Tequila At Tan-Tar-A

I accompanied Keith to his Missouri Travel Council Christmas party at Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks this past Friday. This was a bit of a first for us; my attending as an accepted "spouse" and I asked him if this was officially the time when I play the pill-popping, neglected partner a la Valley Of The Dolls and make an inappropriate spectacle of myself at his "office Christmas party". He responded with a typical chuckle as I indeed meant it as a joke. As the evening progressed, we were far closer to a spectacle than I'd imagined...

The day began innocently enough; in fact, it was outright mundane as K went to his council meeting and as the room wasn't ready, I hung out in the lobby and typed away on my laptop. This was also my first visit to Tan-Tar-A, and as I'd heard quite a bit about it, this gave me some time to take it all in. Tan-Tar-A's a 420-acre resort at the Lake Of The Ozarks and despite many trips to the lake with K's family, I had no idea that there was so much to the resort. We were lucky to get to stay on the seventh floor in the convenient main building as there are several other interconnecting buildings attached. There's a seemingly endless array of banquet and meeting facilities as I watched the Farm Bureau and a coach's association gather in various rooms. The tall, rustic Christmas tree twinkled as the centerpiece of the lobby.

We finally checked in and met the rest of the council at the Black Bear Lodge restaurant. This place is indeed a hunter's dream, with its over-the-top hunting lodge atmosphere. I was literally told to "make a right at the black bear" to find the restroom. I gradually met several other of Keith's fellow Missouri Travel Council members as we were led to our designated dinner area. We sat with two very charming ladies during dinner; both of them tourism folks for their respective areas. Laura was the hilarious rep from St. Louis and Cori the lovely rep from Independence. I came to enjoy the company of these two quite quickly as we enjoyed our delicious dinners; mine a tasty stuffed chicken breast. We retired to the Black Bear Lounge after dessert for a drink before the show we were attending in town.

K and I took Cori with us to the Music Hall for the aforementioned Christmas show. I will say this in the interest of time and fairness and leave it at that: It was clearly a popular show for many folks, especially the attendees who arrived via a Baptist church bus. Glad these folks enjoyed it, and it was nice of the Council to provide show tickets for members. We left at intermission....lets just say it wasn't my cup of tea. Moving on...

We returned to the bar where many of our compatriots were hanging out and having fun. I met Megan, the adorable and hysterical rep from Hannibal and her hubby Ryan. We told many a funny tale from the show we watched and found ourselves comparing notes as we had all attended a Dollywood show extravaganza (an experience not unlike tonight's show) in our past. What was intended as one after-show drink soon deteriorated into a round of tequila shots and a bartender's special called a Chocolate Cake: lemon vodka with Franjelico; a hazelnut liqueur. Gales of laughter consumed us throughout the night as we found ourselves moving from one lounge to the other. I morphed into that dreaded shot-fueled persona that loves everyone within a five-feet radius and Megan slew me with her declaration "Holy Balls in The Batcave, Batman!"

We happily sauntered off to our respective rooms for the evening after making a slightly tipsy promise to meet for breakfast. Keith revealed more of his "secret agent" past in the course of the evening....despite numerous protests that he "never drank shots", he actually knocked them back without blinking an eye. Shades of his sniper-like shooting on Thanksgiving! We collectively decided that he learned how to drink when he was infiltrating that terrorist cell overseas on one of his missions. The next day, he felt fresh as a daisy and while I managed not to completely descend into a Valley Of The Dolls-like stupor, I wasn't exactly loving life that following morning. I couldn't tell you the last time I drank shots or had a hangover and I certainly didn't think that would re-occur at a place where I was meeting people for the first time. Luckily, nothing truly, heinously embarrassing happened and we are all Facebook friends now. However, let me just say....Yikes. I ain't in my twenties anymore.

In the course of all the revelry, I saw much more of Tan-Tar-A and found it pretty darn cool. There are riding stables, a spa, bowling alleys, a shopping area, even a Burger King. Its a tad dated but still a ton of fun. I believe I christened it well. In the next post, I'll highlight some fine grub that we discovered the next day...

Comments

  1. What? No lampshade or conga line?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Tan-Tar-A. I miss the years I don't get to go for a convention.

    ReplyDelete

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