The places that don't make you apologize for the kids. Restaurants with crayons that aren't an afterthought, parks with shade and bathrooms, the ice-cream stop with the line on a hot Tuesday.
A half-mile stretch of old Highway 54 Business that's been the lake's commercial heart since Bagnell Dam's completion in 1931 — souvenir shops, arcades, go-kart tracks, and mini golf, anchored by the fiberglass Indian and hillbilly statues built in the 1960s as a muffler-shop promotion.
Missouri's largest state park, with 85 miles of its own lake shoreline — two swimming beaches with imported sand, three paved boat ramps, 12 trails, and the Ozark Caverns.