City.

Countless moons later, I am happy to report that the theme park’s rides that I enjoyed as a child still exist, and are accompanied by some amazing newer ones as well!

The theme of the park is life in Missouri circa 1870. Skilled craftsmen perform feats of smithery, steam-driven woodwork, creation of hand-forged knives, glassblowing, quilting, and much more time-honored handiwork.

While I don’t recommend every theme park (I’m still stinging over paying five bucks for a hot dog in 1981 at southern California’s Magic Mountain!), I give venerable Silver Dollar City my endorsement. Check out its site and see for yourself.

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Tags: family first, silver dollar city, theme park, lake taneycomo, missouri