Ozark’s With Old & New Friends
As our adventures continue, friends frequently join us along the way. Craig, Amy and Wally Moore are some of the more frequent travelers. This time instead of them crashing our party, we joined them on their family adventure to the Midwest! They had planned a family vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, and gave us the invite to tag along with Amy’s family. We are excited to get a chance to meet Amy’s parents (Bob & Susan) and her Sister (Sara), her boyfriend (Brian) and her two kids (Zach & Aubrey). Wally could not have been more excited to hear that we were coming! He knew that I am always a sucker for some chicken snacks and tummy rubs! Collectively, we are all excited for a little lake time and some good old midwestern fun! We also made a bonus stop in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This is one of our favorite spots in Arkansa, and the adventure lived up to our expectations.
MIle: 44,912
Quote of the Blog: “Wherever it is you may be, it is your friends who make the world.” - Chris Bradford
Song of the Blog: “Riviera Paradise” - Stevie Ray Vaughn
With Amity working four 10hr shifts, we had an extra day before meeting up with the Moores to use up. With Eureka Springs being on the way to Osage Beach, it was a no-brainer for us to spend a night there. Eureka Springs will always live in our minds as one of the most unique and quirky places ever. It is nothing like the rest of Arkansas. Full of a rich music and entertainment culture, mixed with amazing food and drinks while being topped off with the most unique architecture in the state. We found a spot on AirBnB that was perfectly situated in the main area of downtown. This is necessary here, because of two reasons. The first is the fact that this town is built on a hillside, and getting to and from places includes a ton of stairs and vertical change up and down. Secondly, the parking her can be really bad, and getting ourselves parked at the rental and leaving the car there was great! When we got into our rental, we had to laugh. It was one of the smallest rentals we have ever been in; with there only being about 16” of space between the corner of the bed and the wall for you to walk through. It was an old building that had a lot of character, and gave us everything we needed. Including a great balcony for some relaxation.
Our night our in Eureka Springs started at a cocktail lounge in one of the oldest buildings in town. The spot is called, Jack Rabbet’s Whiskey Bar. We were able to find a great spot on the balcony to do some people watching and enjoy some music happening in their town park next to the building. This was a great start to the night. While sitting there, we made dinner reservations for a place that will always be in our minds when talking about “the best place we have ever had dinner”. It is called, Grotto Wood Fire Grill & Wine Cave, and is amazing! This will be our second time here, and we cant be more excited. The fact that it is built into a cave that rests at the bottom of a massive building downtown sets the most unique dinning setting we have found in our travels. The food and drinks live up to every expectation. We had a little more time to kill before our reservation so we walked down to a pub called, The Cathouse Lounge. For a little while, we were the only ones there. It was fun to have the bar to ourselves before it eventually packed out. We then headed over to The Grotto for an amazing dinner! I can tell you right now, I am excited to go back there again the next time we are here! We thought the night would end with a quick night cap drink at the Upstairs Bar above The Grotto. We were wrong! While enjoying our “night cap”, we met a man by the name of Gary. He was an eclectic man that owned property here in Eureka springs. One glass of wine with him turned into 3 bottles of wine with him. Our night cap turned into closing down the bars. Gary made us laugh, feel welcome and lived up to the cultural elements that make Eureka Springs so special. The next day we both had strong hangovers to thank Gary for!
The alarm clocks went off to early, and we both packed up and hit the road for Osage Beach, Missouri. This will be our third trip to the Lake of the Ozarks, while Amity has been here several times throughout her life. This area is like no other I have been to. Craig and Amy were there for a few days before we got there, so they got to sink their teeth into the beast a little. Craig called Lake of the Ozarks the “Redneck Riviera”. They immediately were struck with the same question I have always had, why are there so many MASSIVE boats? We were glad to hear to they were getting the true Ozarks experience.
When we showed up, we immediately met them for some exploring. We all met at Bridal Cave, which is so fitting for a Missouri, because it is known as the Cave State. This cave is right on the shore of the Lake of the Ozarks. For only $15 you can get a tour deep into the cave. They have done a great job of making the cave system accessible, while maintaining the purity and unique qualities of the cave features. This was a great cave experience for the entire crew! It was not too sketchy or hard to get around in, but still had some amazing views and features that cannot be found anywhere else on earth. Craig and I made our jokes, Amity and Amy chatted and stayed ahead of the group, Sara continually hit her head on the top of the cave, while Susan and Bob crushed it! Sara’s kids were blown away with the vastness of the cave system. It’s always fun to see the young mind try to understand the significance of something like spelunking. We followed up our cave experience with some drinks at The Cave Bar on the lake. This spot is everything we would expect from a lake side bar here. Swim up bars, with people who haven’t left the pool in hours, tons of docks with boats that are way too big for the average person to be driving and live music! We had lunch there and caught up with everyone. It’s great to have such good friends that allow us to join in on their family activities!
Following the lake adventure, we got checked into our hotel and headed over to where they were staying. They had a great spot on the lake, but unfortunately it was riddled with tons of HOA rules that kept us from doing anything fun, like hanging our towels out to dry on the balcony. Craig and I found out ways to sneak in some fun while keeping the peace with the HOA. It was actually kind of funny to read through the rules and then see how many guests were disregarding them. We chatted it up, enjoyed some beers (the Moore’s brought us some Cold Smokes from Montana to enjoy!) and had dinner with them. Time flex by and we had to call it a night. When we got back to our hotel for the night, we drove up to four police cars parked at the front desk area of the hotel with a camera crew filming them. Obviously curious and concerned, we did some digging on the internet to try to figure out what was going on. We found out that the Osage Beach PD was working on a documentary similar to COPS. Then when we got to the actual entrance to the hotel around midnight, we found that a family from India was still cooking dinner and appeared to be living in the hotel. If you know Indian food, you know that they don’t skimp on the spices! The entire hotel smelled of rich curry and had young kids running around. What an experience!
We were able to get up early and head over to the Moore’s condo for some breakfast and to watch some of the Olympics the family. They were very excited to watch the first USA Men’s Basketball game. Following this we headed back down to the lake for some more “Redneck Riviera”. On the way, we stopped at a Frozen Custard spot called, Randy’s. This is not to be confused with Andy’s, which was just down the block from Randy’s. We were excited to put the two spots to the test to find out which was better. I personally did not think that there could be a better custard spot than Andy’s, but I was quite surprised!! Randy’s was BOMB! Best part about this spot is that you can customize what you are getting way more than Andy’s. Now don’t get me wrong, the Key Lime Pie Concrete at Andy’s is all time, but… I got a Nerds and Cheesecake Chunk Concrete at Randy’s and it was a mix of Nostalgia, Deliciousness and NERDS! Randy’s in Osage Beach, MO is officially the best Frozen Custard we have had!
We then headed down to the Landshark Bar & Grill down at the Margaritaville complex down on Lake of the Ozarks. This was the first lakeside bar Amity took me to here, so we are familiar with what we are getting into. The weather was perfect for a day on the lake. Not too humid, but still a great day to take in the sun and warmth. While we were there, we got to see a few funny things. One of the best moment Craig and I actually missed. While we were out checking out some boats, we missed an announcement from the band playing at the bar. They informed the crowed that there was a “red pontoon boat in the marina that is sinking!” Amity was able to see the boat, and it was full of water and taking more on. She watched the family that was using the boat all pile onto the boat (baby included) and drive away. She did not see where they were going, and if they made it. We are guessing so, as we never heard more about it. Still a crazy event, and I cannot believe Craig and I missed it.
After a little while at Margaritaville with the crew, we had to say our goodbyes and make our move to head back to Arkansas. We are grateful to have such great friends in The Moore’s (especially Wally!), and a huge thank you to the entire family for letting us crash your summer trip! Glad we got to share some adventures together. There is not much time for us left in Arkansas. We still have some radical adventures planned! So until next time, Live Rad everyone!