A Festive Trip to Big Cedar Lodge

Through our forty-plus years in Kansas City, my husband and I have taken several vacations to Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri. Table Rock Lake is near Branson, Missouri, one of the nation’s preeminent entertainment destinations. From country music shows, to amusement parks, to fishing or boating, everyone is bound to find something fun to do in or around Branson.

My husband and I have yet to see any live music shows when we’ve gone to Branson. We rented a small boat once when our son was young and putted around the lake. We took our kids to Silver Dollar City a couple of times. And we usually stop at the College of the Ozarks when we travel there, because we admire the school’s philosophy on students’ working.

But mostly when we’re at Table Rock we admire the scenery and eat. We did a lot of both on this trip.

Table Rock Lake is a lovely setting. Last week, the trees still wore their fall colors, even though it was early November. We stayed at Big Cedar Lodge—and the entire resort was already decorated for Christmas. We had a lighted Christmas tree in our room and neon depictions of Santa Claus and Jingle Bells visible from the room’s veranda. An enormous Christmas tree near the lodge’s chapel twinkled with golden lights. Everywhere we drove, we saw more Christmas displays.

It was festive, if somewhat kitschy. And I wondered about the logistics of storing all the seasonal displays between January and October.

Because of my husband’s health, we had to order room service for several meals. But the in-room dining service was well-prepared, well-presented, and prompt. Some of the room-service food was better than what we had in the resort restaurants—my husband raved about the room-service oatmeal with peach compote, but found the restaurant’s buffet oatmeal to be runny.

And all of the food beat my cooking at home and gave me a welcome respite from cooking.

We had two days to tour the area. One day we went to the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum, then took a golf cart ride on a nature trail. (I may live on a golf course, but this was the first time I’d ever driven a golf cart.) The next day, we returned to College of the Ozarks and went through the museum on campus.

The museums had a lot of interesting artifacts, but both needed updating and a more thorough curation. There were too many items in the display cases to focus on the best, with not enough signage to put some displays into context.

There were taxidermied animals everywhere. An elk head in our room, more large game heads everywhere we turned, and full size grizzlies, elk, or mountain lions at the end of every hallway. And those were just at the lodge. In the museums, there were not only native American animals, but also large game from Africa, South America, and the Arctic. I like a good natural history diorama as much as the next person, but I developed some sympathy for PETA as I looked at all these stuffed carcasses. How many deer were killed to decorate the resort?

Still, I’m glad we took the trip. It was nice to get a little early holiday cheer. Now I’m ready to face my Christmas list. And to check it twice.

What do you think of early Christmas displays?