Meeting Butler County, Ohio

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I was invited to spend a long weekend in Butler County, Ohio, just after they became Wheel The World certified for accessibility. The tourism board wanted me to write about how wheelchair accessible the region is. I hadn’t been there before, and it sounded like an interesting area, so I made plans to go. My trip to Butler County turned out to be one of my most unusual adventures, with new experiences, and a lot of donuts!   I brought Teddy and my friend, Heather, along for the ride, about three and a half hours from home. We had a nice welcome basket waiting for us at the hotel. Our home base was the Marriott Cincinnati North in Westerville. I was happy at the start with a flat entrance and automatic doors. They didn’t have any accessible rooms, so we had two connecting rooms. Teddy loved going back and forth between the two rooms. Mine had plenty of space for me to wheel around, a well-equipped desk area I could reach, and a large bathroom with a shower chair. The handheld was...
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Arriving at the Top of the Rock

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My friend Jaimee and I were back in the car to continue our Missouri road trip. Our next stop was at Big Cedar Lodge, just past Branson in Ridgedale.

The drive was just over two hours and quite scenic, but not quite as amazing as the property Big Cedar Lodge was on. 

We were amazed by the scenes of hills and lakes, wildlife and forestry.

Our cabin wasn’t ready yet so we first went to the Devil’s Pool Restaurant for lunch. It too had a view to remember.

The meal was also memorable as I had soup and a pizza with Italian sausage and roasted grape tomatoes and Jamie head a turkey club sandwich.

We had our leftovers with us as we crossed the covered bridge and headed to our cabin.

We were put up in the Tony Stewart log cabin at Big Cedar Lodge. It was quite spacious, with two bedrooms, a large living room with a big stone fireplace, and a fully stocked kitchen.

The lodge provided us with a nice basket of snacks and some wine.

The only thing about the cabin that took me by surprise were the stuffed animals on the wall, but Jaimee reminded me that we were at a lodge after all.

My bedroom was quite comfortable with a king size bed and a full bathroom. We also had a deck with a view of the lake.

After we were settled in, Public Relations Manager Michelle Wait met with us to give us a tour of the property.  She took us up to Top of the Rock, where one of the attractions is an Ozarks Heritage Preserve.

The preserve explains previous inhabitants to this area, including the woolly mammoth and the saber tooth cat. We toured the restaurants up there. All had spectacular views of the Table Rock Lake, the golf course, and the chapel below.

We were also able to see the Wine Cellar bar and some of the private dining rooms.

Before we headed back down to the lodge we also stopped in the store to check out some local and natural food and cosmetic products.

After the tour, Jaimee stayed back at the room while I went down to the Swimmin’ Hole pool and hot tubs to relax for a bit before dressing for dinner.

We drove back up to the Top of the Rock for our dinner at Osage. We were lucky enough to get a table with an amazing view of the sunset and the bagpipe ceremony. It was all breathtaking to watch.

As for the meal, it was also fantastic. We started with cocktails (I loved the Poison Arrow with Southern Comfort, Amaretto, and pineapple juice) and a fresh and tasty Burrata tomato salad.

For a main course, I thoroughly enjoyed the Braised Short Ribs while Jaimee raved over the locally caught trout, served amandine with spinach and basmati rice.

We finished with two luscious desserts: a Hazelnut German Chocolate Bomb with coconut ice cream; and a Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Sandwich served with chocolate sauce.

Before we left the Top of the Rock we marveled at the sight of the golf course at night.  We then went back to our cabin for a glass of wine on our deck to talk about the things we wanted to do the next day at Big Cedar Lodge.
Location: Ridgedale, MO 65739, USA

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