Awesome Ozarks

I recently returned from a family trip to a part of the country we've never visited before: The Ozarks. What are the Ozarks, exactly? To me, they're something halfway between hills and mountains, woodsy, green and gorgeous. One of the coolest things about this area is the caves. It's like God's hand came down and just scooped out all these dark, damp, mysterious places full of amazing rock formations and little waterfalls. Many of them are open to the public, as long as you are willing to climb up and down hundreds of stairs. We visited Marvel Cave as part of our day at Silver Dollar City, a huge amusement park built above the cave. We were glad for the opportunity to spend time in the coolness of the cave, but those 750 stairs seemed to never end. Our home base for the week was a lodge on Table Rock Lake, just 10 miles south of Branson and a stone's throw from Arkansas. On the way there from Illinois, I saw the famous St. Louis Arch!

One of our favorite activites on the trip was zip lining. You climb up a tower that is higher than any human should be without an airpline, attach your harness to a hook contraption and zip across a cable to the next tower. Scary...but fun!

In Branson we went to a shopping area called Branson Landing. Lots of great specialty shops and restaurants, but the highlight was a fountain show during which flames shot out of wooden columns behind the dancing water. I had to come back another night to see it again!

I hope you enjoy this recipe from ruralmissouri.org:

PEACH AND PRALINE PIE

One 9-inch pie crust

1 teaspoon flour

1/3 cup flour, divided

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup light corn syrup

3 large eggs

3 cups fresh peach slices, chopped

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Sprinkle bottom of pie crust with 1 teaspoon of flour; set aside. Beat 3 tablespoons flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, corn syrup and eggs at medium speed with an electric mixer for one minute. Stir in peaches and 1/4 cup butter and pour intoprepared pie crust. Combine remaining flour and brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly. Stir in chopped pecans and sprinkle evenly over peach mixture in pie crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is set, shielding edge of crust withaluminum foil after 35 minutes to prevent excessive browning.