My mom organized a second trip to Missouri for all 10 cousins (and parents!) We set out on a Wednesday for the Missouri Ozarks. Since my car is still awaiting a new motor, she rented a vehicle for us, and also Haley's crew. We picked it up the day before, after anxiously awaiting for them to tell us they couldn't secure the 8 passenger vehicle for us.
We left just after 8am. The drive is approximately 10 hours, without stopping!
Billy, my mom, and I traded out driving shifts, and it rained on each of us! Our first stop was at a McDonald's on the far side of Indianapolis. Next up was a rest area in Illinois, with a private basement that may or may not lead to a tunnel that goes underneath the interstate.
Ernesto's viral videos showed up on my feed, and I started sending them to Billy long before I knew that they would be less than 1/2 hour out of the way to our destination! I was so excited to go see the place where all the magic happens!
The best margarita I've ever had, though I'm not much for margaritas, so maybe not the best? The food was okay, the queso was good, and William said that the quesadilla was the best he'd ever had! That said, he literally shared one with Emily and she was unimpressed. So, okay food. But we did see Ernesto leaving when we did! Sadly, not in a way that allowed me to get a picture with him. = (
My mom drove the final stretch, which took us through Jefferson City, where we stopped at an Aldi for breakfast supplies.
Feeling like we made it, 30 minutes before we arrived at our destination.
We did make it, with some additional notes from Haley who had to figure out how to get there when the GPS lied. Upon arrival, we found our cool cups with custom stickers that they brought for us to help keep track of our drinks!
After a tiring drive, it was an early bedtime for most of the old adults!
Waking up on the lake is never disappointing!
The next morning, we started planning our day. The only paid for event was an escape room at four in the afternoon. Antics while waiting for everyone to get ready.
We finally decided to do a cave tour, and of course, picked the one closest to us and the escape room. Some places would have been quite near, as the crow flies, or by boat, but driving made them very distant!
The one we chose was in a state park, and it was beautifully lush and green!
Our tour guide told us some history and general information before we started.
We crossed a bridge from the information center to get to the cave entrance. It was an enchanting area.
Everyone got a lantern!
I'd never gone on a cave or cavern tour before, so I'm not sure how this one compares, but it was short and sweet, and not scary in the least!
We only saw two salamanders during our trip. They were quite small.
These stalactites looked like an ood to me.
This was the largest area in the cave. "Angel Shower" is what she called it, and it was impressive. Most definitely the crown jewel of the tour. Our guide told us that they had tried to map from where the water came from using dyes, but they still didn't know from where the water came nor where it flowed as it left. Somewhere between 3000-10000 gallons of water flow through the feature every day!
I liked Cali's picture of the salamander the best, but it makes it look huge, and it was still just a little thing.
In this picture you can see me taking a picture of a hole.
And this is the picture of said hole. We couldn't get the light to illuminate the inside, but there were lots of little nooks like that.
I really wanted to touch the remaining clay that the previous cavern caretakers didn't remove, because it looked really soft, but I didn't!
The drops were getting us all, but I caught William's reaction. lol.
Baby rocks! She pointed out that stalagmites were much rounder than stalactites, because of the way that they form, and it was something that once known you can't unsee!
The path was a raised cement one, and for the most part was just a curving line through two solid sides, but I liked this curve that had a shelf between parts of our tour group.
There was one rock that we were allowed to touch, and everyone took a turn to feel what a baby rock feels like: smooth and wet.
An ancient black bear wandered quite far into the cave, and left his mark!
Unique formations everywhere!
This low area was at the very end of our tour, poor Chris had to duck! This is where we all turned off our lanterns at the same time, and we were in total darkness! It was wild!
I liked this rock, because it looked like a wolf to me.
Coming back out into the warmth we saw fish in the water, and there were spiders around. Aside from the salamanders, there was no life in the cave. Apparently, the bat population has been decimated by white nose syndrome, and it's too cool for snakes.
Like walking out into the middle of nowhere!
I really wanted to take a picture of all 10 of the kids on the bridge, but the next group came out around the time that I started rounding everybody up, so we had to wait.
The entrance to the cave from afar!
It was our turn again!
There were other areas in the park to explore, but after the cave it was lunchtime.
We ended up at Culver's, and a bunch of the kids answered the receipt survey to get a free custard. Haley was in charge of that!
We still had a few hours until our escape room appointment, so we went to another state park that was nearby.
The water just calls to the children!
William was not amused when Leon smashed part of his sand structure.
We arrived right on time for the escape room, but one of our rooms had been damaged by a previous group, and so we were switched out to a different room. There was plenty to do while waiting though!
Cali and Avia split us up into two teams, so that it would be 'even.' Our group was the one who was changed over and ended up in a Slytherin Harry Potter Room. It was sooooooo dark in our first room, and didn't get much better as we progressed. Our room was filled with complex single puzzles, versus a bunch of smaller puzzles, so I stayed back trying to let the younger ones have first go at them. We ultimately succeeded with a bunch of hints from our game master, but it felt cheap, and wasn't my favorite escape room experience.
The other group was in an Egyptian themed room and seemed to have a much better go of it, except for the flute puzzle*. lol
When we were perusing the activities guide that morning, I spied a place that was named "Captain Ron's" and it just so happened that it was super close to where we staying! It was 1.4 miles according to google, and a 30 minute walk. Easy peasy, right? No. It was seriously uphill both ways!!! And the road was limestone rock, which added to the difficulty. We were definitely sweaty by the time we arrived! And my mom and Haley made the walk back to grab the vehicles so that the kids (and other old adults**) didn't have to walk back!
At some point, this boat was a seafaring craft on the lake, or at least somewhere in Missouri, because it had the government issued tags. I neglected to check whether or not they were still valid.
They brought us out these water cups, that you could take as a souvenir! I think each Haley's & My family took one, but left most of them behind.
There were some tiny baby ducks nearby!
Cali and Emily coordinated bringing dresses, much to the dismay of the younger girls.
The five youngest spent lots of time in the water, until it cooled off, then William and Leon went to sit in the car. The three youngest girls swam the entire time!
Even Elizabeth and Alice came out of their shells here, it was amazing! They were playing volleyball on Cali and Emily's team for a while!
According to the waitress, they had two 15 tops inside, and we were the third one to come in, so it was quite a wait, but since the kids were having fun, it didn't feel too bad!
The sunset was beautiful! We couldn't have asked for better weather for our trip!
The next day was a 'home day.' We spent the day at the Airbnb enjoying the amenities that come with a Lakehouse. Fishing, swimming, firepit (and smores!) That said, Billy and I ventured out to gas up the van for the following morning, swing by the grocery store for a few supplies, and en route, saw signs for a rummage sale! Billy loves me and so he let me scope creep, and we found a few things to bring home with us!
The day after we were due to leave was Haley's birthday and Father's day, so we celebrated both! Avia had collected some Hawaiian decorations, and Grace made cookies! We even remembered the candle and lighter! I found a Father's day cake at the grocery store when we went out that morning, so we had cake and cookies!
The rest of the day was relaxing and lovely!
Boys watching their dads play chess***!
Chris brought a bunch of fishing gear, and William cast the net for hours and hours!
Avia surrounded by all 10 grandkids (in descending age order moving away from her.)
It's Avia's 67th birthday this year, so the kids were showing 6-7.
Alice saved up and spent a lot of money to get this specialty backpack. It took forever to arrive, because it was limited run, but it came in before our trip, and she was so excited to bring it on our trip. She doesn't plan on bringing it to school, so the only time she gets to show it off is on vacation, or when she has people over.
Juliet had a "ruined" slightly burnt marshmallow, so when she showed it to me, I ate it, because those are the best, and this was her reaction! Shocked pickachu face!
Upon our return, we set up a family photo album, where everyone could dump all of their pictures from the trip, and lots of us took pictures of this sunset too!
This was Emily's panoramic:
They found out how to turn on the lights!
Our final morning came too quickly, as the end of all vacations do, and it was go time. We tried to get out the door as early as we could, but the clock was in central time, telling us we had more time than we actually did.
We didn't have any rain on the way home. We stopped at a shady Jack in the Box on the outskirts of St. Louis. Our next stop was at the recently renovated rest stop in Indiana. Billy and I saw it under construction when we drove home from St. Louis last year. It did not disappoint!
There was a play area where the kids got out some energy before climbing back in for the second half of our trip!
Even Billy took a turn on the slack rope!
Since the landscaping was new, there weren't any big trees, but they did have lots of pretty flowers and shrubs!
We stopped outside of Indianapolis for one more meal, at Cane's. Traffic was really heavy, due to a concert in the area.
Our final stop was only an hour or so from home, and was just for gas. It was late, around 10pm, but we still had the last tiny bit of sunlight, thanks to being right against the solstice!
It was a good trip, just enough go and enough rest. The trip was long, but having a rental car made it far less stressful. Everyone enjoyed hanging out with Haley's family, if only for a few days.
Now we're looking toward our next adventure, another long drive, but hopefully lots of fun!
later days
*3 separate people told me how annoying the flute puzzle was.
***One of the things we found at the rummage sale was a chess/checkers set. Since the chess set at the cabin was missing some pieces, we grabbed it. Unsurprisingly, the second set was not complete either, but William helped me set up the board using pieces from both in order to form a complete game! We left the set behind, so they could keep it if they wanted.
