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Our Trip to the South, Part 2

We spent Thursday night in Crestview, Florida, and spent most of Friday driving.  It was the rainiest day of our trip.  We decided to spend a few hours in the middle of the afternoon at the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia.  More than 20 years ago, I bought a book at a garage sale called "Explore a Spooky Swamp" that we have enjoyed reading to our children for all these years.  That book is about the Okefenokee Swamp.


This guy scared us a little by following us for a short time.
 
No zoom--he was that close.
 
We decided to rent a canoe and take off into the wild.  This gave us a chance to go into the more quiet areas of the swamp.  It was pretty spooky!  As we paddled along, we heard some very close, big splashes but because the water was completely black, we couldn't see anything.  Before long, we saw our first alligator sunning himself right next to us.  We saw a lot of alligators on that canoe trip, including one that followed our canoe for a short distance.  For us city slickers, it was a little scary, but apparently alligators are not aggressive.  They only become that way when you get too close to their babies.  We also saw lots of water lilies, a few birds, tons of Spanish moss, cypress and tupelo trees.  And no bugs!  The rain let up and it was really a perfect outing.  We got a kick out of hearing one of the employees say in his Southern drawl, "Looks like it's gonna be a right purdy day."



That night we stayed in a hotel near Charleston, South Carolina.  On Saturday we headed in to Charleston and took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter.  It was the first battle of the Civil War but the only casualty happened during the surrender ceremony when a gun exploded and a Union soldier died.  Read about it here.  Another interesting thing I learned was that the so-called Confederate flag was never the true Confederate flag.  The flag we see commonly is just a corner of the real one.

This is the inside of Fort Sumter.  It was basically leveled during the Civil War.  They made the island that the fort sits on by bringing in tons of granite to supplement a sand bar over 10 years.


After we took our tour we had some lunch and then walked on the waterfront.  Charleston is a charming old town and has a very nice park on the waterfront.

Sunday morning we left Charleston and drove to Orangeburg.  It's not exactly a tourist destination but that's where we were going to church.  I have to say that going to church here was a highlight of the trip for me.  The church members were incredibly friendly.  I don't think I've been to a friendlier one.  The bishop was outside the front doors greeting everyone and next to him was his counselor and several missionaries.  So many people greeted us and shook our hands as we walked around.  It was really fun to be there and I only wish I could go back.  I also resolved to be friendlier at my own church.

After church we took off for Georgia.  We had dinner with Scott's nephew and his wife who live in Augusta.  We spent several hours there and it was good to catch up with them since we don't see them very much.

Sunday night we stayed near Atlanta and then Monday morning we went to the famous Stone Mountain.  It is literally a big stone mountain sticking out of the middle of nowhere.  My physicist husband thinks it is the result of a magma bubble.  Getting to the top is a nice hike.  It was about a mile long and we had lots of company.  If you're in Atlanta, then hiking Stone Mountain or walking around it is where you go to work out.


We tried to exercise most mornings of our trip but our biggest challenge was finding good places to run.  Sidewalks were mostly non-existent, at least near our hotels.  So I can see that getting exercise in the South might be a little challenging.

We headed home shortly after lunch and it was good to be back in the saddle.  We had a great time together but it frankly felt like a decadent lifestyle to have so few responsibilities!  The children did fine and we were glad to be home to let our son and his wife take off on a trip of their own.

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