Travel

A Lear jet rests beside the highway without an airport in sight. A Ferris wheel sits idly in a field. A forlorn brick chimney rises out of a clump of bushes. These are but a few of the curiosities that travelers speed past on their way across Missouri on Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City. Entertainment abounds on the nation’s oldest interstate highway. You have but to stop and look.

The Auglaize Bridge—better known as the Big Swinging Bridge—hangs over the meeting point of Grand Auglaize Creek and Lake of the Ozarks. The bridge was built in 1931—the same year Union Electric completed Bagnell Dam to create the Lake of the Ozarks.

The four-season beauty of Columbia can be found throughout the town in its private lawns and public gardens. Here’s where the green-thumbed go to find inspiration.

Camp Long Creek at Big Cedar sits on the lakeshore, next to Bass Pro Shops Long Creek Marina, and features 64 units that include shepherd’s huts, luxury “glamping” tents, and couples’ and family cottages. The campground is set to open in May.

Local productions and traveling shows bring the iconic ballet to appreciative audiences here in Missouri. For professional ballet companies, The Nutcracker is often the most popular show of the season.

An inaugural Veterans Day ceremony will take place November 11 at Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial. The event off˜ers a way to remember those lost or serving in the military by securing a personalized Gold or Blue Star badge to be incorporated into the ceremony as service flags.

Although the phrase “ghost town” might call to mind the tumbleweed-strewn roads and abandoned wooden storefronts of the Old West, ours tell a different tale. A detour through these rural locales reveals stories of a changing world and devastating acts of nature.

Visit these sites to learn more about the state's native heritage.

Get in on what we’ve known all along. Kansas City is a city of champions.

On October 27 Spirit of the Civil War, a community living history event, will truly transform downtown Lexington into its 19th century look and feel. Serving as both a reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and a community fall festival, this event has attractions that will delight visitors of every stripe.