Ky was confused on why he wasn't floating...
Ky's favorite water activity--throwing things into the water...with Daddy & Alaina in the distance.
Daddy & Alaina
Alaina's pool/playpen
100 year old burnt down castle in Missouri
Natural Bridge
Hiking under the "natural" bridge
After going down a bizillion steps, we finally reach water!
The steps wore Alaina out.
But she had fun!
The "narrow" passage!
The natural amphitheatre---which we ran through due to being attacked by flies & mosquitoes
Cooling off
Being tough!
Our campsite
the water view from our campsite
Incredible to wake up to this Every morning!
Not quite as good as Randy's...but Rob disagrees...
The swinging bridge
another exhausting hike
Deer always by our campsite!
our view...again, Can you tell I liked our view?
a horse track!
Angel falls---very rare cave find!
beautiful stalagmites
straw stalactites
Always looking up!
Opposite side of the lake
Baby feet & daddy feet
Testing the waters...
S'mores!
Last lunch!
First off, I have to thank our friends Peter & Becky for loaning their tent to us. Two days before our big trip, we realized we left out tent up north and then we panicked about when we were going to find the time to make the 5 hour trip to get it. Thanks to Facebook & good friends though, we were able to borrow a tent and save ourselves the miserable driving time.
We camped at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We arrived pretty late on Sunday--I think it was closing in on 7. The office was closed, so we were a bit confused on what to do. (Thank goodness for camp hosts.) We weren't able to get firewood, so no camp fire, but that turned out to be the best. We quickly got camp set up, and fed the kids while we worked--nothing fancy, just sandwiches. We then put them to bed. We gave Ky a flashlight to sleep with (which he loved.) Alaina struggled to go down in the Pak n' Play-and who can blame her, new place, new noises. We just ended up turning in early as well and put Alaina on our air mattress with us (notice she weaseled her way into our bed once again!) We figured it would be rude of us to let her cry.
The next day we spent getting our bearings. We searched for a camp map (you would think that it wouldn't be that hard to find one---and yet it was--), enjoyed some time at our campsite--what a view! Did you see the pics?! We were right on the lake! And the woods was on the other side! It was fabulous! We also went to the beach. The water was extremely warm, but we were a little disappointed by how rocky the beach was, as well as the water was just murky. We quickly figured out that this campground was more for people who had boats and such. This campground did not rent boats or canoes or anything, which was a bummer. The nice thing about Missouri parks was that they do not have entrance fees---however this made sense when we soon discovered how little upkeep was done with these campgrounds--and how trail walking was more like trail searching....
For our camping trip we packed an inflatable pool for Alaina. This was her "play pen" at the campsite as well as at the beach. It came in VERY handy--even though she was now mobile and able to crawl out. This idea was given to me by my pediatrician--what a smart lady!
Ky loved the beach and our campsite. All he wanted to do was throw rocks in the water anyway. And that is exactly what he did. Rocks, sticks, whatever he could find. Alaina wanted to eat the rocks and sticks, but she also enjoyed getting in the water too.
That afternoon we spent planning our following days and meals. We then enjoyed a lovely campfire dinner and put the kids successfully to bed! YEAH!
The next morning we had trails on our agenda. We watched the deer (or maybe the deer watched us) while we ate our breakfast and then headed out. BTW--the deer are everywhere there---and they just wander within 10 feet of you.
Our first trail was to find the burnt down castle that had been built 100 years ago by some rich Missourian (see how well I remember this?) It was a pretty impressive castle, it was too bad that we were unable to go in it though and get a better look. After that we headed on a series of trails. One that led us under a "Natural bridge" and then down a bizillion steps to a natural fed spring. After that we hit another trail where we were attacked by mosquitoes and biting flies. Very cool trail though with a "natural amphitheatre".
As we were running (yes running) through the amphitheatre we were caught up by an ending in the trail--or not really an ending but a bizarre find...the trail stopped as there was a drop off and then there were hand holds in the rocks. Turns out we had to use the handholds to get across the drop off....Yeah--remember we are running from flies & mosquitoes--and I will also add that I had Alaina on my back and Rob had Ky on his back....We had no choice but to do it at that point. Rob went first and then guided me and then we continued our run---This reminded me of Rob and our adventures on Washington Island when we did a trail there and were swarmed by biting flies and had to run several miles....By the time we broke out of the flies we were EXHAUSTED! We got lots of water, sat down and rested--and dumped water on our heads. PHEW!
So real quick--I need to interject that other than the ampitheatre trail--there were no mosquitos in Missouri. I think I got bit 2 times and that was on that trail....I also want to add that on these trails, half of the time we felt lost. They were unmarked for the most part and overgrown in some areas...not to mention the handholds??? How was I supposed to know that the trail kept going beyond those handholds? It was Rob who figured it out. I was ready to turn around.
After we finished our hiking for the day we headed out to Randy's Frozen custard. There were two custard places in Lake of the Ozarks--Ironically Randy's and Andy's...and if you know our Aunt Sue-you would find this amusing as well. SO in honor of Aunt Sue we went to Randy's first.
I enjoyed Randy's. I got some good ice cream--however Rob was not happy with the brownie chunks in his--they were rather dry. I was most impressed by the free kiddie cones...Yeah I would go back.
We were exhausted by the time we returned to camp. We all showered--and bathed the kids in Alaina's kiddie pool (turned out to be another additional benefit to having the kiddie pool along.) We found a tick climbing up Ky's stomach--but it was all good.
The next day we were off for more adventures. We had planned a bike ride--only to find that the bike trail was really not recommended for bikes. Yes, you heard me right. Lake of the Ozarks had a bike trail--but we were advised that it was not good for bikes. So in other words--we lugged our bikes all that way FOR NOTHING...Another bummer at the park.
After lunch and a relaxing nap, we headed to the opposite side of the lake to visit the cave. This was very fun. We had a great time. Ky especially enjoyed the flashlight--and that I always purposely pushed him under the dripping stalactites. It was fun for him.
We saw "Angel Falls" which is a group of stalactities that basically pour water. It was beautiful--and rare. I think they said there are only 8 known similar stalactite formations--and this is the only publically owned one.
At one point in the cave, I felt something crawling up my leg. I grabbed it and looked at in the flashlight--turned out to be a tick! YUCK! Anyway--after we enjoyed the cave (and once we were in daylight) I figured that I best check myself for ticks. Turns out I found several more on me--then I took off my shoes. There were at least 10 baby ticks on my socks. This is when I really started to freak. They must have gotten in my shoes at the campsite (I left my shoes outside the tent.) NASTY! I ended up throwing out my socks & bagging my shoes (which are still in a plastic bag.) How gross! When we got back to the campsite, I took a very thorough shower. Normally ticks don't really bother me--but the amount that were on me at that second--UGH--I am not sure I will ever recover! GROSS! So no mosquitos in Missouri (except the Ampitheatre trail), but LOTS of Ticks!
Our full day at Lake of the Ozarks we travelled across the lake again (in driving terms--around the lake) and enjoyed the beach and checked out the primitive camping. Ky once again enjoyed throwing sticks in the water. We then tried out the infamous Andy's custard--which Rob thought was better than Randy's. I guess Andy's is a chain. I kind of got that feeling. Like I said, I preferred Randy's. Anyway, we also drove across the swinging bridges. I guess these are kind of rare and it was a lot more hyped up than what it was. It was pretty much in the middle of no where and just kind of noisy as we drove over. Nothing spectacular--but it was one more thing we could cross off our list. We were also hoping to go to the other beach (there are only 2 beaches open to the public) but it was closed due to bacteria levels--another bummer!
Our last day, we took a trail (which again was unlabeled much of the journey.) Horses also travel this trail, so Ky had fun checking out the horseshoe prints. He also stumbled once and fell in some horse poop (well--really only his hand), but it was pretty funny because for the rest of the day he kept saying "I fell in horse poop!" After that we hit the beach for one last hurrah and then packed up the van. Within minutes of leaving, it started raining. It had not rained one drop while we were there and the weather had been perfect (remember it was 100 degrees the day before we went camping.) Each day was in the mid 80's and night in the lower 60's. We could not have asked for better weather.
Overall the park was pretty good. We would not camp there again though unless we had some type of watercraft. The wildlife was crazy--coons had no problem trampling through your site--when you were within feet of them. The deer as well. One time I was walking back from the bathroom at night and I was literally almost ran over by two deer. They ran right in front of me--and really frightened me (it was dark!) The camp also doesn't do a lot to protect the trash from the coons--The coons open the trash bins and strew it all over.
We had a good time though and it was a successful trip for 2 little ones....Stay tuned to part 3 of our vacation--St. Louis!
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