state parks project, part 20: whitewater memorial

Happy Thanksgiving! We're out on the road again. We spent the morning exploring Whitewater Memorial State Park in Liberty. I'll be honest: We weren't sure what to think heading to this park. We read some reviews that were (to put it kindly) not very complimentary. One of them even advised us to give up on the idea of a nice park experience and just spend some time in a local dumpster instead. (Ouch.) Luckily it didn't turn out to be nearly such a dire experience (then again, we weren't camping or using the facilities, so don't take my word for it).

Once we got to the park (and check out the map — this park is pretty far from anyplace we would normally visit, so we really went out of our way to get there) and made for the trailhead, we noticed something unusual: The sky was full of birds. BIG birds. BIG, QUIET, CREEPY birds. Turkey vultures, to be more specific. There were hundreds of them! We stopped and took some pictures and watched them for a while, then we hit the trail.

The trail we chose is called Cattail Alley, a moderate one-mile trail (not a loop, though, so a mile out and a mile back). We had nice views of the lake, and basically had the whole place to ourselves because everyone else in the whole state was off eating turkey or something. Near the end of the trail, there are acres of cattails. We read that in the spring, lots of waterfowl and other birds love to hang out there. It was pretty to look at in the almost winter too, though.

And here's something you don't see every day. Definitely not your average picnic spot.

Once we got back to the car from the trail, we realized that the turkey vultures were still hanging out, especially in a grove of trees not too far away, so we drove over and stood under them taking pictures and geeking out while Henry played on the nearby playground (he is ALWAYS after us to stop at the playground, but by the time we get done hiking, we're usually pretty tired and just want to go home). The turkey vultures were really quiet — the only real noise they made was when they flapped their wings. Mike and the boys even made a bunch of noise in a coordinated effort to get them to react, but no go. They also were not very graceful. They sort of crash-landed on branches. Still very fun to watch.

As for the holiday, don't feel bad for us, because we still got our turkey. We're staying at the Clifty Falls Inn, and they had an impressive Thanksgiving dinner. I even got to try my first-ever piece of sugar cream pie, the official state pie. I'm not sure how it happened that I've lived in this state almost my whole life and never had the opportunity to try it. Tasty!

See also: SPP1, SPP2, SPP3, SPP4, SPP5, SPP6, SPP7, SPP8, SPP9, SPP10, SPP11, 
SPP12, SPP13, SPP14, SPP15, SPP16, SPP17, SPP18, SPP19.