I’d never thought about what a green state Missouri is. On a recent trip to Branson and other southern parts of the state, lush plants grew everywhere and the smell of honeysuckle filled neighborhoods.

Dogwood Canyon Nature Park on the Missouri/Arkansas border is one place to appreciate the greenery. Visiting is pricy – just getting to walk the six-mile trail on the grounds is $14.95 per adult – but if you want to make a day of it in a family-friendly nature atmosphere, it’s a pretty nice place to walk and bike ride. Other activities include horseback riding, Segway touring, fishing and 3D archery.

The park is one of the many projects of Missouri billionaire (estimated $4.1 billion on the 2015 Forbes list) Johnny Morris. I’d never heard of Morris before my recent trip to Missouri. But during my week there, his name came up over and over. His story in brief: local boy who started by peddling fishing lures in father’s liquor store, grows up to found Bass Pro sporting goods empire. Spreads his money around southern Missouri building Big Cedar Lodge, Dogwood Canyon Nature Park and other places that promote nature, fishing and the outdoors lifestyle. The nature park is managed by the Dogwood Canyon Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to preserving and protecting the canyon’s flora and fauna.

Since I was traveling with a group, I was not mistress of my destiny. Thus I wound up on the guided tram ride, rather than walking or biking. However, the tram had its advantages. While my butt widened, I saw more of the preserve than I would have walking. The tram takes visitors into the wildlife area, which includes elk, bison and long-horned cows. None of whom are very wild, considering the driver feeds them a mixture of corn, pressed grass and molasses that has bisons stumbling out of the trees toward the tram like crack addicts. I learned it’s easy to get a close-up photo of a bison when it’s busy sucking up molasses. And it made bison relatable; I, too, love molasses.

Here are a few highlights of my visit to Dogwood Canyon Nature Park.

See how it looks like I’m in the waterfall? I am! Inside the tram! The trams drive right through water, which makes the tram ride more exciting.

Missouri is not exactly a veg haven. But the people are nice. At the Dogwood Canyon snack bar, they cheerfully made me this delicious vegetable wrap.

Who doesn’t like to slurp up molasses on a sunny day?

If you ever wondered why they call them long horns…

One of the things I loved about Dogwood Canyon was the attention to detail. Look how cute the latch on the bathroom stall was! Little details like this were all over the place.