South Carolina - Columbia!

November 13 - 27, 2020

For our time in Columbia, we stayed at the Barnyard RV Park in Lexington, South Carolina.  The RV park is conveniently located between Columbia (South Carolina’s capital) and Lexington.  There is a small, rarely used dog park on the grounds which has dog agility training equipment in it, so it was fun working with Frankie on the various equipment. Right next to the dog park is a large open field which we regularly used to play Frankie’s favorite – frisbee.  As we were playing frisbee, I began to notice a pecan (or as the locals say, pee-can) here and there.  Yes!  There were three pecan trees (towards the end of their season) that allowed me to gather enough nuts to make a pecan pie and at least a few other dishes!  I did need to go to the nearby flea market to purchase a nutcracker for $1.00.  Although the campsite does not include a fire ring, we were able to rent a ring from the camp office and enjoy a couple of evenings around a campfire.  It’s always such a relaxing end to the day on a summer evening, but with it getting dark by 5:00, there is no need to wait until the end of the day!

South Carolina’s COVID numbers are significantly less that what the Midwest is currently experiencing, but we still continued to keep to ourselves for the most part.  We did go into Columbia for one day, making the visitor center our first stop.  Armed with plenty of ideas of things to do in the area we headed out for Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park.  A portion of the Palmetto Trail (a trail that runs diagonally across the entire state) goes between the Congaree River and the Columbia Canal (built by indentured servants from Ireland in the early 1800’s).  The three-mile canal allowed for ships to bypass the shallow, rocky portion of the river in this area. Along the riverwalk was the remains of a hydro-electric power plant that Dick couldn't resist.  Once an engineer, always an engineer!

 

Following our hike, we found lunch at Carolina Ale House in Columbia’s Vista district.  We were able to dine roof-top with only one other couple occupying the roof patio.  I tried the famous Carolina sauce on some pulled pork that paired really well with a porter they had on tap!

 

On Saturdays, there is what sounds like a fantastic “farmer’s market” type of event called Soda City Market.  It is held on the main street running through the Vista area of downtown Columbia.  I’m sure there are crowds and, although it is outdoors, it is probably best we didn’t make it to this due to COVID.  If we are ever back in the area, it’s top of my list of things to check out. 

 

South Carolina is the Palmetto State.  The palmetto tree symbolizes the heroic defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan’s Island against the attack of the British fleet in 1776.  Speckled throughout the landscape you find palmetto trees, including as the focal point of the state flag and license plate.

 

One of our favorite hikes was the Guignard Clay Quarry Loop trail in the Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve – a former clay quarry, now home for alligators!  I can’t say I was originally looking forward to this hike as I had a vision of what a quarry in the Midwest looks like and transferred that image to what I thought this trail would look like.  Not that inviting – right?  Well, this was completely different from that image!  It was a heavily wooded area with a very swamp-like feel to it.  The former quarries had filled with water, creating ponds that attracted alligators to make their home.  We took Frankie with us but, upon seeing the caution signs regarding alligators, we kept her on a pretty short leash!

Congaree National Park was a short 25 miles from our campground and we couldn’t resist spending a couple of days there.  On our first trip there, many of the trails were flooded from Hurricane Eta passing through here a week before we arrived; however, we still were able to hike the Bluff Trail and Longleaf Trail.  Dogs are allowed in this National Park, so Frankie got to come with us!  On our next trip we took in the Boardwalk and Sims Trail.  The boardwalk offered a self-guided tour which was super interesting.  We discovered Bald Cypress trees have knees along with many fascinating historical facts about the area.  One area of the trail had been pretty much devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  Seeing its rebound was amazing.  We also saw the remnants of a moonshiner’s still and the location of a former maroon settlement (a community of individuals who had escaped slavery from local plantations).  The dense vegetation in the floodplain forest and the twisted root system provided safety because of the difficulty it posed to traverse in pursuit of those who had escaped.

 

West Columbia offers a Riverwalk which we visited a couple of times!  It too was recently flooded by Hurricane Eta and you could see the Congaree River had been at least 6’ above the trail.  The trees lining the trail left evidence of the high-water mark.   A local artist had carved wildlife sculptures on fallen trees along the trail, making the hike into somewhat of a scavenger hunt!  It was fun to discover the artwork along the way.  We saw Gervais Street Bridge – somewhat of an icon here – completed in 1928.

With Christmas season soon upon us, I began paper piecing an Advent nativity.  I’ve never done much paper piecing before and it certainly is providing me with a new challenge!  I watched a few YouTubes to refresh my memory of how to do this.  Mary (from my Hastings quilting group) had given me a few tips a while ago, but I needed to brush the dust off!  In watching the YouTubes, I learned of a new ruler that makes things a bit easier.  I quickly found a local quilt shop and bought one!  As with everything these days, going to the quilt shop was a bit different!  I needed to make an appointment, as they allow four shoppers in the store at a time and (of course) require masks to be worn.

 

Lake Murray is a local gem!  The lake was created with the completion of the Dreher Shoals Dam in 1930.  There is a park located on each side of the dam with a 1.7-mile trail linking the two parks.  It made for a nice hike!  We also took in lunch at Old Mill Brewpub in Lexington.  We were able to sit patio-side to what used to be a lake.  It’s currently drained as historic rainfall in 2015 flooded the area and took out the dam creating the lake.  It is currently under reconstruction and is expected to be completed in a few months.

We drove to Dreher Island State Park located in Lake Murray and hiked a beautiful trail in the park.  Dreher Island is a series of three, long, narrow islands.  The trail we hiked followed the shore line and provided beautiful views of the lake. This was a 45-minute drive, but well worth it!  Being a weekday, we were pretty much the only ones on the trail and even allowed Frankie to practice her off leash heeling.  She did such a good job she even got a bit of playing in the lake!

Thanksgiving Day was our final day in this region.  We spent the sunny and 74-degree day doing some preparations for traveling to Myrtle Beach State Park, enjoying a Thanksgiving meal (ordered from KJ's IGA) and Zooming with the family.  I did bake a pumpkin pie, because you just have to have homemade pie on Thanksgiving Day!  We made the Zoom a little special by playing some games I found on Etsy.  We played "Thanksgiving Snap" and "Thanksgiving Jeopardy".  I think everyone enjoyed the friendly competition! 

Well, as of this posting, I'm officially caught up and current with our travels!  My takeaway lesson is to not fall behind again!  Haha!  We hope you each had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Dick and I both feel we have been so very blessed and are certainly thankful to wonderful friends like you!

Next up:  Myrtle Beach, SC