Catchup Thanksgiving and Christmas

For Thanksgiving '10, Sandi and I decided to head down to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It is a large man made lake created from the Osage River. The lake has over 1,150 miles (1,850 km) of shoreline, and the main channel of the Osage Arm stretches 92 miles (148 km) from end to end.
It has gas stations, shops, hotels and restaurants all on the water. During summer it is home to Party Cove, a rowdy gathering spot that a travel writer for The New York Times called the "oldest established permanent floating bacchanal in the country." Unfortunately not that much action was going on at the lake during the winter months and Sandi and I had a nice relaxing weekend doing some hiking and exploring.
We visited Ha Ha Tonka state park and toured the ruins of the Snyder family castle. Quite the place till a fire got the best of it. We also visited the Bridal Cave where 2000+ couples have made their vows underground.

For Christmas, Sandi and I headed back to Goldendale Washington and spent the holiday with Sandi and her family.
We built a snowman.
We did some sledding.
We also met up with Matt and Rachel and did a little hiking in the gorge.
We also visited the Maryhill Stonehenge replica along the Columbia river gorge. Night quite as impressive as visiting the real thing (I went with a couple friends to England in 2004). But still quite impressive.