Ozark Vacation

Well we are back and I'm finally ready to write about our trip. We went on Friday the 4th of July to Lake of the Ozarks with my family. My mom and dad, my brother Justin, a family friend Jane, and Travis and I all stayed in one condo. While some of my parents friends stayed in another condo. We were only there for 4 days but WOW we definitely piled a lot into 4 days!

On Friday when we got there we somehow managed to snag a table and chairs by the pool. It was packed since it was the 4th of July. We spent the afternoon/evening by the pool. When it was time for dinner we left all of our stuff by the pool in order to save a spot for fireworks later and had a traditional 4th of July dinner, hamburgers, baked beans, suddenly salad, potato chips. My brother Justin usually works nights and had 2hours of sleep in about 36 hours cause he had to work before we left. He fell asleep after dinner and we couldn't rouse him for fireworks. After a nap, my dad joined us down by the pool. Jane is a HUGE 4th of July fan to say the least! She required us to listen to patriotic music, which I think our neighbors hated, but I kinda liked, and she was decked out in patriotic garb. We were able to see fireworks from 2-3 different areas of the lake just by sitting by the pool! It was cool enough for fireworks that we needed sweatshirts. Odd for the 4th of July!

On Saturday Travis and I woke up and went to "the strip" which has a bunch of tourist traps! Lots of Tee-shirt shops, candy stores, bumper cars/ski ball, and junk stores. We went in hopes of finding pez....we found none :(

The rest of the day was spent by the pool. Dad woke up early and got all 11 of us a huge table by 7AM so we could all have somewhere to sit/lounge. At 12 the complex hired a "one man band" to come and play oldies around the pool. It was fun for my folks, and I too, liked the music but Travis and Justin's only reply was a roll of the eyes, and an attempt to put an Ipod on...however, "Awesome Bob" was so loud the guys couldn't hear their own Ipods. Around 5 my family left for Peckers Bar and Grill. There is a huge woody woodpecker out in front of the restaurant and they have dueling pianos. We were told to be there by 6 for a table...we got there at 5:30 and then found out that the dueling pianos didn't start until 7:30 :( We had dinner and waited, and waited, and waited...finally the guys got tired of waiting and took a vehicle home. Mom, Jane and I stayed and listened for a while. It was a lot of fun! When we got back to the condo Justin and Travis had acquired fishing licenses and were fishing off the dock. Travis caught a Perch using minnows, and had 2 other bites. Justin wasn't as lucky...no bites, no catches!

Sunday and Monday were much of the same. We rented a huge pontoon boat and spent the whole day on the lake. We would cruise around looking at houses that were multi million dollar homes and drooling. Then when it would get too hot, we would pull over, and all jump in. There were rafts and life jackets to float on. After a significant time in the water dad would load us all in the boat again and we would cruise to another cove. It was a lot of fun. There wasn't a current pulling you around like there is on the river, and you could see about 3 feet under the water, again, not something you could find on the river. On Sunday we went to this place called Frankie and Louie's, it's a gas station/bar/restaurant right on the water. It's named after the Budweiser frogs Frankie and Louie. We stayed there for some time. Justin and Jane won a "washer" game. Travis and I bought some fruit ice smoothies, and my mom and dad sat and watched it all unfold. Mom did buy a cover up for her swimsuit. It was a pretty neat place. We went out around 10AM and didn't come home until 5PM! LONG DAY! I made the fatal mistake of only putting sun screen on my shoulders 1 time that day OUCH! Other than that both Travis and I did a great job adding sun screen and didn't get burnt at all. After dinner we were able to take an evening cruise. We were not allowed to take the boat out at night due to a running light being burnt out, but we stayed out until last light of day. The after dinner cruise was beautiful, but I of course forgot my camera! I made sure we would be doing the same thing the next day so I could bring it then.

Monday proved to be much of the same thing. Boating all day, dinner at the condo, and then a last cruise on the boat until dark. On Monday I spent a lot of time in the shade of the canopy due to plenty of sun the day before. It was quite hot so we did spend a lot of time in many coves cooling off. Tuesday Morning Dad, Travis and I headed home because Dad and Travis had to get back to work. We left everyone else enjoying the sun and the pool! They will return on Saturday afternoon.

We had a great time and are thankful for everyone who could go and helped make the trip possible! I love hanging out with my family, and I love traveling, so combing the two made me over the moon excited and happy. It was nice to have some quality time with everyone as we are all hard workers who often don't take enough time to relax! I hope to take another trip soon with everyone!