Greetings from Lake of the Ozarks!

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Osage Beach, to be specific.

It's nice here, shows well. Big ol' lake with plenty of recreation. When we checked in I asked the guy where we should have dinner. He directed us to Dog Days which is an enormous multi-level outdoor bar and grill with a pool and a swim up bar right on the lake. WINNER!

We ate fabulous steamed shrimp - big fatties - and bowls of Asian veggies, meat, and rice. The guy said their burgers are killer and everything on the menu sounded good, but Asian heats up well for breakfast and I order with an eye toward leftovers.

We're only here for a few days but I'm pretty sure we'll be back for a longer stretch.

Lake of the Ozarks is a large area and what you like to do determines where you want to stay. Osage Beach is where the action is, with boat rentals, marinas, bars, restaurants, etc. Other areas are more secluded and quiet.

Lake of the Ozarks | Midwest lake vacation | Osage beach Missouri

Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks is the Midwest's premier lake resort destination, with boating, outdoor escapes, shopping and so much more. Plan a visit with us!

www.funlake.com

 

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We tripped around the area yesterday and found Lake Ozark. It has a proper "strip" where tourists can walk around shopping, eating, drinking, go-karting, and putt-putt golfing.

Lake of the Ozarks is an enormous area. The lake itself stretches for 93 miles. There are little towns and recreation areas dotted around, some geared toward vacation and some not. I did a good bit of online recon before deciding on Osage Beach.

The lake itself is the big attraction. If you don't want to fish or boat or do lake things, there's no real reason for you to come here. Although if you don't have kids in tow, you could do a lot worse than to spend a weekend hanging out at Dog Days.

Monday we head back to Branson, where they are in mask disarray and divided into two warring factions. It should be interesting.....

 

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Swim up bars are a thing here - there are at least three of them in Osage Beach. Today we went to Backwater Jack's for lunch and there was about a thousand people there.

Those Memorial Day pics that caused the progs to shake their angry little fists were taken at either Dog Days, Backwater Jack's, or Redhead. LOTO is enjoying a 60% increase in tourism with most of the other regional tourist destinations passing mask laws.

 

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Driving around here is a bit of a nightmare. The major roadways go every whichaway, turn into something else, then turn back into their original road. It typically doesn't take me long to be able to get around a small city without GPS, but here I can't even get a handle on NSEW. Lake Ozark feels like it's south of Osage Beach, but it's north; when you go to Sunrise Beach you feel like you're going east but you're heading west - like that. They have roads named SH-MM and SH-HH and SH-KK but they're all over the place and don't go in alphabetical order.

They's some ficked up retnecks that laid out this area.

Also I got stung by a wasp at Backwater Jack's. It was ridiculously painful, and now it itches. Grrrr....

Tomorrow we head back to Branson!