Ozark - Season 2022 - The Cave

Two of the families had to leave on Friday morning, so it was just the Chovanecs and Gradys for Friday! Given the smaller group, we decided to do some excursions since logistics would be easier. Of course, we still couldn’t all fit in a single car… Damn big families!

After seeing off the other two families, and after some breakfast leftovers, we headed out towards Bridal Cave, a cave about 15 miles away. The drive was nice. Along the way we saw lots of interesting signs, including one for a bar called the “Glory Hole,” one for a mini-golf course called “Putt Pirates” who asked you to “put your balls in our puttholes,” and yet another one for a sausage place that bragged that “nobody beats our meat.” The realization came all at once that the Ozarks had a thing for double entendres. And they weren’t bad, honestly! Sadly we weren’t able to visit any of these classy establishments..

The cave was nice! We all paid for a 60 minute tour through the cave where we saw… cave stuff… But it was a nice diversion and change of pace.

On our way back from the cave we decided to take the gang out to Captain Rons, a, wait for it, pirate themed restaurant on the lake. It was actually a really cool setup, with an outdoor bar area and a swimming beach that the kids could mess around in while the adults did other things. The food was fine, nothing special, but it was nice to get out and do some touristy things again.

Back at the cabin by about 3:00, we used our last opportunity to do more paddle boarding, swimming, and drinking. The kids self organized a cannonball contest, where the goal seemed to be solely to see how wet they could make me. The water is so warm there and the air so hot, it really didn’t bother me!

For dinner, we finished off the last of the leftovers so there wouldn’t be so much to take back, and we largely succeeded. Then we cleaned up and packed what we could in anticipation for leaving early the next morning.