Travel

Photographer Matt Faupel and his friend in adventure, Brian Grace, spent three days last spring floating the Upper Jacks Fork River, from the Prongs to Bay Creek, a river distance of 25 miles. Come along, and let Matt be your guide to the discoveries.

Head over to Graham Cave State Park to walk in the footsteps of early Missourians.

Interstate 44 crosses Missouri from St. Louis to the Oklahoma state line, just west of Joplin, a length of 293 miles. For 235 of those miles, from St. Louis to Halltown, I-44 follows the route of what John Steinbeck called America’s “Mother Road”—the legendary Route 66.

A good sailing day at Stockton Lake begins with a casual breakfast at the dock until around 9 o’clock. One tipoff of correct wind velocity is a particular tingling sound as it blows through the mast lines.

Bell Mountain offers a 12-mile loop with 1,683 feet of elevation change, respectable for the Midwest. Bell Mountain also offers something that you can’t get anywhere else in the country: the chance to see, in person, the result of more than one billion years of geologic time playing out.

Bass River Resort has been family-run for more than 50 years, going back to when Robert Bass founded a small canoe rental on the Courtois Creek. Since then, it's grown into an Ozark destination in its own right. Here are just 7 of the ways to make the most of summer weather at Bass River Resort.

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.

Wet your whistle with a Cherry Coke or a chocolate soda at one of these quaint shops for a truly authentic experience. Let the ambience, and the treats, take you back to the good ol’ days.

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.