Family vacation in the Sand Hills of NE.

   It's been a long time since I posted anything here.  Almost two years. I guess it hasn't been a priority for me! :)
   Our family just took a Father's Day camping vacation last weekend.  We went to see the waterfalls in Cherry County, up near Valentine, NE.  It's a place I've wanted to visit for a long time.  My oh my, did we have a good time.  I took a lot of pictures.  My kids and hubby took some too, mostly Kristina.  I will share some of my better photos here.

This was our first night at the campground.

 We camped at Merritt Reservoir for two nights.  The first night, on Friday, we set up camp and then I grilled some hamburgers and bratwurst.  We had a yummy potato salad and cupcakes too.     After we explored the water and looked around, we played cards at the picnic table.  Our game was Crazy 8's.  It was a bit windy and cool, but we did have some laughs.
    It stormed a bit that night, but for the most part we stayed dry in our tent.  Kristina would disagree with that statement, I think. She was on one of the sides and claims she got wet.  But not too much.                                                                                        

One of the many pretty wild flowers we saw there.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Snake River Falls.

 

Snake River Falls was the first waterfall that we visited.  It was fast and loud.  It was a rugged trail getting down to the bottom, but it was worth it.  This was everyone's favorite because of the challenging hike, all the interesting paths and the shere amount of water tumbling over the falls.                                                                                                                                                            

 

 This photo shows the difference in the height from the top of the canyon to the bottom.

The weather was a bit cool for mid-June. As you can see, some of us are still in our jackets and sweatshirts here.  But it was really quite nice for hiking, as it wasn't too hot.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The wild flowers were delicate and pretty, but also hardy to thrive in this environment.   Side note for this picture of the purple flowers; today we got a free sample of the York News Times newspaper delivered to our house.  The day before yesterday I sent 15 or 16 of my photos from this trip to the paper for their "Photo of the Day" feature.  Today's paper had this photo as their photo of the day! Such a nice surprise to see that when I opened the paper to page two.

This one looks like a little face.

                                                             

 The second water fall we saw was called Fort Falls.  I thought this one was very pretty in the way it seemed to flow right out of the trees  and cascade beautifully down the rocks.  There were some hiking trails to explore once you got to the bottom of this one, but we didn't venture too far.  I wasn't up for the five-mile trail the led up and away from here.  

    The kids were collecting water as a souvenir, in a small bottle from each of the falls we visited, and also from our camping area.

                                                                                        

My handsome Kevin at Fort Falls.

 

 This moss covered log lay in the stream of water flowing away from Fort Falls.  The white lump that looks like snow, is foam in the water, created by the churning and bubbling of the water as it flows down stream.

 The tallest water fall in NE, Smith Falls is the most well known.  It is located in Smith Falls State Park. It is a wonderful waterfall to visit.  Very picturesque, and very accessible.  We enjoyed getting wet in the mist and splash at the bottom of the fall.  The water was cold!  

A closer look at the bottom area.

 Away from the falls, but near part of the reservoir, we stopped at a scenic overlook.  Collin spotted this blooming cactus.  We also did a driving tour at the Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.    We saw bison, elk, turkeys and prairie dogs.  We even saw pelicans in the water on the reservoir.

This prairie dog stayed still long enough to get a picture.

On the way home Sunday, we spotted this friendly dinosaur, and he let us get a picture of the kids on his back.  We loved hearing the kids tell us this was the best vacation ever.  I agree it was pretty great.