And we made a final stop at my favorite place to shop, Coral Reef Seafood , to stock up on crab legs for NYE dinner. If you are EVER anywhere in the Lake Ozark area, in Mid-Missouri, in the middle of the United States, you must stop here to shop for the best seafood we have access to! You can also read all about them in my earlier post Coral Reef Seafood. I absolutely LOVE this store!
Coral Reef, Lake Ozark, MO
Coral Reef Shrimp, Lake Ozark, MO
I also picked up some shrimp (a MUST) and my friends purchased the Seafood Stuffed Orangy Roughy that is like a party in your mouth! (I hope they never changes this recipe.)
Our BIG mistake was going out to dinner later at a restaurant called Redhead Lakeside Grill. I don’t mean “mistake” in that any of our dinner was less than good. I mean mistake in that it was so cold walking from the parking lot to the restaurant it somewhat diminished my experience there. Once inside, I don’t think I ever got warm, so instead of having a great, leisurely time, I was just ready to go home and get under a nice warm blanket. We’ll have to go back and try again when the weather starts to warm back up. There were lots of items on the menu that I can’t wait to try.
Since the temperature at the lake was a not-so-balmy 0-degrees, we wound up planning to stay in for the New Year’s Eve celebration for a quiet night in the warmth. Hubby wanted to play Cards Against Humanitybut we never got around to it. After eating crab legs (and pizza for those who don’t like crab), we checked out Ryan Seacrest in Times Square on TV and watched the ball drop to start off another year. We did have champagne, which I single-handedly attempted not to let go to waste.
It was a low-key New Year’s Eve, but that’s ok. We wrapped it up the way we wanted to with friends we wanted to be with. Maybe next year will be warmer. Or, maybe next year we’ll be on a beach somewhere much warmer! Either way, there’s a whole new year ahead of us and it will be what we make of it.
In scrolling through pics I have saved over the years, apparently I snap a lot of sunrises and sunsets. Here are a few of my favorites: Cozumel, Mexico Sunset
Captiva Island, Florida Sunset
Negril, Jamaica Sunset
Riviera Maya, Mexico Sunrise
Riviera Maya, Mexico Sunrise
Lake Ozark, Missouri Sunset
Rocheport, Missouri Sunset
Guanacaste, Costa Rica Sunset
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Sunrise
Negril, Jamaica Sunset
Grand Canyon, Arizona Sunset Glacier Bay, Alaska Sunrise
Which one do you like best? Comment on your favorite, or share a pic of one you’ve seen.
I guess I’m one of the lucky few who will not need to travel ANYWHERE to see the Eclipse. Apparently, I live right in The Path of Totality(sounds ominous, right?). Since I live right smack in the middle of Missouri (we call it Mid-Mo) right smack in the middle of the US and we’ll have something like 2 1/2 minutes in the shadow, it seems ALL of the general public is expected to travel to us. Really?
“They” say we are to expect 400,000 people to descend on our big, little city of 120,000. “They” say we are to expect congested roads and traffic delays for the weekend proceeding and the hours following. I’ve even heard some of “them” say, “I have a friend who is renting out rooms in his home (at $500/room) for the eclipse.” “They” are even warning us to gas the cars up and get groceries prior to the weekend. It drives me nuts when I don’t have a clue who “they” are.
Of course, since Missouri is the Show-Me State, I turned to the tools I am familiar with so I could see for myself what the expectation should be. A quick check of Expedia shows that some of the rumors are true. There is not a hotel room to be had in a 30 mile radius for Sunday and Monday. VRBO has 3 homes left to be rented (but I would suspect these home were recently listed). The local campgrounds are booked, and I stopped short of calling local Porta-Potty services to see if they have any inventory left to rent. I figured that’s another good way to gauge crowd expectations in the area.
So, it looks like “they” are right. A huge amount of people are coming to our town. I’ll be prepared though! I’ll have the car gassed up, and groceries bought. I already have my Solar Eclipse Glasses – CE and ISO Certified Safe and a back up pair.
Now I just have to decide–TO LOOK OR NOT TO LOOK? Drop me a comment and let me know if you will be looking at the Eclipse where you are.
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…
Everyone should be so lucky as to meet a Paul. I originally met Paul a few years ago in Jamaica. He was the lifeguard manager at a resort. I was there with my friend Sara and Paul had told us that if we needed a driver to take us anywhere, we could hire him. From past experience, I knew that having a friend to drive us in Jamaica is really the way to go. With a driver, you get to experience a little more authentic interaction of the culture, you don’t pay exorbitant rates just to run to the craft market, you have someone who will help keep you safe, and if you’re lucky, you end up with a Paul!
We hired Paul to take us over to Rick’s Café to watch the divers and catch the sunset. If you’ve never been to Rick’s Café you HAVE to go. It’s one of my favorite places in the world and the best place to view sunset in Jamaica and enjoy a cocktail.
Paul advised us not to order dinner there. He said since it’s a tourist attraction, they charge high prices for the food and he would take us somewhere else for dinner. After the sun set over the sea, we left Rick’s and Paul took us to a local restaurant called Sweet Spice. Talk about one of the best meals I have ever had! I had a bowl of seafood (fish and shrimp) in broth with a side of rice and peas. It was a huge amount of food for the $10 US I think it cost. If you stick with the local foods in Jamaica instead of stuff that has to be imported, the prices are very reasonable. After leaving Jamaica that trip, I kept in touch with Paul via WhatsApp which is a free way to text, talk, and video talk for free. Actually, it’s more fair to say Paul kept in touch with me. I’m a little slow on some of the technology. But, all you need is an internet connection and you can forget about paying those international fees ever again.
My next trip to Jamaica was a year later with my hubby, who was still my boyfriend at the time. We stayed at the Grand Palladium again (I do love this resort and highly recommend it) where we got to see Paul a little bit while he was at work.
Later, I asked Paul to take us over to Rick’s for the evening and he said he was nervous about meeting my boyfriend. What if he didn’t like Paul? Well, what if he did? AND HE DID. Those two guys hit it off and we had a blast at Rick’s Café. We partook in a few Red Stripes (I prefer Light) and watched the divers followed by another incredible sunset. Paul got us back to the Palladium just in time to get to the beach party and he headed for home which is right next to a small town called Lucea.
Fast forward a couple of years and my boyfriend was now my fiancé. We had decided that we wanted to get married on the beach in Jamaica. Since Paul is not supposed to fraternize at the Grand Palladium because he works there, we decided the wedding would be at the RIU Negril so Paul could join us. Upon our arrival, Paul was waiting for us at the RIU Negril lobby. He had brought gifts for some of the wedding party and knew I had some shopping errands to run. He drove us all over Negril to get the local items that I still needed for the guest’s gift bags and even negotiated a good price on some pints of Appleton Rum for us. Paul was able to take off work for 3 days to attend the wedding and stay at the resort with us.
He also arranged for a bus to take our entire group of 30 to where else? Rick’s Café. Have I mentioned that I really like that place?
On one afternoon that it rained, Paul drove us over to see his house. We were amazed at his house–it looks just like a Jamaican beach house should. Paul was also building a villa across the road and wanted us to see. It’s going to be beautiful when it’s complete! Of course, building anything in Jamaica takes a lot longer than here, so it will be a while. It will have 4 suites that Paul hopes to rent out to vacationers.
Fast forward a couple more years to this past winter and Paul got to come visit us for a few days! In Missouri, right in the middle of the US, right after Thanksgiving while it was drab, dreary, and cold. Paul’s not used to this kind of cold and thankfully, he had a big, winter coat with him. Paul and Kathy
We picked him up from the airport, and went straight to the St. Louis Galleria so he could do some black friday shopping. From there we headed out to the Trainwreck Saloon where a number of our friends from the wedding trip came out for a welcoming Happy Hour. We stayed in St. Louis overnight, and left for our home in Columbia, Mo, the next morning. That afternoon we had fun hanging in the kitchen with Paul and our neighbors and friends. He made a delicious curry shrimp dish to go along with the turkey our neighbor had deep-fried, and we had a huge meal and excellent conversation. It was real eye-opener to hear about all the hoops Paul had to jump through to get his passport and visa to come visit and how much of his salary he had to save for his travels. Our process and travel from here are so much easier I think we take our options for granted. After dinner, the conversation turned to Jamaican music, patois, and politics. Carlie learned some patois words and thought that was really cool! She can now ask you Wah Gwaan (What’s going on)? But you’d better answer Mi deh yah (I’m here)!
The next morning, Paul got to have two new experiences of his own. It began snowing here which is the first time he’s ever seen snow other than in movies. He said that the snow is much colder than it looks in the movies. Later, my husband took him out to the shooting range where he and Paul had some fun shooting targets.
Being able to share experiences and friendship with Paul have been life changing. He’s planning to come visit us again in November if we don’t get to Jamaica first. He’s better than our friend now. We consider him family.
And we made a final stop at my favorite place to shop, Coral Reef Seafood , to stock up on crab legs for NYE dinner. If you are EVER anywhere in the Lake Ozark area, in Mid-Missouri, in the middle of the United States, you must stop here to shop for the best seafood we have access to! You can also read all about them in my earlier post Coral Reef Seafood. I absolutely LOVE this store!
shows that some of the rumors are true. There is not a hotel room to be had in a 30 mile radius for Sunday and Monday. 
Talk about one of the best meals I have ever had! I had a bowl of seafood (fish and shrimp) in broth with a side of rice and peas. It was a huge amount of food for the $10 US I think it cost. If you stick with the local foods in Jamaica instead of stuff that has to be imported, the prices are very reasonable. After leaving Jamaica that trip, I kept in touch with Paul via 
