R and J in the USA

South Carolina has mountains and ocean and rivers and old growth floodplain forests. South Carolina shines brightly when the sun graces the beaches and the mountaintops alike. At least, that is what we will assume. We didn’t get to see any of that during our time in the state. We forgot to call ahead and put in an order for sunny days so it was mostly February rain and fog that we got. That said, despite it not being the most glowing season in this vacation destination state, we still managed to peak through the weather to see the beauty of South Carolina that is more than worth flocking towards, especially when sunnier months roll around. 

South Carolina is a state rich with history, more than a little of that history includes some of the darkest parts of the American story through time. We found, throughout the state, the pursuit of a balance between honoring and acknowledging the various threads of history and ancestry of the place while also honoring and acknowledging the brutalities that came with slavery and segregation that had been deeply rooted here. There were so many more historic spots that we wanted to visit than we got a chance to see, but those we did see were powerful and educational.  

The state tree is the Palmetto tree and there were plenty of them to see. We don’t know much about the ecology that we saw, but we do know that we saw all manner of it that paints a romantic sort of picture. From the trees that seem to gracefully curtsy over the roads near the coast, providing almost a fantastical feeling of a canopied tunnel dripping with hanging moss as you drive through, all the way to the wide based, water-steeped trees that fill the floodplain forests of Congaree National Park, there is a feeling that comes over you as you drive through the South Carolina landscapes. It almost feels like you are in a place that has some sort of magic to it. 

We would have loved to be steeped in that magic for longer and when the rain and fog were ready to make way for the sun. That said, at times, the weather only added to that almost mystical otherworldly feeling.

Ryan was only in South Carolina for the first and last day of our scheduled time in the state. He took his final mid-trip jaunt home to visit his mother in the intervening days. If this is the first of our blog posts you happen to be reading, part of Ryan’s conditions for coming on this adventure (that was, initially, Julie’s dream) was getting home to see his mother every 4-6 weeks. As she moves on in age, he had no intention of being away from her for 10 months. What a good (54 year old) boy he is! 

Somehow, our South Carolina trip turned into a pinwheel, with Columbia at the epicenter of the four pins on the wheel. We drove in and out of Columbia, over and over, like a boomerang. It was like our van had a rubber band wrapped around it and the other end around the city of Columbia. If the rubber band stretched too far, we would just bounce back to Columbia before the forces of physics would send us hurling off in the next direction. 

We came into Columbia from the northeast of the city, leaving from our last stop in North Carolina – Lumberton. We needed to make sure our first stop in South Carolina was Columbia in order to give Ryan a chance to visit the statehouse before we headed south to Charleston for him to catch his flight home to visit his mother.

Originally, Julie had planned to do all sorts of Charleston visiting that day, but, it turned out, after dropping Ryan off, all she wanted to do was rest, chill out and catch up on some projects. Julie found a place to park at Folly Beach and didn’t step out of the van all day!

We had missed Myrtle Beach and Huntington Beach and we wouldn’t make it to Hilton Head. Julie knew she had to make it to at least one South Carolina beach spot and so she found the closest State Park she could get to within a close drive to Charleston, since her plan was to drive back to the port city after a day of rest to see a few more sites before heading back up north. She drove an hour south to Edisto Island for the night. After a run along the fog covered beachside road, she returned to her cocoon in the van. Before leaving Edisto Island, since Julie had committed to touch the ocean in every state we visit that has Oceanside in it, Julie made sure to get her feet in the ocean water even though there was no way she was getting all the way in that water by herself to get her South Carolina swim in. The full swim would have to wait, but her toes did touch South Carolina ocean. 

The next day, Julie headed back to Charleston to take in some history at Fort Sumter. She didn’t arrive until 2:30 and ended up missing the last ferry out to the island that left at 2. Nevertheless, she enjoyed taking in the history at the visitors center. She felt the weight of the place and the history that happened there. In addition to Fort Sumter being where the Civil War began, the Port of Charleston was a landing spot for boats carrying captive people from Africa. If that sentence is not filled with enough tragedy and awfulness, during one winter when slave-traders couldn’t get as much money for enslaved people as they’d expected due to a saturated market (which feels disgusting just to write even though it is factual reporting of the history that occurred), they kept those they had dragged over on the boats in the port for the winter. Over 700 enslaved humans died at that port over the winter. It is not pleasant history to learn about, but important and enriching. Julie was was glad to be able to see that spot and pay her respects for all of the history that happened there. It is easy to visit places in a modern context and not think about the things that occurred there in the past. But when one does, there is an impact. Whether it is painful or not, the perspective is enriching and Julie left grateful for that.  

After a little meandering through Charleston, Julie headed back north towards, you guessed it, Columbia. Before going all the way to Columbia, however, she spent the night at the Palmetto Shores RV Resort where she contemplated doing her swim in Lake Marion…until she looked up and found out that the water temperature was a cool 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Julie has swam in some painfully cold water on this trip and there are humans on this planet that swim in water that cold and colder. That said, no thank you. 

Julie’s next stop was Congaree National Park where she took in a 4 mile hike (or, if you reference our rumination about Hiking versus Walking, might better be classified as a walk – this one is debatable) along the boardwalks and was accompanied part of the way by what she thinks was a Eurasian Wren, a little brown handful of a bird with a tail sticking straight up. It just hopped along in front of her, walking her down the boardwalk, lending even more to the magical and mystical feel to the spot.

Because Julie hadn’t had time to see the State History Museum before we had to leave Columbia to get Ryan to his plane in Charleston on time, the next morning, she headed back to, yup, Columbia to grab a visit before heading back up north to Charlotte, NC. You may have noticed that Charlotte is not in South Carolina, and you would be correct. It is, however, where the best return flight was available for Ryan and we hadn’t been able to fit Charlotte into our North Carolina itinerary. We try to hit the biggest city in every state, so it worked out perfectly. Our South Carolina race was in Granitesville, on the western central border, right across the state line from Augusta, Georgia. So, after picking Ryan up in Charlotte and driving around Charlotte for a little bit, to get to the next morning’s race, we needed to drive south and then west – you guessed it – right through Columbia. We decided to stop in Columbia at the same dinner spot we had eaten at on our first night, since it was a burger joint that had gluten free buns and gluten free fried foods. It also happened to be Valentine’s Day, so we considered this our romantic evening out.

Before we left town, we stopped at the Charles Drew Wellness Center for Julie to get in her South Carolina swim. Even though South Carolina has ocean, lakes and rivers, after the South Carolina experience we had, it seemed fitting that Julie did her swim in Columbia.With only 40 minutes left in the pools open hours, the woman at the check in kindly refused to let Julie pay for a day pass with so little of the day left. People can be so nice. After a few quick and highly refreshing laps, Julie could check “swim in South Carolina” off the list!

Despite all of that back and forth driving to and from Columbia in and from every direction, now that we are back on the east coast, we didn’t drive more than a cumulative 10 hours total in our whole time in South Carolina, if that. There wasn’t a single day where we drove all that much more than 2 hours total, and a handful where we drove less than that.  So it never felt like a hassle. On the west coast, we might cover 10 hours of driving in 2 days and definitely by the time the 3rd day came and went. In fact, having an epicenter that we kept returning to ended up being kind of delightful in a way. It was a fun change of pace to build a sense of familiarity in a place, after many months of mostly passing through spots that we will likely never see again. By the end of the trip, we got to know the main drag of Columbia with a mild sense of familiarity. While we would have liked to see other parts of the state that our itinerary necessitated that we miss out on, all manner of coastal towns and historic sites and the blue ridge mountains to boot, we still saw enough to appreciate the expanse and beauty of the state. We can attest to South Carolina’s claim on their welcome sign. There were smiling faces and beautiful places indeed.