Our trip from Duluth to Gooseberry Falls took longer than expected as we stopped often to watch the newly created shoreline between the ice and the open water.
Gooseberry Falls has never been high on our list of must-see waterfalls. Not becaause they're not beautiful but because they're so close to the roadway that they usually have large crowds. As I expected, the hiking trail was paved and even wheelchair accessible. It was one of our more challenging hikes though because Duluth still has snow that has turned to slush. And that slush, after bright sunlight and hours of foot traffic had turned to ice. We encountered our first adventure of ice hiking.
All "ice hiking" means to my son is adventure. To me it means constant fear and nearly uncontrollable anxiety that screams 'SEDATE ME'. I have no idea how I will tame my son's love of free-climbing. This trip was not the trip to be climbing on the cliffs. The rocks were slippery and one wrong step would have landed him directly into the rushing falls. My internal stress rises even as a write this.
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| Parental Compromise. |
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| See the look on the boy's face? This is the look of "see, Dad let me climb down here by the water". |
I've tried to convince him to take rock-climbing classes thinking that they will offer safety lessons. Ya, ummm... no go yet. On this day I resorted to the age old parental tactic of "you can climb either here or there but not over there". I knew that forbidding climbing would lead to attitude, disobedience, arguing and perhaps losing the battle. And with the current conditions, losing the battle was not an option.
"Dylan, other people think I'm a bad parent because I let you go so close to the water".
"Oh, Mom. You're not a bad Mom. I'm just an adventurous boy!', he replies with a smile as he runs off to the car.
Great.
