Table Rock Dam and Fish Hatchery

Crossing the Table Rock Dam

The 10 original gates

Now we know why we haven't drowned at this end of the lake.  Visited the Dewey Short Visitor Center and learned all about the building of Table Rock Lake Dam.  It's a dam good thing it's there or we'd we floating toward the Mississippi River right now.  Jeff said he'd never actually seen a dam before that was having to let water through the flood gates to ease lower water levels in other areas.  The gates were only open about 1 1/2 feet but it looked like Niagara Falls.  The original section of the dam was build in 1959 and designed for "worst case" scenarios.  More recently they decided that "worst case" could be worse than what they had imagined so they added 8 more flood gates.  They did this to alleviate any concern that in this "worse - worst case" the dam would actually fail and then the devastation would be beyond imagining.  As it was yesterday, we couldn't reach the dock without taking our shoes off because the water have flowed over the entrance ramp to the dock.


A giant Rainbow and his smaller companion,
a blue trout.  Some of the other Rainbows were even
bigger than this one.  YUMMMMMM!

A "runway" with Rainbow trout.

On the river side of the dam is the Shepherd of the Hills  Fish Hatchery so we decided to stop there so Jeff could drool over the trout being raised there.  OMG!  The fish they had in the tank inside the place had been there for years and were HUGE!  There were rainbows, browns, and even a blue trout.  I had no idea trout could get that size.  We also got to see the "runways" were the hatchlings live.  These are 100' x 12' and the fish vary in size.  So there were some that were maybe 3" long and others that were 6-7" long.  The brown trout are kept in the "runways" also but theirs are covered with a tarp to keep the sun off.  Apparently, they need a cooler environment and the "fish guy" (fish biologist?  he was a funny guy) said it was cheaper than buying them all sunglasses!   Mya, ever the curious one (and I LOVE it - she asks so many good questions!) wanted to know if fish have ears.  So we asked one of the other "fish guys" and he said yes, but not as we think of them.  They have "lateral lines" that pick up sound and motion.  He said it was like a submarine.  They don't have external ears like we think of them so apparently there will be no earrings or sunglasses on these fish:-)   


Jeff with his girls.  (Jade hates to be hugged - by anyone!)


It was a great way to spend Father's day.  We ended up going to lunch at Landry's Seafood Restaurant (must have been wanting fish after seeing them all at the hatchery - subliminal influence?!)  Boy, do they pile on the food.  We had enough to bring home and eat leftovers for dinner.  I think there is still some left.  We also drove around downtown Branson but we weren't really impressed.  It seems to be trying to be the Las Vegas of the Midwest but there was something decidedly cheesy about the place.  Maybe it was the huge King Kong hanging off the top of a fake tower or the building made to look like the Titanic hitting a fake iceberg but neither one of us was impressed.  The girls got a hoot out of all that stuff though (Mya has all the pictures on her phone - sorry!)  Driving around here is quite an adventure.  Jeff thinks when they established the roads they just paved old deer trails.  Either that or they are old Amish buggy cart paths.  Truly it probably has to do with the topography of the Ozarks but my, oh my, do the roads wander and turn, up and down.  The Harley riders seem to enjoy the roads around here! 


Alligator Turtle - at the fish hatchery

We cracked up at the sign
on the Alligator turtle tank.

It looks like the boat is going to take a while longer to get fixed so we are going to head up north on Wednesday.  We'll just leave the boat there and pick it up when we return.  Jeff is there now getting all the paperwork done.  Time for my walk.  The route around the resort is 1.6 miles - half of that uphill (of course, remember Amish buggy trails!)  It's a pretty good workout and there is a breeze today so that should help. It's been unusually warm here so we've seen 90s fairly consistently.  A dip in the pool afterwards seems like a good idea.

(A big THANK YOU to Jade for remembering the names of everything. I had to consult her a number of times when writing today's entry. My brain can barely retain my own name but Jade remembers EVERYTHING.  Kind of scary!)



Me and the girls on a beautiful
Missouri afternoon.