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Getting Families Outside, One Adventure at a Time

Month: February 2018

FAMILY TRAVEL, HIKE, LOCAL GEMS, OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES, WINTER
Taughannock Falls State Park, Ithaca, NY
- February 27, 2018
Today we’re sharing an awesome family winter adventure in Taughannock Falls State Park in Ithaca, NY with Jamie Love and her family. Jamie is an inspiring professional photographer, outdoor enthusiast and mom of three. She’s taking us for a hike through one of her favorite local state parks to visit the awesome frozen waterfalls. Along the way, she’s sharing tips for hiking with kids, ways to turn your hike into an adventure and some truly gorgeous images. I absolutely love exploring new areas and parks through the eyes of other moms and Jamie does an amazing job making us feel like we’re right in the middle of the adventure with her. If you’re ever in the Upstate New York area, you must check out Taughannock Falls State Park.

Taughannock Falls State Park, Ithaca, NY

As a local to Ithaca, NY and homeschooling mother to three children, our family is blessed to be surrounded by a plethora of waterfalls to explore with children. “Ithaca is Gorges,” our community slogan, was created for a reason! We are surrounded by over 150 waterfalls varying in size; all within our “10 square miles surrounded by reality.” Our little bubble of Ithaca is also home to the tallest single drop waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains, Taughannock Falls. Plunging 215 feet down rocky cliffs, Taughannock (pronounced TUG-ah-nick) Falls stands 33 feet taller than Niagra Falls! It forms a 400 ft deep gorge through layers of shale, sandstone and limestone, that were once the bed of ancient sea. It’s an amazing place to get outdoors and teach children about the wonders of geology.

While there are many waterfalls to choose from in our area, (lucky us) I choose to highlight Taughannock because it is very easily accessible for families with babies, toddlers and small children; even during the winter! The .75 mile hike from the car to the waterfall is flat, well maintained and full of benches to plop on and dish out snacks should your child get whiny and need a break. Plus, the view at the end is well worth every step!

The past few weeks has brought Upstate, NY a variety of weather – from mild 72 degrees days followed immediately by days dropping 6+ inches of snow. The weather is always in flux and unpredictable. The waterfalls undergo many rapid transformations from frozen solid, to raging rivers the next day. We decided to set out with the children after a snowfall to see what we would find. No matter when you go, it’s always an adventure!

What we packed
- Waterproof snow boots (for those wet slushy walkways)
- Good quality under layers (to keep the sweat whisked away while hiking)
- Hats, gloves, snow jackets and snow pants
- Snacks!!! (our keto family likes cheese sticks, Epic bars, celery sticks and walnuts)
- Our full Kleen Kanteen water bottles
- A sled to pull our backpack behind us, (or a whiny toddler on the way back)
- And of course, my CAMERA – to capture all the magic!
Hiking with kids

My 8 and 12 year-old children run most of the trail. However, my 5 year-old tends to lag behind and request piggy back rides on and off when the snow is above his ankles.

It’s a short distance, but the .75 mile walk to the falls can feel like a LONG time with a whiny 5 year-old. I definitely need some distracting tricks up my sleeve. To make the hike to the falls more enjoyable for the kids, I usually make it a point to ask my littles to “find their special walking stick.” They each choose one that will lead them on their special journey. This keeps their minds occupied on finding something sacred and off of the distance.

Other fun things to do is play “I spy” along the walk. “I spy with my little eye, A GIANT BOULDER OF ICE!” “I spy with my little eye, A YELLOW FALLING LEAF!” Take turns and vary the difficulty for the ages of the kids involved. I also find singing songs to be helpful for hiking with smaller children. “Off we go, through the woods, hand in hand, through the land, what we’ve got we’ll share together, and we’ll never be parted, no not ever.” This is a favorite of our family, which can get our arms swinging and feet happily skipping along.

There are also times when we do hikes with our homeschooling group. One of our favorite things to entertain the kids on these hikes is have a pre-made scavenger hunt paper ready for them. These come in handy to keep everyone happily engaged and learning about what lives in the forest.

Hikes and trails

The wooded trail at Taughannock Falls State Park runs along a river which you can walk right down into and explore, if you so choose. There are paths that lead you down into the old sea bed that isn’t covered by the river. Here, you can then see the divets created by the flowing water that were formed centuries ago. In the summer, this is the perfect place to cool off and splash around and find fossils. In the winter, it’s a different story. Its slippery, freezing cold, and not ideally safe to walk on. However, our adventurous family likes to “ice skate” our way across the terrain and crack the ice with our boots. We can spend a good half hour just walking along this part of the river bed.

Moving onward up the trail there are notices to look out for “falling ice.” Take notice and pay attention to the warnings. Right next to this sign, rests a ice boulder taller than my son, which they happily chiseled away at while I was playing catch up with my camera in hand. When you look up you towards the sky, you can see 400 feet tall cliffs with gigantic ice chunks frozen to them. It makes me feel so small in this big frozen world.

Waterfalls

On this particular adventure, the sound of the Taughannock waterfall freshly melted and raging was keeping my children excited. With every corner we turned, we came closer to seeing the powerful giant! Once we made it to the waterfall, we were sprayed with a fine frozen mist from the water sprites. When you’re there, you feel as though you’re in nature’s’ cathedral. It’s as if all of the falls’ magic pours straight into your spirit. I truly believe it’s something everyone should experience with their children! I wasn’t able to get my camera all the way up as close as the children were standing without risking a complete shower, given the raging fall, but I did manage to capture a few images.

Our family’s discussion on the way to the falls was wondering what the trees would say if they could talk. On the way back, it only made sense that the kids would try and make the trees actually express themselves. My older children took it upon themselves to construct “tree people” with snow balls that they would throw and plaster to the trees to create snow face. Onlookers enjoyed the faces as they walked past, and the children were certainly wildly entertained making themselves crack up at the faces they were making.

Post-hike sledding

When we made it to the car, we decided that the adventure was not over! Our sled (which we accidentally left in the trunk of our car with the snacks due to a certain 5 year-old’s meltdown about his snow boots not fitting right) needed SOME purpose for this trip! A short drive up the hill from the park is a place known to the locals as “Rice Hill” and known to children as a sledding paradise!

Rice Hill is an enormous hill which overlooks Cayuga Lake. Parents love the wood-stove heated cabin located at the top of the hill where we can sit inside, feed the little ones snacks, and warm up frozen fingers and toes while the older children race down the hill together. As if this place was not idyllic enough already, there are also two frozen ice ponds complete with hockey nets, just in case you and your kids have ice skates and a puck in the car! The water wasn’t frozen enough for us to pull this off this trip, but there is always another day for another adventure!

Links & local suggestions

While you’re here, I want to share a few favorite links and local gems to help with your adventure. I’m in no way sponsored by or affiliated with any of these places. They’re just my personal go to’s and I hope you’ll love them as much as I do.
- HIKING MUSIC: If you don’t like kid songs to sing while hiking, here’s an awesome list of hiking and travel songs to sing to your children on hikes.
- GET YOUR GEAR: If you’re visiting Ithaca with your wee ones and need a one stop place to pick up everything you need for a muddy hike affordably (think underlayers, rain boots, water bottles, reusable snack pouches, snow gear), be sure to visit Mama Goose.
- SNACKS: Located only 8 miles from Taughannock Falls is our local co-op, Green Star Co-op. This is where we always stop on the way to pick up our yummy snacks! Their bulk section is GOLD for on fly healthy food!
Hello, I’m Jamie Love, a homeschooling mama to three growing trees named Banyan, Malaya and Koa. I also own a home-based photography business named Jamie Love Photography. When I’m not busy editing photos, or teaching my children about all of the wonders of the world, you can find me forest bathing in my wooded land, writing music with my pianist partner Remanu Panther, or plucking vegetables and whipping up a stellar salad from my garden.

You can also find me online in the following locations:
Photography website: http://www.jamielove.photography
Instagram: @jamielovephotography
Facebook: Jamie Love Photography
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES, SKI/SNOW, WINTER
The Perfect Snow Day
- February 6, 2018
With the groundhog seeing his shadow and predicting six more weeks of winter, I thought it might be a nice change of pace to put a hold on the winter-bashing and share a beautiful post, written and photographed by the amazing Angie Mahlke, all about embracing your inner child this winter and having a perfect snow day with your kids. We know winter can be a tough time for parents – with temperatures plummeting outside, kids cooped up in the house and germs everywhere – but today we want to remind you how special and amazing winter can be through a child’s eyes. If this post doesn’t motivate you to get out all your winter gear and brave the elements for some good old fashioned fun, I don’t know what will! Enjoy!

As a Minnesota native, all I know is brutally long, cold winters. Winter can start in November and run through April, sometimes even May. Winter is a child’s dream come true: a playground full of white, fluffy stuff to sled down or sculpt into snowmen and forts. A blank canvas of possibility. I spent many hours as a kid outside in the winter, bundled up in layers so thick it was an exercise in strength and agility just to walk. As a kid, those things never bothered me or slowed down my curiosity for new adventures.

But somewhere along the way, the years have muddied my view on this season. As a parent, winter can feel like an imprisonment. We spend long months inside, the walls of our house our jail cell. The kids run wild inside, their voices echoing and booming, my nerves rattled. They itch to go outside. They don’t see a frozen land, miles upon miles of white nothingness. Instead they see nature’s playground, countless activities awaiting them.

When I discard my tainted adult perspective and adopt their mindset, I’m taken back to my childhood days. When we get outside, despite the cold and damp and thousands of minutes of preparation to get us there, I remember what an amazing experience winter can be. We plop onto a fresh white plot of ground, flailing our arms and legs to create heavenly wings, and then balance precariously onto one side to get up without ruining our work of art—snow angels.

We scoop up heavy wet snow, the best kind for sculpting, and begin the process of creating a snowman. Scoop and smear, scoop and smear, until we form a lumpy ball for the body. Repeat the process for the head. Then we rummage around for items to be turned into body parts, maybe even run inside for winter accessories to dress the snowman. We name him. Ted. Fred. Olaf. Or simply Snowman. You must name him.

Days pass, weeks even, and we will check on him through a window, gauging whether he’s melting or surviving. In a particularly cold spell, the snowman might last a whole month. Eventually, we’ll go back out and collect the scarf and hat that sit where Ted or Fred or Olaf once was.

When I tap into my childhood spirit and forget the way the cold freezes my boogers on impact or the way the wind takes my very breath away, we will grab the sleds and find the nearest hill. We will take turns WHEEEEing our way down the hill, over and over again, our breathing becoming heavy from the exercise of climbing back up the hill each time.

Or we will cross the street to the big snow mountain made by the snowplows, a dumping ground turned snow fortress. We’ll climb to the top and slide down. Again and again. We’ll take cover behind it as a brother launches a snowball at us. Duck and hide. We’ll perch atop it, throwing snowballs onto the sleds below, an impromptu game born.

When I forget about the search for matching mittens, the struggle to cram feet into boots, the protests as the scarves get tied tightly around their faces…when I focus less on the process of getting us outside and more on the experience of being out in nature, then magic is made. It’s all in a change of perspective, and it’s always worth it.

So bundle up and get yourself and the kids outside. Enjoy the magic of winter through the eyes of a child. Trust me, you won’t regret it and neither will they. And, just remember, there’s always hot cocoa and marshmallows afterwards.

What was your favorite winter activity as a child?

I’m Angie: wife, stay-at-home-mom of three wild hyenas, an introvert with a creative itch that needs to be scratched. My creative outlets comes in the form of photography, writing, scrapbooking, crafting with my kids and sewing. We call Minnesota our home and are always on the lookout for kid-friendly things to do as a family for all seasons.

Instagram: @angie_mahlke