Big Cedar

We were honored to have been invited to spend the Easter holidays with my BFF and her family at Big Cedar just south of Branson, Missouri.

It rained and rained and rained some more but that did not dampen our spirits one bit!

We trekked down the hill to the big house where most everyone was staying.

We had this spectacular view of Table Rock Lake from the balcony.

One afternoon we took advantage of the poker chips that were in the house and I taught Lisa and Paula to play poker. Of course Paula had a flush for her first hand. Emma helped her grandma Carolyn with her hand.

It wasn't long before the crowd grew and Robert and Paul joined in. Obviously this was not their first game.

Ed and Becky seemed to stay busy in the kitchen but we did not mind. Ed's steaks were the best I have ever eaten and I lost count of how many of Becky's deviled eggs I ate.

Most of the adult activity seemed to center around the kitchen. John David is working on his photography skills and perhaps Paul is checking on a recipe for us?!

Drew and Becca are learning some trivia.

Soon Paula leads the way while seven youngsters got there food and convened at the table.

Carolyn observed that Stephen appears to like deviled eggs as much as I do.

Andrew supervised the egg dying while Emma and Erin were busy doing all the work.

And Robert finally got his turn in the kitchen when it was time to do the dishes. We hardly saw the younger generation except at meal time. Downstairs there was a pool table, a large den and television, and a theater.

Hey, Larry! Now what are you up to?

Larry, Robert, Lisa, Paula, Leon and I went over to Buzzard's Bar to listen to Clay play the guitar, sing, and share some humor! Uh oh, Paula, I think you've been caught.

Erin, Lisa and Paul.

Before most of the folks left we convened at our place for lunch. With three teenage boys it seems food is always being served.

Leon, Becky, Lisa, Ed and I went over to the Devil's Pool restaurant for a fine evening meal. That way we got to bring leftovers home with us!

Leon and I were quite pleased with our accomodations.

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Becky, Ed, Leon and I often gathered here and usually had a fire in the fireplace as the temperatures were fairly cool. We stayed in a different location from the others.

The gift shop is a fun place to visit and of course Becky, Lisa and I did.

Big Cedar is owned by the folks who have Bass Pro shops and sprawls along the shore of Table Rock Lake in Ridgedale, Missouri. The ammenities here are hard to surpass.  Had the weather been better we would have swum, visited the hot tub, hiked numerous nature trails and done some geocaching. But we would not have had any better visit. It was a fabulous few days.

Trout were everywhere. It sure made me want to go flyfishing.

We finally gathered our belonging and said our long goodbyes.

We headed south down the winding road and left the Ozarks behind us. Everything is such a lush spring green. Storms danced all over the state but we managed to miss even the rain.

The streams were swollen and there were several areas where the water spilled down the sides of the hills along highway 65.

We got home just in time to say goodbye to Hayden as he was heading to the airport to fly home.

We caught Patrick on a wink but asleep he was not!

Arkies and Okies

The Central Oklahoma Geocachers held a spring fling and it sounded like a fun place to go for a spring weekend getaway.

We set up camp at the Beavers Bend State Park. The Mountain Fork River was dammed to create Broken Bow Lake and meandered through the state park and our camping area below the dam.

The theme for the weekend was the sixties.

Leon only wishes he could still move like that!

We did our share in dressing the part in keeping with the theme.

The first night we had a potluck in the pavilion in our Buckeye camping section. There were over two hundred people registered for the event. We were excited that one of the 31 cancelled their reservation and we got a spot at the last minute.

What a fun way to sign the log in for the chomp fest - on an apron!

Beavers Bend is well-known for the trout fishing. The stream is stocked every week but I could not find time to fish and forgot my waders.

We decorated our campsite in keeping with the theme. We may not have won the contest but I will guarantee that we were the most authentic. We even had some Grateful Dead music adding ambiance.

And let's not forget our olfactory senses - so we burned some incense.

Some folks went all out for the fashion show held at the ampitheater alongside the river. 

Why yes, we did participate - had the only birkenstocks in the group! We only knew the day before that we were going so we did not have time to sew or order an extravagant costume.

There were seventy temporary caches hidden throughout the park by those attending. We did find 35. It was fun to look at them all after that contest ended. I think I got some new ideas!

This was the view from our hippie pad..not bad! It was especially nice the final night we were there after the barking dogs left. We enjoyed s'mores over the neighbors' campfire while watching the full moon rise above the river.

Our spot alongside the river was level and in the summer there would be plenty of shade. I would return to Beavers Bend, perhaps with my waders the next time.