Spectacular

Today, we packed up our family and a picnic and headed out for a little adventure.

It has been years since we have been to the falls. I can remember hiking around the area with my husband before we were married. It could have been ten years ago. Ten years ago?? That is a shame considering that this little slice of heaven is so close to where we live. I just remember trying with all of our might to get a self photo of the two of us that day. Back in the days of film, we had one roll and for our first shot, we decided to use the self timer. So we set it and nestled down in front of a small little waterfall. My husband would press the button and then run over, put his arm around me, we would smile and then.........nothing. Didn't work. So he'd run over again, push the button, get all settled, we'd smile and again........no blinking red light. We repeated this probably twenty times until concluding that the self timer must not have been working. At that point we were soaked by the spray of the waterfall and laughing so hard at our efforts to get just one photo. So we went on our hike and when we tried to take a picture, the little number showed that we had used up all of our film. Well that was crazy, not one of our self timer pictures worked. A few days later, we turned the film in since it claimed that it was full and to our shock and surprise, we had 24 pictures of us trying to get that self timer shot in front of the waterfall. It had been working. 24 pictures catching us laughing, running to get in position, looking at each other like, "What is up with this camera?"......24 pictures recording pure playfulness. Photos catching the most spontaneous expressions and the most genuine smiles. I will never forget that hike, we have 24 pictures to show for it.

Today was the first day, ten years later, that we brought our two adorable kids up to the falls. They loved it......until they each wanted to be carried because their legs were getting tired! So with a kiddy in each of our arms, we hiked halfway up. We felt the spray on our faces, we joined the dozens of other tourists trying to get that golden shot of the 620 ft waterfall. We passed the camera back and forth, always having to wipe the lens due to the spray. Our son took some photos. We just really enjoyed the experience. The experience of introducing this wonderful place to our kids. The experience of being together as a family. Hiking. Laughing. Carrying kids on our shoulders. Snapping over 200 photos (thank you digital). And finishing our little mini adventure with a picnic in the grass below.

As we began our drive home, the clouds began taking on the most amazing form. They were like mountains in the sky, each with their own silver lining. The day was getting brighter and the river was glistening from the sun. My husband pulled off at a viewpoint area and before the car was completely stopped, I was out the door with my camera in hand. I climbed up on the guard rail, balancing very carefully as I could have totally seen myself falling off, and was met with the most gorgeous reflections on the river that I have ever seen. This view is today's blip. I feel like this capture is rare because the area is known for its wind, year round. The river is usually choppy but today, it was glass. Pure glass with just slight amounts of ripples here and there. The river was like a mirror. It was projecting every detail from the sky onto the water below. It was stunning.

When I got back in the car, I showed my husband this photo......as it was the last one that I had taken. I said to him, "Well, you really can't get much better than this huh?!". He said, "Oh yeah, that really is amazing". So I put my camera away and then I looked back over at him and followed with, "Well great, now I can't use my waterfall picture for my blip today......it doesn't even compare to this one". And he said, "But that's the cool thing, sometimes the best shots are the ones that you don't plan for".

True. So very very true