Saturday began with a quest to seek out and find the best waterfalls in the area. Of course, Kansas is flat and shouldn't have any waterfalls, but low and behold, she does. Normally, an excursion such as this wouldn't take too long to get out of the house, but my wife warned me we couldn't go out in the cold with the baby. So we waited till the afternoon. Even then, it was a bit cold, but I was determined to go on an adventure. Besides, we had to go buy some milk anyway, so I figured we'd take a "slight" detour on the way.
The first part of the journey wasn't too bad, but then we left the freeway and began a five-mile trek across dirt roads, under bridges, and through the countryside. We saw many beautiful out of the way homes that inspired us for where we might want to live someday.
Then we came to the watering hole. To get to the falls, we had to cross the river. Granted, the water level was low, only a couple inches off the ground, but we had to traverse a good 100 feet of river to get to the other side. I stepped out of the vehicle, asked Margret if she wanted to join me, but the baby was asleep, so she stayed behind as I scouted out the area.
It didn't seem too difficult of terrain to get to where I needed to go. Less than 100 feet away through minimal underbrush. What I didn't see was the mud. Once I got to the tree line, I realized I needed to go down a steep embankment to get to the water below. And then the mud came into play. No matter where I stepped, my tennis shoes slid in and down. As I stepped over the ledge, my feet slid out from under me and I landed bottom first on a 10 foot slide to the water-edge below.
But there she was. A waterfall expanding across the river to the other side. The sun setting quietly behind it to the west. I stood there in awe. Pulled out my tripod, set my camera on top and began taking pictures.
The journey back to the car wasn't as difficult, but Margret had a good laugh when she saw my behind. As the baby was in the car, we had a baby changing bag too, so Margret pulled out a diaper changing pad, placed it on the front seat, and demanded in no uncertain terms that I must sit on that for the drive home.
What my behind looked like AFTER returning home and cleaning off "most" of the mud...what we do to get that "perfect" photo...
I can't wait to return to this location in the summer time when the foliage will be nice and green. As it was, it was quite beautiful in the cool afternoon of a February day.