Tag Archives: waterfalls

New York Waterfall Adventure

Away from the hustle and bustle of New York City life is a serene world of natural beauty. It came as a bit of a surprise to me that New York State could offer such a wonderful wilderness. As a West-Coast girl, I tend to think of New York as one giant metropolis. Not anymore! While I was in Springfield Center with my family, I discovered the wild side of New York.

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The day of Ben’s brother’s wedding, I went with my sisters- and brothers-in-law to Robert B. Woodruff Learning Center, a waterfall hike near the farm where we stayed. The kids needed to get their wiggles out before the ceremony, and some of us still hadn’t seen the falls yet.

family on a bridge

This day also happened to be Uncle Don’s birthday, so it was fun to get to all do something together with him.

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Beside the falls are a series of natural caves. The kids were excited to go spelunking through them! They are deep enough to be interesting, but not deep enough to be dangerous, so they were able to run free through the natural playground. Micah discovered a hole that went from the bottom of the caves to the top, so of course everyone climbed through that several times. It reminded me of the secret entrance to the subterranean house in Peter Pan.

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Once everyone had their fill of caves, we headed down to the falls. Okay, let’s be real—no kid ever has their fill of caves. But once we convinced everyone to clamber down the wooden staircase to the water, they forgot all about the caves and began to dare each other to swim from the shore to the falls in the freezing cold water.

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A little further downstream, past the main falls, there is another wide fall that is covered in moss. The green carpet makes the falls comfortable and easy to walk on, so you don’t have to worry about slipping down them. We could safely walk right down through the bubbling stream of water to the pools below. The pools would be great for swimming, but none of us adults were willing to jump in the water like the kids were, although a couple did walk under the main falls.IMG_3704

The kids wandered around and found interesting things to catch their attention. Zach found some insect larva in one of the pools. Micah walked around with a great big Gandalf walking stick until he discovered fishing line and a hook. Carl and Linden learned to skip rocks with their dad, and Layla rolled up a great big green, fuzzy “allergy ball” from the algae on the rocks.
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waterfall

It was time to go all too soon! We said goodbye to the caves and the falls and walked back up the path, through the school, past the garden, and to the car. Who knew New York could have such beautiful nature?

women on a rock

Waterfalls and Elephants: A Thai Adventure

Meet my friend Marie! Marie and I went to college together in Arizona. She currently lives in Asia, where her husband is stationed with the military. She has gathered many stories during her global travels, and I asked her to share one with us!
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My friend, her husband, and I had been in Thailand, specifically Bangkok, two days and we decided to sign up for a tour to visit the Erawan National Park and the close by Elephant Sanctuary. Our earlier adventures had all been in the exciting city of Bangkok. We had seen the Jade Buddha,  national temples and palaces, the Giant Buddha, and many sights on-board exciting public transportation. However, time had come to see a little more outside the city.
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The morning of, we woke early and met up with our van driver outside the hostel we were staying at on Kao San Road. For three hours we made our way outside the city, only stopping briefly to use a squatty potty and grab a meat filled biscuit for breakfast while the van was filled with gas. Through the beautiful jungle and up the winding roads we finally made it to the Erawan National Park where seven gorgeous waterfalls awaited us.
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We made our way up the path to the first waterfall, along the way seeing wild pigs and hearing multiple languages from the many tourists on their way to the waterfalls. The heat and humidity required the constant consumption of water on our brief hike, but finally we made it to the first waterfall. The beautiful turquoise water gushed over the huge rocks and small naked children swam through the water with the many fish. The fish were the same kind of fish that many spas use to eat the dead skin off of feet.
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Further, we made it to a less crowded waterfall and pool where we waded and swam through the cool and refreshing water to the rocks under the waterfalls, getting our toes tickled by the many fish. Under the falls we looked through the curtain of water and viewed God’s beautiful nature. After a little bit of time and three more waterfalls, we had to say good bye to the falls and made our way down towards the van for an authentic Thai lunch and then on to the Elephant Sanctuary.
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An hour later in the van, we pulled into a park by a river surrounded by jungle. Immediately we were greeted and lead down to the shore by the river. Two massive elephants emerged from the jungle and waded into the river, each atopped by a native Thai man yelling commands.
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Three at a time, we made our way out to the first elephant and climbed onto his back. The elephant was then coaxed to spray his back with water, completely soaking us. His bristly back helped us to stay on as he moved and the river current sped on by. After a few minutes, the Thai man gave out a command and the elephant bent his front legs and threw us forward into the river. After belly flopping and trying not to be taken down river, we made it to shore where we went up to platform to ride the elephants. We climbed aboard an enormous and very friendly elephant. The trip was absolutely fantastic as we made our way through the jungle scenery. We were absolutely terrified when the elephant would climb up and down steep stairs!
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When the elephant ride was completed we climbed back into the van yet again for the long ride back to Bangkok. That day was filled with awesome new experiences. From there on we gained many other new exciting experiences as we entered Cambodia and visited Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, and Sihanoukville. After Cambodia we made our way to Southern Vietnam and saw the Mekong Delta, Can Tho, and the Floating Market. At long last we headed back to our homes in South Korea.
Life is surely an adventure.