Don’t let the title of this blog fool you — it has NOT been cool in the Ozarks! We arrived here at Ozarks Luxury RV Resort on Table Rock Lake on June 16. Stop #6 of our RV trip. The drive from Memphis area to the park was a bit of an adventure as it was a lot of up, up, up the mountain, and then ( try not to ride the breaks )down, down, down the other side. Very hilly. Very curvy. Very slow-going. Not sure who designed the roads around here, but there doesn’t seem to be one that goes straight! We were on the road for just over 5 hours, which is about the max amount of time we like to be on the road without a break.
The temps when we arrived were ridiculously hot, but it IS Arkansas, it IS summer, so not unexpected.
The park is situated right on beautiful Table Rock Lake. We booked a lake lot for this visit and I’m so glad we did. Early morning coffee overlooking the lake has been a pleasant way to start the day.
A Google search of “things to do near me” the morning after we arrived led us to literally the COOLEST adventure on this leg of our trip- Cosmic Cavern. Located between Eureka Springs, AR, and Branson, MO, this privately owned cave is truly a must-visit if you’re in this area. Especially if you’re here in the dead of summer.
Cosmic Cavern is considered a warm cave at 64 degrees because most caves in this area are about 58 degrees temp all year round. As the outside temps hovered at 97, we were quite happy to hang out in the “warm” cave for as long as they would allow us to. The tour, unfortunately, only lasts about an hour and a half, and there was nothing we could say to David, our guide, to allow us to spend the full day underground for the cost of admission. For $20, you get the 90 minutes and no more. Eighteen dollars if you go to their website and print off the $2 off coupon.
Some interesting history we learned from David during our tour:
Cosmic Cavern was discovered in 1845 but was not developed until the 1920s.
In the 1880s, the family that lived above the cave mined “cave onyx,” which they carved into little figurines and jewelry to sell in Eureka Springs. They also shipped the cave onyx by train to become the gear shift knob of the Model A Ford.
In 1927, a stairway into the cave was built for the first cave tours to begin.
And in 1993, the current owner discovered a whole new section of the cave — more than 1,000 feet, including another subterranean lake (see map above.)
The cave features a 9-foot soda straw, the longest known in the Ozarks, and two bottomless cave lakes.
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