When I was in the second grade my favorite toy was the Clackers. Do you remember those? You held the ring in your hand and moved your hand up and down to make the clackers go in & out and hit each other.  They looked like this. Only mine were red. A pretty see through red.

I absolutely loved my clackers. I played with them all the time. I even took them to school. I only played with them at recess, of course.

Until that one fateful day in the late 1960’s. Or maybe 1970. I was in 2nd grade, and had taken my clackers to school that day. I was standing in line with my class to go back inside after recess. I had my clackers in hand. Probably had them in action. The principal walked by, saw my clackers, and took them! Yes, the principal stole my beloved childhood toy. I remember he told me that they were dangerous and we couldn’t have them at school. Clearly, that was the first time I had heard that, or I wouldn’t have brought my beloved clackers to school. While stole may be a strong word to describe what happened, I still feel like he stole them!

I remember going home after school that day and telling my mother what happened. I guess I expected her to run to the school and make the principal give me back my toy. That’s not what happened, though. She said that if he took them, they must be dangerous, so I couldn’t have them back. I don’t remember if I cried, but I still remember how sad I was to have my favorite toy taken from me.

Turns out, the Clackers were banned in 1985 for being dangerous. They were made of glass and after use, glass chips would break off and go flying. I guess that made the principal right, albeit almost twenty years later.

I don’t remember what started the conversation, but I was telling some of my kids about this the other day. They were amused by the fact that I was unhappy about having my beloved favorite toy taken away from me.

Apparently, I’m still not over it.

We took our three youngest kids to Cumberland Falls. Cumberland Falls State Park is in Kentucky, and is a beautiful park to visit. I remembered to bring my camera. But I left the memory card in the computer at home. So I took all these pictures with my cell phone. I used no filters for these pictures, and the only editing I did was for size, and to put my name on them.

Before you get to the park, there is an overlook on the side of the road. It is a very nice area with several different levels. It also has picnic tables. This is my husband and our three youngest kids, 15, 17, and 19. They were standing on a lower level than I was. Yes, my 17 year old daughter is standing on the wall. I chose not to look at, or think about, the drop below the wall into the woods.

My daughter was trying to rock climb up this wall by the road. She didn’t make it very far. She climbed the stairs to the upper level where the top of the wall was railing height. She wanted her picture taken up there so it looked like she climbed the wall. lol Her brother thought that was weird. lol

We then walked across the road to take pictures of this view. Beautiful, right?

We stopped at the picnic area by the river to eat our lunch. It was nice and relaxing sitting by the river. We made sure to take all out trash out with us!

Here’s a better picture of our picnic view.

These rocks were by the picnic area. You can see rocks like this on many of the roads in Kentucky.

Cumberland Falls State Park

As you walk from the parking lot to the falls area, there are several places that you can go down on the river rocks. The signs say no swimming, and no wading, but you are allowed to walk on the rocks. That’s my husband and our youngest daughter out on the rock.

Before you get to the falls, you come through the entrance with a restaurant, a gift shop, seating areas, a big green area with picnic tables, and this tree. This tree has been here ever since I can remember, and I’ve been coming here since I was little. We always take pictures in the tree. And we are not the only ones! We have pictures of our kids when they were little in it. My husband and I have pictures here from before we were married. This is my husband in the tree. He’s about 5′ 7″, so you can tell how big the tree is. You can see the river on the other side of the fence.

There are many cool places where you can climb under rocks, and on top of rocks. Of course, my kids always love to do just that. lol

When you are up at the top of the falls, looking down at the river, you can often see a rainbow in the falls mist. I was blessed to see a double rainbow on this day!

Cumberland Falls is unique in that you can also see a moonbow there when there is a full moon. A Moonbow is a phenomenon not found anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. I have not been there to see one myself, but people come from all over the world to see it.

Ok, so finally, here you go, a picture of Cumberland Falls…….

And my husband and our three youngest kids in front of the falls.

Cumberland Falls is also handicap accessible. This overlook they are standing on can only be reached by stairs, but there are other overlooks that can be reached by a paved path.

If you are ever in Kentucky, be sure to stop by Cumberland Falls. It truly is beautiful. And admission is free!