The Lodge of Four Seasons

November 11, 2011 was hubby and my 5th wedding anniversary.  We like to do “big” trips later in the year, but since we’d had several larger trips this year already (and hubby is in school), we opted for something short, sweet and close to home. We grabbed a LivingSocial.com deal for The Lodge of Four Seasons a couple hours away in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri and drove down to spend the weekend.

The sign as you enter The Lodge

The Lodge was built in 1964 by Harold Koplar and has been owned by the Koplar-Brown family ever since. The owners remain proud residents of the Lake area, and their level of pride and commitment is obvious to every guest.
source: 4seasonsresort.com

We opted to stay in their newest building, Avila, part of the Residences at the Lodge.

The Residences at the Lodge

Avila

We had a 1-bedroom condo. The floor plan of the units is ingenious. You have a kitchen and living area that is shared by 2 bedrooms on either side with adjoining rooms. You can book a 1-bedroom with no living room and kitchen (like a regular hotel room), you can get what we had: a 1-bedroom with use of the kitchen and living room, or you can get access to both bedrooms (one with king bed, the other with 2 doubles) and the living room and kitchen. Brilliant!

Here’s the FAB kitchen in our unit:

The kitchen in Avila

It was a VERY nice kitchen, much nicer than we expected. The only thing that would’ve taken it over the edge would have been stainless steel appliances.  Even without them it was VERY  nicely appointed.  We did notice that it wasn’t as “stocked” as previous places we’d stayed in Lake of the Ozarks, but since our trip was shorter it really didn’t matter much.

Here’s a shot of the entire living area from the living room:

The living room and kitchen in Avila

There was also a DVD player that we took advantage of by renting a couple movies at the grocery store near the entrance of the resort.

Moving onto the bedroom, it was definitely much more “swanky” than we expected and we were very pleased!  My only regret was that we couldn’t stay longer. the bed was firm but comfortable and we had a million pillows *ahhhhh*.

Our bedroom in Avila

In the same vain, the bathroom was awesome and luxurious. Even though the mirror over the sink was made for shorter people and hubby and I couldn’t see our heads without bending down, we still loved the bathroom LOL! There was a separate toilet room.

Our bathroom in Avila

Then there was a whirlpool tub (which I didn’t get a chance to actually use) and a HUGE walk in shower stall with (one) robe).

Our bathroom in Avila

The patio off the bedroom opened up to a beautiful view over the original lodge and lake.  Lovely indeed. There were a pair of chairs and a small cocktail table  so we could sit out there and watch the sunset *ahhhhh*.

Our view from Avila

After excitedly touring our room, we decided to head back down to the main lodge area and look around.  There was a conference going on with all the gym teachers in Missouri so it was SUPER busy and hard to take pictures without a bajillion people in them. I think I did a good job though *ha*.

The main lodge entryway with the shuttle from the
different residences. Great in theory BUT they apparently
use the golf cart when it’s only a couple people and it was cold
out and there was NO WAY I was taking an open golf cart
even on the short drive. No.

The inside of the main lodge reads “I’ve been here for a long time but I’m very well kept” LOL!

The foyer of the main lodge.

Something about the main lodge made us think of being on a cruise ship. We never got to eat at The Sidewalk Cafe but it really made us feel like we were on the promenade on a Royal Caribbean Voyager class ship *shrug*

The Sidewalk Cafe in the main lodge

Maybe it was the “tiered” construction that gave that “cruise ship” feel. Then the rooms are on different floors off the corridors pictured with elevators etc. Tell me that doesn’t feel like you’re on the inside of a ship!

The main lodge

We ate breakfast at Breezes both days. It was free as part of our Living Social deal. The food was good but the french toast was AMAZING! #nomnomnom

Breezes

After eating we did more touring of the main lodge and found Spa Shiki, voted best spa in the midwest by Spa Magazine (as in better then the spa in Trump Tower in Chicago :O ).

Spa Shiki

I should’ve bought one of these duckies #drats

Spa Shiki

The spa was very nice, and when hubby and I return we’ll definitely have to give it a go.  Down the hall we found a fully stocked exercise room and yoga room (not pictured) with an amazing view of the lake.

Exercise room

And a theater!

The theater

They were actually playing some good movies but we’d already seen them so we opted not to come back and see a movie there. Great option though!

Then back on the main level we looked around the shop and I almost bought a few items, but resisted LOL.

The shop

That night (our actual anniversary) we had reservations for dinner at HKs Steakhouse & Bar in the main lodge.

HKs Steakhouse

Our Living Social deal also included a $50 credit to HKs!  Dinner was great.  The atmosphere is a bit dated but very well kept and upscale. The food was amazing, although I didn’t care for the sauce on my steak so that was kinda a killjoy #womp.  Either way, we had an amazingly intimate dinner with great service and would totally return!

Us that night at dinner

We retired to our room and … did what married people do *heh*, and generally enjoyed the beautiful space.  That’s pretty much what we did the next day too, although we did get dressed and go to dinner and look around a bit more. We cooked lunch and dinner in our room (we’d bought a cooler with us with food #smart) and watched movies all night.

On the day we left it was sunny, beautiful, and the temperature finally went up about 20 degrees.  After breakfast we went to a presentation and got a free stay at the lodge. We’d love to come back in the future and bring friends!

Afterward we strolled through the Japanese Garden that we couldn’t find the previous day:

The Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden

Then later just walked around the property taking in the views.

Me and the dude

Happy Anniversary to us! To many many more years with my boo boo *blush*

Until next time Glam Fam I wish you
Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Nappyness,

@Glamazini | facebook.com/IamGlamazini | youtube.com/Glamazini | Google+

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Disclosure: We paid for this stay at The Lodge of Four Seasons with our own money.  For more information about the Glamazini.com disclosure policy, click here.

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tags: Avila, Lake Ozarks, Lodge Four Seasons, travel