Good Thing We're Stuffed

I had the most incredible experience over Thanksgiving break. 

It all started with my cousins visiting us for Thanksgiving. Normally, we go to their house in the tiny town of Cleveland, Tennessee. However, this year, we decided to switch it up, so they spent the holiday at my house in Nashville. Usually, we use the day after Thanksgiving as a detox day. They live on a farm, so we ride horses, go on hikes, have a family flag football tournament, gather around a giant outside bonfire, and (maybe) do a little online Black Friday Sale shopping. 

I was a little disappointed that Thanksgiving wouldn’t look the exact same this year, but I was also excited for potential new traditions to begin. Thanksgiving Day came and went, and we had a wonderful time. Then came the historic detox day! Since we didn’t have access to all the land and outdoor activities we normally partake in, we decided to wake up super early and go on a walk at my local trail in Radnor Lake State Park. I’m not normally a morning person, but we thought that since we were spending Thanksgiving in a more populated area this year, 6:30 am was going to be our best bet at an experience less adulterated by the masses of people trying to walk off yesterday’s turkey. And while we expected our walk to be enjoyable, but we had no idea what we were about to see. 

The walk started out pretty standard: chilly and crunchy, but full of laughter and all of us reminiscing on past Thanksgivings. We decided to take the White Trail, which is a fairly easy walk, but much longer than any of the other trails. There were almost no other people out yet- it was so quiet that we could hear the birds and the rustles of animals waking up for the day. 

In the distance, we saw four black figures. We stopped talking and continued walking, slowly but not menacingly. As we got a bit closer, we could see that they were wild TURKEYS! The day after Thanksgiving, too (I mean how perfect is that?)! As we approached them, they turned around pretty quickly. I watched their movements intently, fascinated. How could a bird be so majestic and simultaneously so quirky? It seemed that they were not afraid of us (they let us get pretty close), but they had no interest in waiting around to see if we were still hungry. They also puffed out their chests and let their tail feathers go up in an effort to seem less vulnerable. 

I often see wild turkeys in Tennessee, and even have a few stray feathers in my house, but no turkey has ever allowed me to get this close to it! It made me appreciate them and the openness the early morning brought. It was such an amazing experience, and I hope that turkey spotting will become the next Harlan Day-After-Thanksgivng Tradition!