Duckies!

In our quest to find things to amuse my grandparents while they are here, Andy and I decided to check out Lake Wheeler this weekend. I had heard that it was beautiful. I pictured it to be like Lake Johnson with lots of trails and outrageously fit people walking (and of course the not so fit people walking around the lake in high heels - don't get the logic there). Anyway, it definitely was no - no walking trails, just picnic tables, boats, and lots of signs telling you (every 15 feet) not to swim or wade in the lake. Now, where I come from, every lake is a free-for all for swimming, and ones like Lake Wheeler with sandy beaches are packed on the weekends. Apparently this is not something people do down here, though I do understand why: the water is browner than brown, and there are ducks and geese everywhere! I think it's because everyone takes their kids out to feed the ducks (I admit to doing this on occasion as well), but every citizen in the greater triangle area must've fed the ducks at Lake Wheeler because walking down the the shore was like re-enacting a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (not that I've seen it, but I can imagine). Once they settled down and some kid started feeding them, one literally almost stepped on me in a race for the water. I have spent a lot of time with nature in my day, and this is a first - ducks should be scared of humans, not running to greet them. I guess it's not hurting these birds, though, because there were plenty.