Congaree National Park

The boardwalk trail at Congaree National Park is really cool because you wouldn't be able to see the trees and muck that make up the park without getting all wet and muddy.

The park preserves a very unusual ecosystem.

 In some places the boardwalk is barely elevated above the ground,

but in others it is 10 to 20 feet above ground. The temp was cool because of

the density of the tall trees so Tom and I both wore our jackets.

We didn't see much wildlife, but we did see a wild turkey!

We tried to capture it on "film" but it was too fast for us.

These tiny little flowers were the most popular on this trail.

The boardwalk trail makes a loop. It's about 2 miles long.
I wore a lightweight jacket over a lightweight jacket! : )

Nice reflection. We expected the whole trail to look like this!

Cypress Tree "knees"!

Looking up the Cypress Tree!

These plants are of the same family as the famous palmettos.
South Carolina's namesake - The Palmetto State

Folly Beach

After an adventuresome day of touring historic and lovely Middleton Place; stopping for lunch including authentic Southern delicacies of fried green tomatoes in our burgers and fried pickles on the side; touring the one and only American Tea plantation; and viewing the ancient Angel Oak, we headed for the closest beach.

The beach we planned to find happened to have a very Hawaiian name - Kiawah Beach, and it only had one public access! Go figure, it was the home of some famous golf course where the next US Open Masters tournament was going to be held so they used a lot of discretion for their pote tial visitors or lost tourists. 

It was getting close to evening, so when we found gate for public access, it was locked and there was no parking close by. So we got out our GPS and searched for another beach in the area to no avail. Then we refered to the good old paper map to guide our way to Folly Beach. We found lots of public access points once we saw what the signs looked like. We parked the car, put on our jackets, put money in the slot, climbed the steps and crossed the ramp across the sand dune. And there we were, gazing on beautiful, dusky Folly Beach!

Looking to the east the clouds were reflecting the sunset.

A wide array of large and small beach houses lined the beach.

We especially liked this yellow one!

Palm trees silhouetted by post sunset at Folly Beach.

Angel Oak

Undeniably incredible!

Ancient and lovely

Humongous!

Bathed in evening sunlight!

Tea Garden

Middleton Place Barnyard, Etc.



stable



workshops

carriage house

 

chickens greet the carriage



chikens and rooster!

rue in the herb garden

 

Indigo was used to make dye and sold

dinner bell



kitchen

Mount Pleasant

The rainy Sunday continued, so we hopped in the rent car and headed across the bridge to get a closer look at the USS Yorktown. The park at Patriot's Point also had a mock up of a Viet Nam station just like M.A.S.H. had of Korea. The bridge we crossed to get there was impressive! 

 Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

Arthur J. Ravenel Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge

crossing the Cooper River and was completed in July 2005.

The USS Yorktown - US naval aircraft carrier built during the Second World War.

Harbour at Patriot's Point
 Mini replica of Naval Support Base in Vietnam:

 Camoflauged helicopter

Jungle Boat





Marine helicopter

Fenced-in Naval Base

 Crossing the Cooper River going back to historic Charleston.

My favorite of the bridge.

Rainy Day in Charleston

For several days the weather forecast for Sunday had been 70% chance of rain, so we expected and prepared for it. It was a little cool so we donned an extra layer and set out on foot with our umbrella and jackets. Our hotel, Kings Courtyard Inn, was located in downtown historic Charleston so there were plenty of points of interest to keep us walking! I love the architecture and the variety of colors the buildings are painted, so I snapped away as usual.

Because it was Sunday the time schedules were different, so we did some rearranging of plans. The Charleston Museum wasn't open yet, so we scratched that. Next we went looking for Bell Park. It was quite small!

We passed by several beautiful churches I wouldn't have minded stepping inside.

 As it continued to rain quite steadily, we decided to take the "trolley" bus to the Aquarium. Watching fish is always good for lowering blood pressure... didn' take pictures, just enjoyed seeing the many kinds of fish swimming around. Out front was a frog on a bench...

From the balcony of the Aquarium you could see the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, across the bay. The Fort Sumter National Monument was right next door, so we took pictures of the ship in the harbor and of the suspension bridge in the distance.

After we returned from the Aquarium to the historic area, we visited the Nathaniel Russell House which turned out to be quite interesting and the tour guide gave us a good history lesson.

More fun stuff...