state parks project, part 21: clifty falls

I haven't been to Clifty Falls State Park in scenic Madison since I was in college. As you know, that was a pretty long time ago, so my memories are mostly of climbing lots of stairs and seeing some waterfalls. Turns out my memories are pretty accurate, because guess what we spent today doing? If you guessed "climbing lots of stairs and seeing some waterfalls," you are totally right!

We arrived at the Clifty Falls Inn last night, just in time to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving dinner that we neither had to cook for nor clean up after (which makes it exactly my speed). The staff at the inn actually called to see if we wanted a dinner reservation because we had a reservation to stay at the inn, and I was so glad they did. Last year, we stayed at a hotel on Thanksgiving too, but we didn't exactly plan ahead, so we ended up going to Hardee's, the only "restaurant" in the whole town that was open, which of course was pretty unsatisfying. This year's feast was miles above that. Note to self: Always make Thanksgiving reservations at a place that serves dinner.

This morning, instead of waking up early to do some Black Friday shopping, the boys and I had a leisurely breakfast while Mike got showered and ready to go, then we hit the trails. We didn't do any one particular trail because we were more after a variety pack of the park's offerings, so we basically started at one end and worked our way to the other, stopping along the way for anything that caught our fancy. We saw a few waterfalls, as mentioned, along with some spectacular views of Clifty Canyon. The boys got to do a little climbing and running around, which was really great for them. We generally try to keep them fairly quiet so other people can enjoy the trail too, but today there were no other people, so we didn't have to worry about reining them in.

Our longest stop along our park tour was also the final stop. We spent more than an hour exploring the area around Clifty Falls, Little Clifty Falls, and Cake Rock. My budding photographer Liam took some really nice pictures, but Henry tried to follow him and was going too fast along some slippery rocks and took a tumble. He landed hard, and it was loud and alarming, but luckily he landed on his butt, and he was fine after a few minutes. Whew! Maybe that'll teach them to listen to us when we tell them to slow down. (It won't.)

We had one good bird sighting for the day too: a female hairy woodpecker.

We had a minor crisis when we realized that we forgot to bring Henry's swimsuit, so before we stopped for lunch, I reluctantly went into the local big box store to try to find one. I probably could have saved myself some trouble because of course swimsuits are out of season, but I did find a whole bunch of $2 movies and $4 sets of PJs, so I guess that's a silver lining. Anyway, back at the inn, Mike got to take a nap while I took the boys down to the pool, which they had entirely to themselves for TWO HOURS. Where were all the people? Surely not still shopping. Maybe they all went out on the trails for the late afternoon.

We've got one more night here, then we're heading back north. But if you get a chance to visit either the park or the inn, we highly recommend both. Fort seal of approval!

See also: SPP1, SPP2, SPP3, SPP4, SPP5, SPP6, SPP7, SPP8, SPP9, SPP10, SPP11, 
SPP12, SPP13, SPP14, SPP15, SPP16, SPP17, SPP18, SPP19, SPP20.

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.

illumination

Since the five of us don't really do formal Thanksgiving anymore (preferring instead to spend that time outdoors somewhere together), we met up with Barb and Kevin and Johnny and Erin and the kids last night to catch up and check out Illumination, an interactive light and sound exhibit at the Morton Arboretum.

First, the positives. The lights were incredible! The kids had a wonderful time hugging trees, pushing buttons to make them dance, chasing each other around, giving each other piggyback rides, and just generally enjoying their time together. The displays were superlative. My favorite was probably the crystal promenade, in which chandeliers were hung from the trees, and ornament hill, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Now, the not-so-positives. The kids had a wonderful time chasing each other around. Sounds pretty innocuous in theory, right? In practice it meant that every adult spent the entire time doing head counts in the dark, trying to make sure everyone stayed together, while the kids dashed off ahead or behind or off to the side. At one point, Max, Henry, and Lucy ran off together and we couldn't find them in the dark. Erin headed back down the trail while Mike headed up the trail, and eventually Mike found them and parked them all at a bench to wait for the rest of us, but it was kind of an alarming few minutes. It reminded me a LOT of the time young Max wandered away from us at a fireworks show -- all those people in the dark, and little kids lost. NIGHTMARE.

Once we finally impressed upon the children how important it was to STAY TOGETHER, things went much more smoothly. It was a little too cold for Richie and Jesse, so Johnny and Erin took them back to the visitor center to hang out, but Lucy opted to stay with us to finish the trail. Henry was a little frazzled, but honestly, I think that was to be expected given how late it was (with the time difference) and how overstimulating. But we all made it through, and had a pretty good time to boot. If we lived closer, I would seriously consider hiring a babysitter so Mike and I could walk through it alone, just to have a chance to absorb things at our own pace without having to be on high alert the whole time. Sadly, I don't think that's in the cards. Another time, I guess.

a picture is worth ...

... a day pass to the state park of my choice!

As part of the state parks project, I've been trying some new things. One of those things was entering a fall colors photo contest sponsored by the Indiana State Parks Facebook page. I submitted two pictures, one from Charlestown and one from Chain O'Lakes. There were over 1,000 entries, so I didn't think I would win anything, but winning wasn't the point anyway. There was one grand prize winner (an amazing picture of a squirrel on a log with fall leaves all around it) who got a $100 gift card to the state park inns; there were 10 winners of annual park passes, 100 winners of day passes, and 20 randomly drawn winners of centennial pins (whatever those are). The winners were announced this morning, and to my surprise, I won a day pass for my Charlestown picture!

We already have an annual pass, but I'm pretty excited to put this day pass to good use: We're planning to go back to Turkey Run in January for the Eagles Weekend, and this time we'll be joined by Johnny and Erin and the kids, so we'll use our day pass so they can discover a new place. All year, we've been trying to pull people into the orbit of these beautiful parks, and I can't think of a better way to use this pass than to evangelize some more.

they'll need a crane

A weekend without work means time to do things I like with people I also like. This morning, that meant getting up super early to go back and see the cranes at Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area. Today's crane count was 8,060! We could hear them as soon as we stepped out of the car.

It turns out that taking pictures at sunrise is a little more challenging than taking them at sunset was. the light was coming from a different direction, so it was a little hard to get the crispness that I wanted, plus there was a lot of fog. Still I'm pretty happy with the way a lot of them turned out. This was Mike's first time seeing the cranes, and I would venture to say that he was impressed, if unprepared for how cold it was. The boys did a lot better this time too, mostly because I stayed underneath the viewing tower taking pictures, so they had a little more freedom to climb around on the support beams. All in all, a pretty great way to start the day!

After we had our fill of cranes, we stopped at Bailey's, a weird discount supercenter out in the middle of nowhere, and we did something we've been meaning to do for years now: We ordered a new set of cabinets for our kitchen! Bailey's carries the brand that's currently in the kitchen, so we were able to match the style and color. I took pictures of the countertop, but I had been turning over in my head whether we would be able to match that exactly, and I had this notion that I didn't really want to. So it was a pretty exciting development that we just happened to walk by a kitchen display (on our way to the bathroom) that had a butcher block counter. We both stopped, looked at each other, and decided on the spot that it was perfect. Now we just have to wait four to six weeks for it to come in.

Once that transaction was out of the way, it was finally time for breakfast. We opted for a sit-down restaurant, and nobody threw a fit or did anything really embarrassing. In fact, it was really a lovely, relaxed family meal -- very rare indeed. Then we headed to my parents' house to hear all about their Canadian cruise. They had gifts for everyone, and the boys got to play with Jack for a long time, until finally he showed us all that he was ready to take a nap by getting crabby with everyone. On our way out, my dad gave me a dozen eggs fresh from their chickens.

And once we got home, I got to do my favorite outdoor chore: pressure washing! There is something that's just so satisfying about it. I get to put on my headphones and exist in my own little world for a couple of hours, and at the end, the house is all sparkly clean and I'm soaking wet but with a great sense of accomplishment. Just as I was wrapping up, Laura and kids came and picked up the boys for a trip to the park, and then three of the Kruyer kids stayed at our house to play for a while. Henry cranked out pretty badly at the end of the day, but even that couldn't mar my happiness. This day had pretty much everything I could ask for: Time in the woods, time outside doing something interesting, family time with few fights, getting things accomplished, seeing my parents and nephew and cousins, and even a little time alone with Mike while everyone was at the park. Funny how a pretty ordinary day can seem so exceptional.