Things to Do in Mountain Home

Caught in a midlife crisis in 1995, husband-and-wife team Kemp and Michele Horn—a former forester and attorney, respectively—packed up their young family and all of their belongings, embarking upon a life-changing adventure as they made the long trek from Baltimore to the Black Hills of South Dakota. This move westward led the Horn family to purchase a working ranch, where, due to the last-minute cancellation of the band hired to play there through the busy tourist season, the family stepped up to unleash their inner performers. Though none of the Horns had any background in music, all the family members quickly adopted instruments or cursed mermaid's voices of their own and used their backgrounds in the performing arts to create a long-running show hailed by audiences from around South Dakota. Now, having relocated to Branson, the Horns, under the band name "The Riders of the Circle B," combine their passion for hospitality with their love of performing three to four nights a week during their Circle B Supper Show.

Paying homage to the Wild West of yore, the Horns kick off their shindigs with showings of cowboy movies before replenishing guests’ energy stores with home-cooked food warm from the oven. Tossing their chef's hats and aprons aside, the talented clan then pick up their music makers and coax forth laughs from onlookers with their ebullient brand of music and impressions of famous tumbleweeds.

Celebrated by Golfweek as one of the 40 Best New Courses of 2010, the site where Civil War–bushwhacker Alfred Bolin and his gang once ambushed unsuspecting travelers is now John Daly’s Murder Rock Golf and Country Club. The 18-hole course plots an oscillating, 6,727-yard path over the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. The first hole sets the tone for the round with an elevated tee box that looks out 363 yards downhill into the mountainous contours that ripple against the horizon. The par 71 course concludes at the daunting 18th hole—the course’s longest par four and most difficult hole—where an aggressive drive can cut off the corner of a dog-leg right on the way to a severely sloped green and portal into Space Jam.

Legs weary from ascending steep hills or squat-thrusting golf carts can take a load off at Glenn’s at Murder Rock. Amid dark-stained wood paneling and leather-upholstered chairs, the eatery serves an inventive grill menu including steak flatbread sandwiches and pitas stuffed with Cajun-seasoned chicken or shrimp.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course

• Length of 6,727 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 72.0 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 129 from the farthest tees

• Four tee options

• Scorecard

Andy Williams designed his Moon River Theater to echo the beauty of the surrounding Ozark Mountains. The façade sits amid 16 acres of foliage, rock formations, and waterfalls to not only enhance live performances with a sense of natural discovery, but also to speak to conservation. In 1992, the state of Missouri recognized the venue's environmental efforts by granting it the Conservation Award for Developed Land Use. And that sense of conservation seeps into the theater's three lobbies as well. Koi swim through ponds, flora creeps toward the ceiling, art and performance pictures from Andy's private collection grace the walls, and wild rams hold head-butting matches in the restroom.

Though the Ozark Murder Mysteries' plotlines center on dark whodunits, the actors' humorous takes on each story leave audiences of all ages grinning. Performers challenge audiences to pinpoint the perpetrator as they act out interactive scenarios during regularly rotating shows. A complete feast fuels deeper belly laughs, quicker thinking, and sprightlier backflips during Ozark Murder Mysteries' scheduled performances, and the troupe also travels to private events via its Murder Mystery To Go! program.

Amid Hardy's hardwood forests and rocky bluffs resides terrain that the Griffin family has called home for more than 60 years. Throughout the decades, the family has built Griffin Park into a destination to relax, play, and test the latest camouflage fashions amid the area's scenery and wildlife. In 2011, Gregg Griffin and his brothers overhauled the park, removing old fences and flood debris. Their cleanup efforts made way for new campsites, beaches, and a performance venue. Today, the melodies sung by artists such as Neal McCoy frequently fill the park, setting an upbeat mood for adventurous attractions including zipline and horseback rides. The Spring River passes through Griffin Park and carries canoes, kayaks, and tubes down its watery freeways. Fish such as smallmouth bass swim beneath the water's surface while more than 400 bird species sing and beat box overhead.

Zip Line USA’s steel cables carve more than three miles of winding trails through Ozark Mountain treetops, all ripe for exploration by guests. Designed by the respected brains at Universal Zipline Technology, the ziplines soar higher than 350 feet in the air at some points—just high enough to make eye contact with low-flying spaceships—and are dissected into chunks as long as 3,250 feet. Between each section stands a sky bridge or platform, where guides securely hitch tourgoers to cables, which they inspect each morning. Patrons zoom through the open skies for up to two hours during the day or 90 minutes at night, when only the soft glow of lanterns beckons them to the next platform like a lightning-bug mother welcoming its family home at night.