We shuffled off to Kansas City on October 31. Janet is a Halloweener and we were celebrating her birthday at one of her favorite restaurants. The following morning we got back in the car and drove on to Lake of the Ozarks. Two of our very good friends here in Omaha have a house on that lake and they invited us to join them for the weekend. We were happy to reply in the affirmative.

Lake of the Ozarks was created in 1931. The Osage River was dammed (Bagnell Dam), eventually creating a 55,000-acre lake with 1,150 miles of shoreline (more shoreline than the state of California). The dam is used to generate electricity and the lake is quite popular for fishing, boating, skiing, and other lake-related activities. It’s an odd-shaped lake in that there is no one large pool of water. Instead, there is a network of smaller bodies of water linked together to form a winding path of water which covers 92 miles.

The lake is beautiful. There are steep cliffs, wonderful foliage, and some very interesting architecture in the homes that surround the lake. It’s also a dangerous lake, especially on weekends in the summer. “Cigar Boats,” which travel more than 150 mph can be found zooming around, no match for the much slower pontoon boat that our friends take out. They stay off the lake when traffic is at its highest.

Perhaps the best part of the lake does not involve water. The hiking trails which wind for miles and miles offer views of the mountains (small) and lake from every conceivable angle. We took a short hike to the Ha Ha Tonka Castle ruins. The castle ruins are really what’s left of a very substantial mansion that was destroyed by a fire in 1942. Construction began in 1905 by Kansas City businessman Robert Snyder. He died before completion and his sons continued the project, but not until 1922.