All’s well that ends well. After working out the condo situation, Independence Day Lake Ozark Trip 2017 was on! The Land’s End condo we rented through Home Away was gorgeous beyond our wildest dreams. It had two master suites, another bedroom with twin beds, a pull-out sectional couch that also had a chaise lounge built in for sleeping. I’m not sure the homeowner will ever know how grateful we are for that rental, although I left a thank you in the guest book. It was huge and beautiful and more than adequate for our group! Contact me if you ever want to rent the place and I’ll give you more specifics.
We started off our weekend with a stop by the Osage Beach Outlet Marketplace for a pair of shoes (not for me) and then proceeded to Backwater Jack’s to wait for our friends to arrive. We walked around the newly remodeled and expanded complex which now features a ginormous pool with a swim up bar, and had a great dinner with our friends. I had a seafood pasta that was absolutely divine!
The next morning brought Captain Bill to the lake who was ready to take us out on the boat. We took a quick boat ride to a quiet cove to avoid all the holiday water traffic and hung out in the cove most of the day. We made a pit stop at Docknocker’s for some of the best peel and eat shrimp in Missouri and on our way back to the condo we stopped at Dierberg’s grocery and picked up dinners for the rest of the weekend. Hubby grilled some delish steaks and pork chops that night while we watched fireworks from our screened in balcony.
The next day, we all headed over to the boat docks again. Since Captain Bill has a pool adjacent to his dock, some of us stayed there and swam while the others went out on the boat for some serious tube time. Even though Captain Bill had forgotten his swim trunks, he tubed just as well in his cargo shorts.
We finished up that day with some grilled steaks and baked potatoes for the birthday girl’s dinner but we were so exhausted after that, we forgot to cut the birthday cake!
The next morning, Captain Bill and our other friends were due to depart, and other family friends were due to arrive. In the interim, since we had never been there, we headed over to Dog Days to check it out. It’s a very small waterfront bar/restaurant complex, but we ate some killer nachos on the pool deck and enjoyed their pool for a while before heading back to our condo pools–one adult and one kiddie.
We hung out at the adult condo pool until our friends arrived. The pool was beautiful, it overlooked the lake and had a waterfall feature that the kids had a blast playing in. Afterwards, we headed back up to the condo. Hubby grilled again, but it was chicken spedini and bratwurst this time. I’ve never had chicken spedini done on the grill before, but it was incredible. I only wish we had a Dierberg’s at home, so we could try some of the other ready-to-cook specialty meats they carry in their meat department. After dinner, we headed up to the kiddie pool, so the kids could play in the lazy river. Thankfully, no one else was at that pool at that hour so the kids played a fun game of shark.
The next morning was departure day. We loaded up all our clothes and leftover food, cleaned up the condo, and headed out. All the boys rode home, while the girls stopped at Bagnell Dam Strip. We ate ice cream, did some shopping, and even had time to kill at the arcade.
It’s been years since I’ve played skeeball and apparently I’m horribly out of practice.
We arrived home after a short, one hour drive. Exhausted, sunburnt, and happy, we enjoyed Chinese delivery for dinner and listened to the fireworks from our bed. What a great Independence Day!
Independence Day at Lake of the Ozarks–Part 2
We are all set! Yes, we are headed to the Lake of the Ozarks for the 4th of July! After receiving an email from Home Away, that there was no response from the homeowner so after our 24-hour wait our reservation was being released, we were heartbroken. Resolved to cram into any hotel we could still find available, we made one more attempt at a condo, but we were no longer optimistic. Minutes after I submitted our request, I get a text from a number I didn’t recognize saying “Hi Tracey, I am following up with you regarding rental of our Land’s End condo. I am worried that my emails through VRBO may not be getting through.” Can this be true?
I asked if the condo was still available, and it was! Wendy at Atlas Enterprises (who owns the condo) said yes, we could still rent it and even let us have an additional day for 1/2 price. We can also use the pool a couple of hours before the condo will actually be ready. I don’t think Wendy truly knows how much she made our day!
Now back to packing. Things to take to a rental condo:
- beach towels–not all condos provide them
- groceries–since we’ll have a full kitchen, we plan to eat in more than out
- a couple of coolers–one for transporting the food items that will need to be kept cold on the way there, and one for adult beverages in case we go coving
- inflatable mattress in case anyone sharing a room decides they can no longer share a room
- pool/lake floaties
- basketball in case there’s a court
- sunblock
And that’s really it. Everything else we’ll need should already be there. We’ve already gotten a round-p of friends that will be down there at the same time, so we can hopefully hang out a bit together. And, by the way, we still have 2-3 extra pillows in case anyone else wants to come along (you will not get your own room, but you WILL get your own pillow.) Happy 4th of July Everybody!
Planning for Independence Day at Lake of the Ozarks, MO
This weekend finds us celebrating Independence Day, which means it’s a long weekend! Since our original plans to go to Arkansas have fallen through due to high water levels on Bull Shoals Lake, we’ll have to make due with an almost-staycation at Lake of the Ozarks, which is only an hour away. Since we’re taking the kids, which brings our family total to 5, and we hope to have some friends join us, we’ll be renting a condo to stay in in the hopes that we can keep costs controlled, while still having enough beds and pillows for all.
Renting a condo creates some packing challenges of its own, but provides a lot of perks as well. If you have never booked a place to stay using a site like Home Away or VRBO, I can vouch for their value. Homeowners can place their properties up for short-term rent at fair prices. They are entitled to require a certain length minimum, but a lot don’t. You search through the properties located where you want to be, for the size of your group, the amenities you want, and plug in your dates. From there, you can look through photos of the abode, review comments about the place, and book the one you want. Most charge a refundable security deposit of sorts, that you get back as long as you clean up after your stay.
We went with a 3-bedroom condo that sleeps 11, on a part of the lake where we should be able to see the fireworks show. Additionally, it was important to find a place with a pool. Since we don’t have a boat to tool around the lake, a pool is good back up. And a BBQ grill is always a must for easy convenient cooking. The place we found is called the Palisades, and will easily accommodate our bunch for less than the cost of crowded hotel rooms.
Oops, scratch that. We are apparently still on the search…drat! The condo we thought WE rented, apparently was already rented by someone else. This morning we had an email that said they were not able to confirm, try again. The condo still came up in our search, making us think it was still available, but nope, not so. When we still didn’t have a response 12 hours later, we called Home Away only to be told the condo was already rented, but the owner hadn’t updated the calendar, which is apparently a big no-no. The rep from Home Away, asked if we wanted to file a complaint–no we did not– still on the hunt for a condo for the weekend. Maybe we’re having difficulties because we are close to the holiday weekend? This is giving me a headache!
We were turned down within 20 minutes for our next choice, and are now 17 hours in on a 24 hour response time for our 3rd choice. I guess by this evening we’ll know if we are headed to Lake of the Ozarks or not. This is a great example of why planning ahead is a good practice. To be continued…
