New Year's Eve at Big Cedar Cabins

Happy New Year to everyone! We certainly had a most enjoyable one. Instead of stressing over what this year's resolutions would be, we decided to take a break from work, board the dogs at the vet (which only happens in a blue moon), and have some fun with both old and new friends! James and I met our friends from Colorado, Karelee and Chris, at Avanzare's Italian Restorante for lunch on New Year's Eve. Great food, great wine, great fun with friends!

This New Year's we were so excited to not only have our friends from Colorado visit, but our friends from Texas, as well. After lunch, we bolted down to Big Cedar Lodge to see the Priddy Family! I was so excited when I hugged Samantha, I nearly knocked her over :)
Above: This replica is of a cabin at Big Cedar, which was made entirely out of gingerbread. YUMMY!!!

 I want this! This artsy piece of steel created to look like a deer but function as a rail for the balcony. James, take notes!

 Sunset on Table Rock Lake at Big Cedar

 One of my besties, Samantha, taking us on a private tour of Big Cedar with her little man, Rex.

 Willa, Samantha and Aaron's daughter, kept trying to escape the tour and get back to the gingerbread cabin. Her moccasins are SO cute!

 I love these hand made chandeliers that hang above the gingerbread house, when you first enter the main check in for Big Cedar.

 Aaron and James with Rex, being pushed by Willa. She wouldn't let anyone else push her brother, but her.

 Willa is now in charge of the tour. She knows us too well..next stop, the Coffee Shop!

 Rex eating all by himself on New Year's Eve...can't believe how big he is getting!! Almost 16 months old!

 Willa ate one bite of an enchilada then decided it was time to get down and play some more...she stayed awake until midnight, which was a big treat for her!

 Samantha and I at Buzzard Bar...we each got the BBQ nachos with fresh and spicy jalapenos...great minds think alike!

 Aaron and Samantha at Buzzard Bar. I got a picture of James and I, too, but it turned out blurry :(

 Walking over the bridge, with Devil's Pool below. I found an insert from the Big Cedar History page and thought I would share what Devil's Pool was all about:

THE LEGEND OF BUZZARD BAR….

Below the crystal-clear waters of Devil’s Pool, long before Table Rock Lake became an indistinct image of the mind, the sacred icy waters of the Osage Indians spilled out of its seemingly bottomless confines and twisted and turned on its winding path to the powerful White River below. It’s at one of these bends that the legend of the Buzzard Bar was born—a legend steeped in the minds of the first white settlers to the Ozark Mountains. It is near this gravel bar where hundreds of buzzards mysteriously appeared as if overnight, and the superstitious minds of early pioneers attributed the materializations to evil origins. Obviously the close proximity to Devil’s Pool—and the belief that the watery hole led into the bowels of hell and to the Devil himself—fed the settlers’ imaginations, turning the appearances into an evil omen.

According to the story, a young man was returning home from courting a neighbor girl. As chance would have it, his long walk home placed him near Devil’s Pool at the same moment the brightly lit full moon reached its zenith.The legend says he heard a loud groan, like the opening of a huge stone vault, and the silver reflection of Devil’s Pool turned black and began to boil. Hidden in the shadows of a red cedar, the youth watched in horror as buzzards emerged from the depths and circled the tall black oaks above a wide gravel bar.

Fear kept the young man frozen as he watched the ghostly, moonlit shadows circle the sky and eventually come to rest above the gravel bar just before daylight. He lay in hiding all day, fearing the watchful eyes that never left their perches. That evening, the legend continues,when the moon rose above the trees, the buzzards took to the air once again, circling overhead and occasionally swooping to the Devil’s Pool where the hidden watcher heard splashes from things being dropped into the water.This ritual continued until the moon reached its peak again,when the dreadful groan of an opening vault filled the air and the buzzards dove into the black water and disappeared. According to the legend, the young man’s story was greeted with other strange tales of that second night—young animals missing, birds clawing at windows and frightened dogs that wouldn’t go outside. People believed the buzzards were seeking a human soul for the devil.

The legend that warned children to stay away from Devil’s Pool and the Buzzard Bar is barely a memory today, and the mysteries of that gravel bar and the bottomless pool are buried under Table Rock Lake. More than likely the legend was simply a way to explain the inexplicable, or to frighten children into behaving. But if you see buzzards circling overhead . . .  

 The day before we arrived, Samantha and her family had been out looking for arrowheads, and actually found some! So cool! What a great adventure!

Of course, the boys were looking on and studying the architectural integrity of the wooden bridge that is built over Devil's Pool. I have to admit, it was pretty scary driving across this one-lane bridge.

An old picture, courtesy of Big Cedar's Website, during the hay day of the old swimming pool at Big Cedar. This pool is still around and Buzzard's Bar overlooks it, which we saw yesterday when we dined there.