Kent Falls State Park

We threw peanut butter sandwiches in the backpack, piled into the car, and pointed it northwest at 8 AM on a Saturday. The kids fell asleep about forty minutes in and woke up right when Route 7 turned into the good part, where the road runs along the Housatonic and every bend feels like a postcard.

Kent Falls sneaks up on you. From the parking lot you can already hear it, but you don't see the drop until you step past the covered bridge and the meadow opens up. The kids' eyes did the thing they do when they see something bigger than they expected.

The trail up alongside the falls is short but it climbs fast. Wooden stairs, a few switchbacks, benches at exactly the right intervals for a three-year-old who claims to be dying. There are viewing platforms every hundred feet or so, and each one gets you closer to the top of a different tier.

The fun part is that you can wade in at the bottom. Shin-deep, cold, full of smooth rocks kids can hunt through like they're panning for gold. My youngest was convinced the water was 'moving on purpose to try to steal her shoe' and honestly, watching her, it kind of was.

We spent about two hours total, ate lunch in the meadow, and were home by early afternoon. The five-year-old asked when we were going back before we hit the highway.