neverland.

in the winter, and most any time of year, we would go for drives along the western shores of the st. croix river. somehow, my father always knew the spots where we could park and crawl down the steep slope, grabbing on to branches that grew horizontally so as not to slip and roll down head first. some places even had old, twisted stairs that showed up in your peripheral vision, but the drivers prefered to stay on the platform in the lot, snapping panoramic pictures of wisconsin. i imagine that my father had gained experience in the founding of small holes in the conventional world by having similar adventures as a child with his two brothers.
time lost its sense down here, all there was were trees and leaves and the river and your imagination. we explored (with much trepidation) dark caves deep in the cliffs, full of foreign marks and dan was here, 1967. yes, you could still find arrowheads in the 1980s, and on one particularly bold expedition, he and maija even discovered their own secret waterfall. we carefully noted the types of rocks and trees and the stories of the people who knew this land far before we came into existance. you didn't want to get too close to the edge, because the st. croix didn't ease in as many other rivers and lakes do, it cut through the land in a way that it was a sheer drop, at least 10 feet deep right at the edge. its verocity decreased in the winter, when in certain places it turned to ice, and we would slide across (tapping a stick in front to check the depth) to a nearby island and do a little dance, both because it was so cold and because we had set foot on a previously unattainable location. i remember, his glasses would fog up in the below-freezing weather and he'd tilt his head down to look over them, which made him look particularly erudite as it made his eyebrows raise a little and his brow furrow.
this was the land before it was claimed down to shore, before it became someone's "beautiful scenic view." the caves are now boarded shut with cement and the signs to the stairwell taken down.
however, if you know where to go, you can still slide under the bars while no one's looking.