Central Missouri - Columbia and Lake of the Ozarks
Columbia
Columbia is a fun, college town. We have visited a couple of times. There are some great parks in and around Columbia. The most memorable is Rock Bridge Memorial State Park which has great hiking. Devil's Icebox is popular and a fun hike. There are tons of bars in town including Tropical Liqueurs (aka Trops) so you will not go thirsty.
Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks is a popular weekend trip destination for people who live in Missouri. Most of the time we have gone with friends who have a house (or their family does), but there are lots of places to stay as well such as Tan-Tar-A which is one of the places we have stayed. When staying at Tan-Tar-A, we took a boat charter which was fun and informative. There are a lot of fun bars and restaurants on the lake, and touring them by boat is a lot of fun. The lake also hosts various events. For example, we have visited for Harbor Hop which is an event where you bar hop around to get different playing cards to get the best poker hand that you can.
There are also multiple state parks in the area: HaHa Tonka State Park, Lake of the Ozarks State Park, and Bennett Spring State Park. All of them are worth a visit and have lots of good hiking trails. HaHa Tonka State Park is a gem of a park that includes the ruins of a castle. The park offers beautiful views as well. Another way to get great views is from an observation tower in Camdenton at the Missouri Conservation Department. Lake of the Ozarks makes for a great weekend trip.