Miami-Erie Canal? In Dayton?

It's Monday, and I was in quite a funk today.  I think part of it is looking forward to next Sunday when Mom will get on a plane to fly to Albuquerque, then Dallas before returning home.  She'll be gone 10 days.  I will not have to worry about anybody but me.  That sounds wonderful, especially since Mom was complaining because the reservations weren't made yet, and now that they are, she doesn't know what to pack.  Patience has never been my strong suit!

After visiting with Mom today, I decided to stop at Taylorsville MetroPark for photos.  I'd never been down to the riverbank at this park before, so that was where I decided to head.  The dam is one of the 5 dams built after the 1913 Flood (this one was built in 1922 . . . looks pretty dam good for 90!).

Trying to capture the enormity of the bridge was difficult.  There are a lot of rocks and trees around, but they are huge as well.  There also weren't a lot of cars going by.  Let's just say that when driving over the bridge, I do not like looking over the side.  I look straight ahead and try not to freak out.  It's not as high above the Great Miami as the New River Gorge Bridge stands over the New River, but it's more than a couple of feet!  This shot is with the lens at the least zoom possible.

Vertical perspective to give an idea of how far back from the bridge I was . . .

And with the zoom lens as close as I could get it.

Standing on the riverbank, looking up toward Route 40.  There are several of these swings throughout the park, and one day I'm gonna sit and enjoy the view for a while.  The surroundings hadn't quite de-funkified me.

Looking down the Great Miami (away from Rte. 40).  All I could do was look at the water, the trees, and all of the open and VERY blue sky and be in awe.

This tree had the marker to indicate the depth of the water.  It was just a few yards up the trail from the riverbank . . .

If you've been reading my posts, you know I'm fascinated by birds.  When I looked up today and saw this bird flying over the river, I decided to try to take some pics of it flying.  I haven't done too much of that before.  I love the way birds are so graceful in the air and how smooth their movements are (kind of like a ballet in the sky).

  

These last two shots are my favorites of the bird, not because they're spectacular shots, but because you can see more of the wingspan, and how some of the feathers work in different ways, depending upon what the bird is trying to do.

I'd love to impress you all and tell you this was a hawk or an eagle (there are a few in the Dayton area), but I'm pretty sure it's a relatively common turkey vulture.  I really don't care!  Look at those feathers and the way they appear to stretch out . . . I wonder if this is how Orville and Wilbur Wright spent some of their summer days when inventing . . .

Once I got home, I looked up Taylorsville MetroPark and found out some of the history.  I'll have to go back and check out some of the different hiking paths to see if I can spot some of the remnants of Tadmor and imagine where the Miami-Erie Canal used to run.  Nothing like getting my imagination off and running to get me out of a funk!