Ford column: Making memories in Boone

In an effort to dissuade our 10-year-old daughter from wanting to jump off Elk River Falls near Boone last weekend, my husband told her she'd have to wear a helmet.

Undeterred, Nellie simply grabbed her head protector and threw it in the van as he packed.

However, her pledge to take a flying leap off one of the most majestic waterfalls in North Carolina faded when she heard that jumpers have seriously injured themselves after the 50-foot plummet, either landing in the wrong spot or slipping while hurling themselves off the cliffs that surround the falls.

Any of Nellie's lingering daredevil inclinations were squelched when we arrived at the spectacular cascade in Pisgah National Forest and imagined someone actually falling, falling, falling into the pounding water below.

Two in our party of merry-makers didn't have to imagine. Ed and Stan had taken the leap years ago as college students but refused to give a repeat performance.

Children, a wife and a mortgage can do that to a fella.

Elk River Falls was a new destination for us during a two-day stay in the Boone area, a magical place we try to frequent with two other families at least once a year.

We go to hike and swim. We go to relax. We go to laugh.

Perhaps most of all, we go to create memories for our kids.

As an adult, I now understand how much work parents do to make sure their kids have memorable experiences growing up.

Accommodations, schedules, directions, provisions, logistics. But all so worth it when an ecstatic child pronounces, "I'm gonna remember this day forever!"

To reinforce those memories, we keep going back to Lost Cove, another gem tucked away in the wilderness off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone.

Here, a much more user-friendly 6-foot waterfall and large swimming hole provide hours of excitement and entertainment.

A certain mom even mustered the courage to jump this year. After little Clara, 6, took the plunge, was there really any choice?

A traditional photo taken every summer of my husband jumping with son Henry on one side and friend Madison on the other catches the three in midair, mouths open, legs pumping and hands grasped as they prepare to enter the frigid water.

The only thing that changes in the photos is the size of the kids.

Perhaps the most memorable moment from the Boone trip this year was a little visit Saturday night from two Watauga County sheriff's deputies, who seemed slightly embarrassed to respond to a noise complaint and find five 40-somethings and an iPod.

"This is it?" one said incredulously, probably expecting to bust a party with dozens of underage students.

Well, our kids were there, inside the cabin. Watching Harry Potter. Really loudly.

It was so incredibly late — 11 p.m. — that one of the adults had already gone to bed.

The deputies chatted for a few minutes and politely declined my request to take their picture, which I would have immediately posted on my Facebook of course.

I did get a shot of their cruiser speeding away, off to break up another raucous gathering.

Now that's a good memory. No helmet required.

Contact Emily Ford at eford@salisburypost.com.