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Following some errands yesterday (which mostly didn’t go as planned, since, due to a much later start to our excursion, everything was closing on us!) on a lovely, nearly-summer’s night with a beautiful sunset, I decided that we should finish off the day with a visit to a local park.

It’s a small county park that features lots of grass, lots of picnic tables, and a few creeks running through and around it. There’s a baseball backstop which we have employed a time or two. And the train tracks which run through our town are just across the creek, so we’ve been known to spend an evening or two sitting on the bank of the creek watching for trains. (The kids—and Dad—love it!)

Last night, thanks to the recommendation of a friend who heads up this group, we headed to the other end of the park to see some “waterfalls”. Now, these are not regular, natural waterfalls, but spillover from the Erie Canal. However… there is water… falling… and so, we enjoyed seeing the waterfalls!

More than enjoyed, Alex was ecstatic! He was at the lead of our train of people, and when he caught the first glimpse of the rather long/wide “waterfalls” he squealed, “Whoa!! Come here!!! Look at these!!!!” I love seeing my kids excited. I think it’s one of my favorite things. 🙂

So we crossed a pretty cool-looking bridge to the other side where Alex was seeing these exciting waterfalls, and observed all that there was to observe for a while. After a few minutes, we observed a beaver! He swam out from one of the banks, heading up the creek where the path ahead of us went.

Always the explorers, the older three kids (followed by their younger sister, number four) ran up the path to see if they could see Mr. Beaver up there. Sure enough, there was another bridge where they could watch him swimming right to them! Mom & Dad and the babies finally caught up and watched as Mr. Beaver swam up as close as I’ve ever seen a beaver… just under the bridge there was a small “island” that he came up on for a moment… then he swam back where he came from! Funny!

So, if you’re in Wayne County, NY, and want to explore a new park … we recommend Swift’s Landing on the east side of Palmyra. Actually, it’s on the Canalway Trail which goes along the Erie Canal for… well, I have no idea how far. Perhaps this website will tell us? (Looks like it goes from Buffalo to Albany! Wow!)

As it has been in the past, and maybe even more now, the Canalway Trail and the parks it connects us to will be much frequented by the Campbells this summer!