Elizabeth's Secret Garden

In the last entry, I shared with you my experience at Niagara Falls. My journey did not end there though! My dad, sister, and me were filled with enthusiasm as we crossed the Rainbow Bridge which was our gateway into Canada. We did not use an automobile, but made the transit by foot. I shall give two words of caution in case you also decide to make the same journey. First, check the weather forecast for that day before crossing the long bridge by bike or foot. (It looked clear when we started, but an hour later it started to sprinkle.) Second, make sure to bring change. It is currently $0.50 each way for pedestrians or those traveling by bike. We missed this important information and found ourselves lacking a quarter to reenter the USA! Thankfully there was a store nearby where we were able to get change. The beautiful Rainbow Bridge was our key into Canada. We bypassed all the traffic by using our feet! The construction of Rainbow Bridge started on May of 1940 and was opened ...

For every person there is something that stirs within them a thrill and a passion to do great things. This is what I feel when I travel or take on a new task. To go to new places, try new things, and dare to be adventurous is what moves the adrenaline through my body. I was made to be active and not passive. Not every day is adventurous and life is bound to be mundane at times, but when adventure comes your way embrace it. I felt that thrill when I stood at the edge of the railing overlooking Niagara Falls. I had been there several years before, but somehow this was different. I seemed to have a new appreciation for this natural wonder. Time has not taken away the sense of awe over even the small things, but this was so much better than what I remembered seeing so long ago. The roar minimized the sound of my voice and it rang in my ears as I stood gazing at it.   Three thousand, one hundred and sixty tons tons of water flow over the falls every second. All that weight create...

Amicalola Falls State Park is one of Georgia’s most popular state parks. The dazzling 729-foot waterfall has helped the park to become one of Georgia’s Seven Natural Wonders. It is no surprise that the Cherokee Indians named this waterfall Amicalola which means “Tumbling Waters”. After a powerful rain storm, water pours over the falls edge in a continuous stream. The falls tumble and weave through the hardwood forests until it descends over the ledge at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The forests surrounding the falls include 2,050 acres owned by the park. The park includes more than eight miles of trails plus an Approach Trail that leads to the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail. Each trail varies in difficulty and length to provide for the different desires of hikers. We decided upon the shorter West Ridge Falls Access Trail (0.3 miles) to view the falls. For the more ambitious, their is a set of two staircases with 604 steps that escalade to the top of the falls....

ButterflyFest is a yearly festival hosted by the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida, which is home to the incredible Butterfly Rainforest exhibit. This year’s event was October 23-24, 2010. Next years festival will be October 22-23, 2011. Learn more at there website. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflyfest/   ButterflyFest is a free event that is dedicated to increasing awareness of Florida’s butterflies. The festival had many fun activities and vendors. The Festival had food vendors, nature books for sale, local honey, butterfly art and jewelry, and even a plant sale. In addition to all these activities, the festival invited speakers including Chip Taylor from Monarch Watch. For a fee, several different workshops were offered this year.   The plant sale was a lot of fun. It was hard to choose which plant to buy! The butterflies and bees led the way and I finally chose Echinacea (photo to right). It is a great herb to have because it boosts im...