HARD WORK U, A REVISIT

After our delicious meal last year at Dobyn’s Restaurant in the Keeter Center on the campus of the College of the Ozarks, aka: Hard Work U we were determined to go back this trip. 

This time we did not make reservations, and were lucky enough to be seated immediately.  I guess it was because it was finally sunny, at least for a while and the vacationers were all in Silver Dollar City.

The copper ceilings were gleaming, and the seating was just as rustic as before. 

The view out the large windows was gorgeous.  We had hoped to walk out on that balcony to take some photos of the scenery, but they were seating diners out there and we felt it would be rude to interrupt their meals to take photos.  Oh well, guess we’ll just have to go back another time.

The food and service was just as wonderful as it was last trip.    They once again started the meal with the fresh made rolls and cranberry biscuits,

 fresh butter and made on campus apple butter.

Using the copper clad menu we were offered we chose different meals to see if everything was equally as good. 

 You can also view the menu prior to arrival by visiting the website. We were not disappointed.  Gary had the pot roast.  

And I had the comfort food of all time, BBQ Mac n Cheese, complete with freshly made pasta and smoked gouda cheese sauce. so good!

Once again my meal was so huge I took over half of it back to the camper and ate off of it for two more meals. 

When dessert time rolled around Gary choose the chocolate cobbler a la mode, choosing salted caramel ice cream for the topping.

 I had the Lemon Blueberry Bread Pudding again. I was mildly surprised when it came out plated different and with no whipped cream, but it was still as delicious as I remembered.  Once again I took half of it back to our home on wheels, where I added whipped topping when I ate it for dessert the next night.

The price for the meal ran real close to what it did last fall when we were there and we still felt the luxury of the meal for this one time was worth it.

After our meal we went down to Honor Lake there on campus to watch the swans and ducks.  With all the various water fowl we have raised and ooed and ahhhed at in zoos we had never seen cygnets (baby swans).  These little guys were still at the downy stage and not the least bit afraid of us, Mama didn’t seem the least bit concerned humans were near her young as she preened on the island in the middle of the lake. The cygnets even seemed to be posing for us as we snapped photo after photo.

There is also a display of students of honor at the park

After enjoying the birds and the coolness of the breeze and shade we went on up to the Ralph Foster Museum, before everything started closing on the campus.  There was so much more to see we decided we needed yet another day on campus and went back the Tuesday after Memorial Day to finish up the museum thanks to the generosity of a gentleman (see post on the museum to learn about this). Visit the one room Star School and take photos at Look Out Point. While there we also went to the 911 Memorial and the Missouri Viet NamVeteran Memorial before we once again ran out of time, with still more left to see.

Oh well, I guess our next visit we’ll have to finish the grounds and perhaps have another yummy lunch?

This is running too long, so instead of including the descriptions of the museum and memorials here click on the links to be taken to the separate posts on them.

Jan who enjoys exploring places at a slow easy pace with a camera in hand traveling all over the USA.

RALPH FOSTER MUSEUM, HOLISTER, MISSOURI

            Now listen to my story about a man named Jed.

            A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed….Beverly Hillbillies

One of the better known objects in the three story Ralph Foster Museum is the actual truck used in the tv series “The Beverly Hillbillies”.  It is one of the very first things you see as you enter the museum, but it is not the most interesting by far.  Although you are free to take photos of the car with your own camera if you want to have your photo taken actually in the car there is a fee for that, around $10. 

Speaking of fees, the cost for the museum entry is adults $6, seniors (62 and older) $5  $4 for veterans and children high school age and younger free. For all they have in this museum the price is very reasonable. Our visit was a total of $9, thank you Gary for your service to our country. If you arrive after 3 pm and get your receipt stamped in red as you are leaving the next day is free.

Allow plenty of time for this museum it is far larger than it appears from the outside.  Kind of like the tents on the Popeye cartoons where Olive Oyl looks inside a tent and it is huge, but when she looks outside of it her neck stretches all the way around the tiny tent.  Or for you younger folks the tent Harry Potter and friends traveled in.

The first floor has the fore mentioned car, a child’s discovery play room, a display of Kewpie dolls, ancient artifacts (some from before Christ, very interesting seals), glassware, cameos of all types, and much more and that is just the first room.

The hallway going to the other end of the building includes a quilt display which feeds into a textile exhibit.  At the time we were there it was ladies clothing through history, all mainly in black.  Very eye catching. 

You men don’t need to feel left out while the ladies enjoy the dresses and quilts you can view to your hearts content a large assortment of tools of all types. Or you can shoot (pun intended) right up to the second floor where there is an enormous gun collection.

There are one of a kind guns, military guns, pocket guns, extremely old guns, walking stick guns, replicas and just about any type of gun or rifle you can think of. The only draw back I saw to this display was many of the guns did not have dates on them.  I would have loved to know more about what time period each gun came from, but that is the history buff in me.

Among the guns are ones that belonged to various famous people ranging from tv and movie stars to notorious outlaws.  Reading all the description cards would keep you there for a very long time.

Mixed in with the guns are interesting displays of different tv and radio personalities including record albums, clothing and other memorabilia. Keep your eyes peeled for the Willie Nelson items.

The stuff animal exhibit in the other end is both beautiful and sad.  Sad because the animals died to be displayed, but beautiful because they are very well done.

There are interesting information cards on some of them, very educational.  I had no idea the fur of a polar bear is actually clear, not white, and their skin is black. 

Looking at the animal displays it brings some great reality checks to you too.  Yes polar bears are big, but 9 ft?  Wow!  I had forgot how big Bengal Tigers are, and did not realize a wood chuck (which we saw one at the campground the day before) and a ground hog were the same animal.

If you go there look for the deer with the different ear and read the sign about it.

On up on the third floor are videos, more stuffed animals, including a great bird display, forestry items, more guns, a large fishing lure display and much more.

I forget if it was on the second or third floor there is a very good video about a project that the college students do to take the veterans of various wars back to the historical sites.  There are veterans who helped liberate the concentration camps.  They took these veterans back to those camps to tour.  The video is very stirring.  Those same veterans are honored in the Veterans Grove Memorial next to the Missouri Viet Nam Veterans Memorial.

We had been told to allow two to three hours for the museum in our schedule.  We arrived just after 2:00 pm and only truly saw the first and part of the second floor before the 4:30 pm closing time.  As we were leaving I mentioned to the cashier that I was sad that we hadn’t seen it all, but we had arrived closer to two than three so we didn’t qualify for the second day free offer, that we would come back another time.

A very nice gentleman was sitting nearby in the tiny gift shop overheard our conversation.  He said “You didn’t get to finish seeing it all?”  I responded no we would have to wait until another time to finish it.  He pulled out his wallet and handed us two complimentary passes, saying “I wouldn’t want anyone to not see it all”.  I not only was astounded at his generosity, but thrilled to get them. Thank you sir, whoever you are.  We thoroughly enjoyed our second day.

We went back the day after Memorial Day, used the passes and took our good old sweet time finishing up the museum, even revisiting some of the exhibits we had seen the Saturday before.  Photography with your phone is allowed in the museum, but we both simply didn’t think about doing so past the Clampet truck, while we were there we were so busy viewing all the great collections and reading all the different informational cards we simply didn’t think of it.

After we finished there we visited the one room Star School schoolhouse, which is free to visit and right next door to the museum.  They had photos of former classes and was surprised to see surnames of both mine and Gary’s family, with first names that could very well have been part of our heritage.  It was getting late so I didn’t write all the names down or think to snap photos of the photos and the names (dumb on my part) but I will look through my files to see if the names I remember from those photos match up with the names in my files and the proper years and place.

If they do I will contact the college to see about getting copies for my genealogy files.

While in that area we noticed the campus also has a Farmers Market there on either Friday or Saturdays (or both, sorry can’t remember) this time of year. It was scheduled to start the weekend after we left. The bounty at the market being from the products of the labors of the various students.

Next up was the walk down to Lookout Point for a spectacular view.  It is a bit of a hike, but all but the last part of the walk is wheel chair accessible.

 Of course we had to get a nature photo in.  This fellow was on the rocks at the point enjoying the view as much as we were. 

Once back at the truck we went in search of the 911 Memorial and then to the Missouri Vet Nam Veterans Memorial on our way out.  I’ll write about them separate although they are on the same campus.

Jan who was plenty tired after all the walking and standing, but so glad she visited it all as she tours the USA.

TRIAL RUNS: Part 3, A Spectacular Lunch

Today we dined in Dobyn’s Restaurant in the Keeter Center and to say the lunch was fine dining would be an understatement. 

We arrived a little early for our reservation, it is highly recommend you get a reservation, so we took advantage of the extra time to look around the lobby of the large log cabin that houses the restaurant. 

.

This unique furniture was in the foyer of the building.

The furniture on in the waiting area was also rustic, but not as nearly ornate as the foyer furniture.  Chances are very good that the furnishings throughout the log cabin were made by various artisans living on campus.

If you don’t know anything about the College of the Ozarks here is a brief synopsis for you.  It is commonly called “Hard Work University” because that is how the students pay for their degrees.  Each student is required to work a minimum of 15 hours per week, with one 40 hour week per semester, on campus.  This is how they pay for their liberal arts degree.  

It is a four year need based Christian college and most students graduate with no student loan debt. If you have a student thinking about college you might really want to see if they meet all the criteria to attend this beautiful campus.

After returning home I learned two of my cousin’s grandchildren had received their degrees from the college.  They both loved the campus and hated to leave.

Back to our meal…

We were seated fairly close to our 12:15 pm reservation.  I was certainly glad we had decided to dress decently instead of shorts and a Disney t-shirt, our normal camping wardrobe.

The greeters were all dressed in nice navy blazers, skirts or slacks with white shirts and our servers were all white jacketed.  

The greeter escorted us into an immense dining room with more rustic furniture, but this furniture had an elegant feel to it.  The long tin tiled ceilinged room was well appointed, immaculate.  If you have ever stayed at the Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World, it reminded us of it in many ways, but more elegant.

The table was set with a complete service of all the proper silverware and a neatly pyramid folded cloth napkin.  Our beverages came in a nice piece of stemware. Each course was delivered in covered serving dishes.

Each course brought out the appropriate additional silverware for that course and all used dishes and silverware were quickly and quietly removed.

Our server was Hannah, if all servers were as attentive as she was we would go broke with the amount of tips we would pay.  We tip based on service, not price.  She deserved the maximum tip for certain.

She was attentive without being cloying.  Made excellent eye contact, never wrote anything down, but our orders came perfect.  She knew the ingredients of everything we and those around us ordered and could answer any allergy queries with no problem.   

She spoke clearly, and in a friendly professional way.  The way you would expect wait staff in a fine dining restaurant to speak.

While we waited on our meals to arrive she brought us a basket that contained two honey wheat rolls, and two cranberry biscuits.  She also brought a small cast iron skillet that contained real butter and some of the best apple butter I have ever eaten.

All these items had been made from products produced there on campus.  The flours were from the grain mill, the butter from their dairy, the apple butter from another part of the campus.  Then of course it was all handmade from scratch there in the restaurant. This was the story behind every item we consumed today.  Oh what a wonderful meal we had.

Dh’s meal was what he declared to be the best chicken and dumplings he had ever had. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a photo of it before he had consumed every drop of it.

I had the Pork Pomodoro. Thin medallions of pork loin resting on some of the finest tasting polenta I have ever eaten, topped with pesto and organic cherry tomatoes.  The taste was out of this world! 

It was also a huge portion.  So huge I took half of it back to the camper with me because I simply had to try their desserts. The photo below is what I took back to the camper.

For dessert Gary ordered their banana cream pie topped with a mountain of whipped cream and drizzled with a salted caramel sauce.

I do believe my dessert was the best I have ever had bar none.  Blueberries and cream bread pudding.  It had a sweetened cream cheese type layer, blueberries and raspberries baked into the bread pudding, then it was topped with a drizzle of lemon curd.  On the side was a mound of sweetened whipped cream in a circle of fresh blueberries and topped with a perfectly pink raspberry.  Truly a fine dining dessert.

This too was way too large a serving for me so half of that returned to the camper with me as well. 

To view their entire menu go here. 

All my leftovers were carefully packaged up by Hannah.  No trying to put it in a Styrofoam carryout box while juggling a plate awkwardly for me.  No Styrofoam at all in fact.  A very plain brown box was used. Very sturdy and environmental friendly.

Our total meal came to slightly over $50 including a very sizable tip and it was worth every penny of it! This is a statement you won’t hear me make often.

After the meal we located a brochure that had a map of the campus included and headed out the door thinking we would go to the Ralph Foster museum, Lookout Point and other sites on campus.  Instead we found ourselves wandering through a small park there at the log cabin. Taking several photos.

By the time we finished with our photos it was almost 2:30 pm.  The museum is three stories and closes at 4:30pm.  In fact all the various buildings on campus close at 4:30pm.

So instead we drove through the campus getting a lay of the land to go back another day.

The campus is gorgeous, swans and ducks in the lake and everywhere there were students PUSHING lawn mowers, no riding mowers were ever seen, pushing brooms to sweep the streets and sidewalks as well as other maintenance jobs.  Definitely Hardwork U.

We left the campus about 4:00 pm enjoying the fact that thanks to following the Total Money Makeover plan by Dave Ramsey we felt like this was the way we were meant to live.  Fine dining, a relaxing day and moving at our own pace without jumping through anyone’s hoops.

Truly a great middle to our day.  On to the next segment of Trial Runs.