Full Bloom Blog

I am no stranger to southern Missouri. My husband’s family lives there and we have visited at least once a year for as long as we have been together. We have taken little day trips many times on our stays there but this was our first vacation within a trip. Just like in Michigan we go “up north” apparently, in SE Missouri, you go “to the river”. I know the lingo and the things so I am basically a foreign native there now. 😉 We saw lots of beautiful areas on our trip to the river but I had so many fun and gorgeous photos to share, I had to split it up. So here is Eminence…

With my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, our family traveled to Eminence to enjoy some river time and stayed at the River’s Edge Resort Cabins. The cabin was pretty much what we expected and was able to house our whole crew. We stayed in a deluxe free standing cabin which had a refrigerator, bathroom (is this *of course* or not?) and a charcoal grill. Biggest let down for me was that there is no cell service where we were staying and despite the fact that they advertised free WIFI, it was not actually available in our room. The whole resort had two spots where the WIFI worked, neither of which was even close to our cabin. All in all, it wasn’t awful to feel a little disconnected but being able to send a text or check an email from time to time would have been nice. Especially in light of the fact that it was advertised as so.

While our cabin was in walking distance to the water, it was not quite as close as we had hoped/expected. I did hear, however, that the water levels were very low so I’m sure that played a role in our proximity to the river. If you’re staying at the cabins, I highly recommend either packing light or driving to park closer to your swimming area.

“Floating” is a big deal on the river whether you choose to travel down the water by canoe, kayak, or just sitting in an innertube – there are different outfits in town in which you can rent and be shuttled by for your float trip. Since our kiddos are so little still, Erik and I did not think it would be a great idea to take them on a couple hour float down the river. (In case you’re wondering, I pretty much sang “Down to the River” by Jordan Feliz non stop on our mini trip.) Instead, we found a nice little swimming area and just camped out for the afternoon.

Also, let me mention, that the current in the river is LEGIT. One should be very careful with his/her belongings but especially kiddos! In fact, my MIL lost one of her river shoes…to the river. Speaking of which, that’s another thing locals know, it’s that you need river shoes. I’m not talking water socks, y’all need shoes. The rocks can be very unforgiving so the more solid bottom you have the better.

I actually ordered some very cute river shoes from Amazon – but unfortunately I had them shipped to my house instead of my MIL’s. Erik grabbed these from Walmart on our way to the cabin. They worked….

I still preferred wearing flip flops down to the river (you see what I did there?) and would change once I got there. Especially after swimming, I did not enjoy the squish of every step. And side note, this swim cover was in my top five favorite summer purchases this year!

Erik and Annabelle thoroughly enjoyed using their flippers and snorkels in the river! I mostly played lifeguard and built with the rocks with Torsten. The water was COLD so I was happy to just dip my toes and sit on the shore. Another good thing to consider would be bringing a beach chair! My butt hurt so bad sitting on the rocks!

I know I mentioned packing light but besides your beach chairs, if you’re swimming, you’re definitely going to want to bring some floaties and life jackets for your kiddos. I felt more confident letting my littles explore in the water with their life jackets/puddle jumpers on.

We also spent a little time in town. Just in case you happen to make it to Eminence for your own trip, you’ll want to note that no one serves breakfast after 10:45 AM. Breakfast is serious business in our fam so he had a near tragedy. We cut it a little too close and were only able to grab breakfast at one establishment because of our rapid fire ordering abilities.

I just like this photo of Giselle at breakfast… it reminds me of those tabloid style photos of celebrities being a little “extra” in normal life. Also, let it be known, that anything outside of eggs, breakfast meat, and standard breakfast carbs do not exist in Eminence. Ha, maybe it does, but not in the diners we landed in. No acai bowls here….

I highly enjoyed how sweet and hold fashioned many things in town were. While many of the businesses were not open, it was certainly a very cute town. We enjoyed popping into a couple different antique stores and had fun browsing both the antique and local items available.

Far and away the most *happening* business in town was the Dairy Shack! It was packed from lunch time all the way through the evening with families and kids getting burgers, ice cream and other yummy snacks. They had plenty of outdoor seating complete with picnic tables and ceiling fans. We walked from our cabin one evening and despite the heat index of 100F, the kiddos enjoyed their soft serve twists and evening stroll.

It was a sweet little trip to Eminence and if you ever happen to be close by, stop in for a bit. The people are friendly and the river is cold (which once you factor in the air temps of MO in the summer, is a great thing).

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the run down of the other stops we made on our mini trip including Alley Spring and Echo Bluff! And drop me a comment if you’ve ever vacationed in Southern Missouri and what your favorite places are!