Diamond diggin'

Darn it.  We considered going to the Crater of Diamonds State Park when we left Hot Springs, but decided we did not want to deal with the mud and would rather tootle over the hills to Branson than take the interstate and 50 mile detour to the park.  

Turns out that would have been a great day for diamond digging...the largest diamond in three years was found at the park on Tuesday, 6.19 carats.  Just so you know, it was not us.

What we DID do yesterday was see the New Shanghai Circus acrobats in Branson, MO.  Such an amazing group of highly talented people.  I think our favorite was the guy who balanced on a board on top of a roller...but that was not the main part of his skill, the balancing was as easy as standing on two feet for this guy, the skill was that using the balance board he flipped bowls onto his head and caught them, up to five at a time...and then he flipped five spoons into five bowls simultaneously and he did this all while standing and kneeling on the balance board!  Amazing. 

Oh, and he also was in the 'chorus line' doing group juggling of hats, diving through hoops and doing back flips across the stage.   I wish I had taken a picture of this guy, but I was sitting there with my mouth open instead of taking pictures.  But I did get a couple of pictures of some of the acrobats, the two guys are 11 and 12 year olds and do some amazing dual contortions. 

Had to come back and add this picture I found on the web.  It is NOT the fellow we saw last night, and this guy is 'only' tossing three bowls in this picture, but still....I wanted you all to see this feat and particularly notice that there is absolutely nothing on the bottom of the board to keep it from rolling off the barrel.  I could never, even with years of practice, manage to balance or stand still on the balance board.  Nor could I ever flip bowls and spoons up to precise locations in the air.  Much less do them both at the same time.