Still in Lake of the Ozarks

We encountered a situation while here in the Lake of the Ozarks that is changing our plans somewhat.  Over the weekend my niece’s husband was involved in an accident that ended up requiring emergency surgery on Tuesday evening.  He is recovering well and should be out of the hospital on Thursday or Friday.  Presently we are working out logistics of getting them, their kids and their trailer safely back to Houston.  Most likely I will be using our truck to take their trailer back and then return to Lake of the Ozarks to pick up Fran and move on to the Chicago area. 

Since the last posting we did some additional sightseeing.  We went to Ha Ha Tonka State Park to see their castle ruins, natural bridge and to have a picnic.

The castle ruins date back to the 1900’s when a man began building a huge stone mansion on the top of a bluff overlooking the lake.  Sadly he died a year after construction began but his sons completed the project then a fire destroyed it, except for the stone walls.  Looking at what is left you can imagine how large of a house it was and the views are spectacular.

Ruins of the mansion

View from overlook near the mansion

The other sight to see is a natural bridge that was made by water flowing under rock until a large opening was created.

We had great time at the park.

This has been a beautiful place to visit and I can see why the boaters love it so much.  The lake is huge so there is much to do with a boat and the surrounding area is beautiful.