DAY 1: Driving & Arriving - Sunday March 28th, 2010
This year for my 50 chronicles goal I decided to go to South Carolina. First, because I am poor. Second, because my Uncle John has been wanting me to visit. And third, because at this time of the year (March-April) it will be much warmer than Pennsylvania. I currently just got back home right now and I asked Steve to check his Samsung Instinct cell phone that has wireless. (I know. Cool, right? ) We can travel all over the U.S. and our cell phones can get access to the internet. I, of course, am not with that trend yet. He says, “right now the temperatures in PA is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, while South Carolina is 62. But it doesn’t show much of a difference because it is the evening and it is currently raining here from a storm that just blew through.”
Our day began with our 5:30 AM departure and the soon after the purchase of the famous WaWa hoagies. We officially hopped on PA Interstate 476 South at 5:43 AM and continued to 95 South. The first river we passed over was the Susquehanna River, and we were surprised to see that it went that far East. The overall toll cost for the trip one-way was $7.00. Earlier this year the rates on I-476 South went up 5 cents to $1.00, so that was our first cost. Next, when we entered Delaware there was a $4.00 road toll, and last a $2.00 tunnel toll in Baltimore. The rest of the way was free and smooth driving from there.
When you drive from PA to SC, you will drive through the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. One of the things you will notice is that there are a lot of trees. And they all seem to have grown to the same exact sizes, which meant they were planted at the same time to grow that way. You will also see what is called clear cutting a lot, which are big patches of land where the trees were removed.
Two random places that we passed through on our way here was Spotsylvania, which Steve said sounded like a fake horror location; and South of the Border, a park that has rides and has about 10 billboards trying to get you to come to their attraction by ways of their rides and the fact that they sell fireworks once you cross over the border.
We made it to the South Carolina border and took several photos.
We arrived in Orangeburg at 3:45 PM. It had taken us a little over 10 hours to get there, which means we made good time because it was supposed to take us 11 hours.
My Uncle John greeted us, helped bring some of our stuff in, and gave us the grand tour of his house. We also met Ellie, his new puppy, that was dumped on his doorsteps.
Steve says I kept exciting her, and that it made her pee everywhere. She's a puppy and I kept wanting to play with her. Don't worry, I cleaned up her messes! We ate a Spaghetti dinner and ran to the local Dollar General store to grab some goodies. We also took a brief car tour of the famous Edisto gardens because it was raining out. When we got back, we talked about some local sightseeing for our next few days. And to make a nice end to the evening, we took a relaxing 104 degree hot tub bath experience in which we sipped pina coladas by my pro bartending Uncle.
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DAY 2: Charleston - Monday March 29th, 2010
In our heads we had planned to have an early start today, but our bodies told us otherwise. We thought we would try and get up and out of the house by 7 AM. We were so tired from the drive yesterday, that we had a late start today. We got to the Charleston Visitor Center slightly before 11 AM and were able to catch the “Forever Charleston” video just in the nick of time. One thing of note: if you are ever going to the Charleston Visitor center, make sure you are there less than a half an hour; or run out of there as soon as the video is over. We had decided to grab some brochures of the area and found that if you are 5 minutes or less over the half hour, you are charged an extra dollar. What a rip off! Most Visitor Centers don’t even make you pay for parking, but I guess space is limited here.
We next traveled to the waterfront area called The Battery. We started on E. Battery street and walked to the official Battery area.
Next, we went to St. Michaels Episcopal Church.
The interesting things we noticed were that the pews were divided into sections, while also having doors that needed to be unlocked from the inside to be actually able to sit down.
I also noticed their ordained speaker probably does not speak from the altar, but from a pulpit-like area that is about 3 rows from the front pew on the left side. I have heard that Episcopalians are similar to Catholics in some ways. I did notice they offer communion.
We walked about 2 blocks from St. Michaels Episcopal Church to visit the Heyward-Washington House on Church Street. George Washington stayed as
a guest at this home 7 nights - 8 days, while he was President. A prominent plantation owner built this house for his son, who become a prominent lawyer. Inside, there are some interesting artifacts. They have a second edition copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica (below left), a very decorated harpsichord from France (bottom center), and a large bookcase/desk that apparently was the finest piece of furniture constructed in the US. (below right) The tour guide said the Antiques Roadshow could not put a price on it, and deemed it priceless. 
An attention-grabbing fact about life in a Southern home is how it is divided. If you were part of a higher ranking aristocratic family the first part of the house is designated for business. If you were invited beyond the arch, a wooden divider that runs from the ceiling to the floor, you were an invited guest in that home. We showed up 5 minutes before the tour and got invited due to Southern hospitality ! Steve said he thought it was interesting learning how the eating quarters were divided up. If you were under 14 years old, you were made to eat in your bedroom because they believed manners were not mature yet. Any members of the family 14 years or older ate in the dining room, which was typically on the first floor. Guests of the family ate in the drawing room on the 2nd floor, which was basically an upstairs living room. (see photo above)
Our next stop was the Charleston museum. It has a wide collection of different artifacts inclusive of bones, Egyptian artifacts, antique clothing, and musical instruments. Some of the displays were not only from the Charleston area, but from around the world. One cool thing we saw was a piano that George Gershwin played and composed Porgy and Bess on.
Along the way, we also saw some amusing things such as a sign that read, “Speed Hump” instead of “Speed Bump,” which is the more common phrase.
It started getting late, about 5:15 PM, and we arrived at the Old Slave Market. This was where slaves had to go to buy groceries from their owner’s family. Nowadays it is like a flea-market with specialty items that one might want to look at but not necessarily buy. Although, I got a possibly “sterling” pearl ring and Steve got Pecan Pralines and Cinnamon Pecans.
Next, we stopped to take a gander at the huge Celebrity Mercury cruise ship that was sitting in the harbor at the Cruise Ship Terminal on Cooper river. We were told we were not allowed to take the picture at the gate by a security guard, so we stomped through the bar next door and snapped a photo on their back outdoor deck. Some guy gave us the dirty eye. Of course, he is some upper-class snob, probably a passenger on the huge cruise line. We had to admire from afar!
On our way to our next stop, we made a left turn onto the only remaining cobblestone road in the city, Chalmers Street. My Uncle mentioned that these stones were brought over on ships from England.
Our next site to check out was the French Huguenot Church (pronounced Hue-guh-not). Uncle John pronounced it “hug-a-not“, and Steve made the joke that the French “hug a lot and don’t like to fight.” So it is now referred to by us as the hug-a-lot church.
Across the street from the church is Dock Street Theatre. It is very pretty, clean, and colorful. They were not open to walk inside, but we took some nice photos from the outside.
We arrived back to Orangeburg and basically ate a quick dinner, hopped in the hot-tub again. We are plumb tuckered out and just finished this journal entry at 1 A.M. Damn! Tomorrow is supposed to be our early morning. I’m clocking out for tonight. Or technically this morning!
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DAY 3: Charles Towne Landing - Tuesday March 30th, 2010
Today we got another late start. We woke up around 8 A.M. and grabbed breakfast before heading out the door. We arrived around 11 A.M. at the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site. When you first get there you go into the visitor center to buy your ticket.
Charles Towne Landing Site was the original settlement on the Carolina coast by the English. The English settlers with indentured servants and African Slaves set sail from Barbados and arrived in this area around 1670. The reason they ventured to the Carolina coast was that it offered the opportunity to make a new life in this land, given they send money back much of the profit to their proprietors. One of the main proprietors of South Carolina was Mr. Ashley Cooper. From what I read, he was pretty ruthless and a crude businessman. One of the displays mentioned he was like “a Pirate on land.” They named Charles Towne after the king of England, Charles II. The English were not the only nationalities to live in South Carolina. The Dutch, Spanish, and French claimed areas there as well. But the original owners of this land were the Native Americans, and by most accounts, they were slowly removed from their land. The Kiawah tribe had greeted the English and were a major reason the settlers were able to survive. After they established this settlement, they created a new settlement at Oyster Point and named it Charleston, which was to be the main hub for all port happenings.
This place was the birthplace of the Carolinas, the plantation system, and one of the first major port cities in the continent. This site is 664 acres large.
Things you will see here are beautiful lakes with moss-covered trees standing beside them.
Yellow-bellied turtles.
Alligators
(c) Steve took this alligator photo.
A replica of an indentured servant’s quarters.
Here is a video that we took on the ADVENTURE trading vessel. We were learning about barrel weights and loading.
This site was originally a plantation owned by Ferdinanda Waring.
I was so pleased with the historic site that I felt bad that I asked for the AAA discount because it was such a great site. I think I will probably write a thank-you note. It was so well-maintained and laid out. I liked it so much that there was a running joke. Steve says, “The Charles Towne landing site is the best thing she’s seen since she got here and her uncle said, ‘What about me?’ So apparently, her uncle is the second-best thing she’s seen.”
After we saw Charles Towne Landing, we drove out to Folly Beach and Folly Beach fishing pier.
When I parked on one of the side streets, Steve said, “Be careful, there is a ditch here.” I thought okay, no biggie assuming that it was a small dip in the grass. Well apparently, it was several feet, possibly 3-4 feet in depth. I was lucky that I wasn’t a foot to my right or we might have been calling AAA to come pull us out. Steve said, “Her car is more important to getting damaged than we are by falling in a ditch, which she parked next to.” I told him, “Heck yeah, my car is much more expensive than your pants.” He said, “Well. What about my leg?” I guess that is about even to my car then, haha.
We were having fun down at the pier!
When we got home, Uncle John and I went out into the hot tub, while Steve took a break in his room. Two of John’s neighbors came over. They had a Southern accent and were telling me about "Sperrys," shoes that are popular down South. 
This is an example I found on the web. It is copyrighted to yymkw's photostream on flickr.com.
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DAY 4: Wednesday March 31, 2010 - Francis Beidler Audubon Center
Some days you wake up late and move slow for no reason. That was today. Although, part of the blame can be passed onto Uncle John’s random visits from his neighbors, who came over and stayed over till about 1:30 AM. We stopped at the Orangeburg County library to hop on the internet, check some e-mail, upload some photos, and read some books. Steve was reading a book about classic sitcoms, while Uncle John was reading up on Orangeburg history. By the time we got out of there, it was 1:30 PM.
We realized we did not have much time to travel an hour an half today and still see something thoroughly. So, we decided to visit one of the things on our list, which was closer and could be done in less time. We decided on the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest.
Click here for my video tour of the Forest.
The Francis Beidler Forest encompasses over 16,000 acres of an area called Four Hole Swamp.
The forest is named after Francis Beidler, a conservationist who bought and preserved this piece of forest, when the area around it was being clear-cut. It remains the world’s largest stand of virgin Bald Cypress and Tupelo Gum trees.
The swamp and forest are neither improved nor enhanced. This sanctuary allows visitors to walk 1.75 miles on a boardwalk only inches above the swamp to enjoy the untouched beauty of the area.
When you arrive at the visitor center and pay, they give you a booklet to take while on the trail, describing different things you will see while also helping you understand the science within nature.
One point of focus in the booklet was what a swamp was, as opposed to a marsh.
They defined it simply as a flooded forest - trees and water together. In contrast, a marsh is a flooded grassland - simply a grassy area submerged with water. However, one misconception mentioned is that the trees do not have to be in the water year-round. They are flooded only periodically, and can even be dry during periods of drought.
When walking through the swamp, not only do you see the Bald Cypress trees, but some funky looking stalagmite type roots. They are called knees.
Steve mentions that you can sort of figure they are from the tree because of their smoothness and similar qualities as the actual tree. Some are slightly different looking because they’ve morphed into indescribable shapes.
While we were walking, we were able to see a woodpecker, a crane, squirrels, and turtles. Although, the booklet mentions a variety of different animals who inhabit the area. We could have possibly seen snakes, gators, bobcats, owls, and other mammals.
One of the coolest things we saw was a hollowed-out Cypress tree, large enough to be able to walk into. You could look from the bottom out the top and see the sky. The other cool thing we saw was called black water.
It is described as water tinted by acid from leaf stains. It reminds me of a chapter in one of the Pendragon books, which is about an area called Black Water.
Uncle John had decided to work on his car, so Steve and I spent the day at the park. When we got home, we ate a chicken dinner and had a bonfire in the backyard.
DAY 5: Thursday April 1, 2010 - Middleton Place
Today is April Fools Day. And I was fooled alright! My sister contacted me by text message in the middle of the day saying, “Dad says he wants you home tomorrow. He‘s really mad at you. He said you left your junk all over the house and your room is stinking up the house cause it smells like cat poop. He‘s really mad. April Fools. Did you remember?” My sister had made sure that my text message was cut off, so I would get scared. If you know my dad, he is a little bit on the serious side. He tends to be very clean, so when I received this, I started freaking out. We have 5 more days to our trip. I was like….. “What? You can‘t be serious!!!” Then I kept reading and I found out my sister was kidding. Touche! She got me!
Feel free to tell me any of your April Fools jokes that were played by you or happened to you in the comment area.
Today, I was awesome. I woke up on time. Okay, Steve said he did too. So, he is awesome too. And I think my Uncle was up before both of us. So, he gets an A+. But for some reason, we are not awesome when it comes to getting out in a reasonable time. We woke up at 7 AM and did not leave till 8:30. All we needed to do was get changed and have breakfast.
We arrived at our destination of Middleton Place at 10:30 AM. It is a non-profit national historic landmark, which has both a plantation and an extensive amount of gardens to walk around. It covers 6,500 acres, with the landscape ranging from forests
It was owned by a family named the Middletons. Basically this guy named Henry Middleton inherited this whole mass of land through a dowry when he married Mary Williams. Once women are married all their possessions go to their husbands, who take control of everything. So, all this land pretty much went to this guy Henry. At some point Henry decided to give the entire estate to his son, Arthur, on his 21st birthday. The guy Arthur sounds kind of a rich snob….. He was educated in England and then given all this land at 21. He then got married and they spent 4 years or so traveling Europe. At some point in this story, there was no one to give the land to in the Middleton name, so it was given to the cousin J.J. Pringle Smith. It stayed in the Pringle Smiths hands. Interestingly enough, it still is in the Middleton lineage. One of the Pringle Smiths is the current President of this non-profit.
As soon as we entered the Middleton Place, we were engulfed in the midst of beautiful foliage. There are countless gardens around the Plantation with all sorts of flowers and bodies of water.
On the property, there is a Mill, Sundial Garden, Slaves quarters, Chapel and Spring House.
The most interesting thing about the site is that it was one of the plantations whose original houses did not survive the Civil War. During the year 1865 some union soldiers had wined and dined in the beautiful plantation house and the next day, they turned around and burned everything. They burned the main house, the North Flanker, and the South Flanker. The South Flanker was the guest wing and did not have as many valuables, so it was not as destroyed. After the Civil War, it was rebuilt by the family. On the site today, the remaining rubble is still in the same location as it was in the 18th century.
Daily, they have interpreters on site. They offer a carriage ride tour, which drives you around the whole plantation and talk about its history. And they also offer on-site historians who show you and let you try everyday activities. Some types of historians on-site were a blacksmith and a potter. Steve and I were able to learn from one historian how to grind corn down to small bits for grits.
Walking around the property, we did see an alligator. Welcome to South Carolina!!!
Yes, a real alligator. You can check out my youtube video, where I got really close to one!
After getting a good tan by being out in the gardens all day, we headed to Edisto Beach to cool our sore and tired feet. We scavenged for good quality shells. It wasn’t too hard because there were piles of them.
After Edisto Beach, we drove to Ryan’s All-You-Can-Eat Buffet. It was good. I’d like to mention that every time Steve eats, he eats A LOT!!!! He says, “I‘m a fat kid at heart.” Haha. I tell him he is lucky he has fast metabolism. He is a couple months younger, so maybe his metabolism will slow up and catch up to mine soon.
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DAY 6: Friday April 2, 2010 - Daytrip on my Uncle's Sailboat
Written by Steve, Edited by Jess.
Since we were to have continued beautiful weather and some higher temperatures at the end of the week, we decided that today would be the perfect opportunity to spend time on the boat. We would get a nice tan, while enjoying the nice lake breezes.
We left fairly late in the morning and drove about an hour and a half to get to Lake Murray. We arrived around 1 PM. After undoing the ropes that were keeping the boat stable in the water, Steve had to grab two poles near the front of the boat to keep the boat straight while my uncle slowly backed out from the dock. Steve jumped onto the boat and we made our way towards open water.
During the first few hours, the wind did not aid our movement on the water. The sailboat has a motor on it, and it was used quite often to get us moving along. The scenery was picturesque: calm, clean water; boats of all colors, shapes, and sizes; beautiful lakeside homes.
The weather was quite warm, and of course the beating sun made me feel like jumping into the lake. So, with my Uncle’s permission I collapsed the ladder on the rear of the boat and jumped in. I knew the water would be chilly at this time of the year. In fact, my Uncle said I was crazy to go in. But as soon as I hit the water, I was glad I did. It was cold, but it was so refreshing.
I held on to the back ladder on the boat. It is surprising, but even with light winds the boat moves fairly fast.
I decided to see if I could swim up to the front of the boat. I got tired not too long after letting go of the ladder. The furthest I got on one try was maybe a little over a third of the way. It was good exercise at least!
The wind started to pick up by 3 o’clock, so my uncle suggested I get back in the boat and not try swimming and be possibly left in the water. We had the wind in our hair and relaxed in our own ways. I tried getting some sun for a while, as did Steve; my uncle hid in the shade and read while occasionally lifting his arm to change the boat’s course.
We all had a light lunch consisting of ham and cheese sandwiches and lemon lime kool-aid (my favorite drink the entire vacation). I then also decided to read while Steve listened to his MP3 player.
My Uncle John is what he calls, “El Capitan” of his boat, the Teak Butterfly.
Although, Steve got to be the skipper at one point, at the beginning of our trip on to the lake. I also manned the wheel when we came back towards land. There are lots of boats entering and leaving a marina, so it is very crucial to drive very safe. My Uncle took over as we were entering the no-wake zone near the docks. You also have to be very careful of the depths of a lake. He pointed out there was one section that could be a problem for the boat, if it got too close to the shore.
We docked around 5:30 PM and chilled on the boat for about 45 minutes. Many other boats began to dock at the same time to eat and drink at the outdoor restaurant/bar as well as in their boats. We packed up and decided to try to find somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at this great all-you-can-eat buffet, which had awesome tasting bread with honey butter. Yum!
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Day 7: Saturday April 3, 2010 - Myrtle Beach
It took about 4 hours of driving to get to Myrtle beach. One cool thing we saw on the way, was an old-fashioned fuel pump, which we got to try because they were still in use at this place.
Here is a video of us filling up.
As soon as we got off the highway, there was bumper to bumper traffic. Not only was it Myrtle beach, a huge tourist attraction; but it was also Easter weekend.
Myrtle Beach has been working on a new boardwalk. They are using that new type of plastic-wood for the boardwalk planks. Myrtle Beach’s boardwalk will remind you somewhat of Ocean City, New Jersey’s boardwalk. They have tons of tourist shops and eateries.
If you heard or read about my trip to Arizona, you will have heard that I went on a hot air balloon ride while I was out there. This was very much peaceful like that, without the loud hisses of hot air gas. It was so scenic from up there. You see the blue water below, the coast of South Carolina, and feel light as a feather. The only thing that was scary was how you were being held up. The rope was less than an inch thick. The only downfall is not having enough time in the air. You are only up there for about 10-15 minutes. I wonder if all parasailing trips are like that. As I said before, Myrtle beach is a big tourist area, so we were a group of two on the parasailing adventure.
The funny thing was as we were being reeled back in, my uncle’s visor flew off. Luckily, before it sank the Jet Ski employee was able to grab it when he was bringing the new adventurers to the boat. My uncle was thankful. The guy said he liked the hat, and my uncle joked that he would sell it to him for five bucks.
The only thing I would recommend when you go to Myrtle Beach, is to be wary of the type and amount of people there. It is frustrating to write, but while I was there my phone was stolen from right under my nose. I had it in front of me on the restaurant counter, and a couple of minutes later it was gone. I will not be angry and complain for paragraphs, but I think it’s pretty low of people to do such things. Needless to say, there is not much more to report in the day because we left earlier because of the incident and the long drive.
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Day 8: Sunday April 4, 2010 - Easter Mass, Edisto Gardens, & Drive-In
We attended Easter Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Orangeburg. The Mass was given by a priest, who was formally from the country of Africa. I really enjoyed what he said. To sum it up he had mentioned that we must come out of the darkness (sin) and into the light (holiness), which is related to the tomb and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We then walked around Edisto Memorial Gardens. At this time of the year when we went, it is a little bit short of when the flowers are in bloom. It is really well-maintained.
The longest black water river in the world runs through a part of this park.
I also saw the strangest ducks. Have you ever seen one of these?
After we walked around Edisto Memorial Gardens, we headed for some nice cool ice cream. We ended up at Sonic Drive-In.
Check out her wheels, roller that is...!
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Day 9: Monday April 5, 2010 - Charleston Tea Plantation
On our last official day in South Carolina, we visited The Charleston Tea Plantation. This plantation is able to boast that they are the only ones to grow tea in America. It is home to American Classic Tea, under the company Bigelow Tea
.
The tea plantation is located on Wadmalaw Island in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. On the sign below, it shows the nearest tea plantations.
The actual tea plant is called Camellia Sinensis, and they have 127 acres of tea.
The interesting thing that I learned, is that there are not so many types of tea plants. It is the oxidizing of the tea leaves, that actually makes the different types of tea. For example Green tea is made by no oxidizing of their leaves, whereas Oolong Tea is oxidized for a longer set of time.
One positive to visiting here, is that they give you a free drink of their tea. You can try sweetened green tea or non-sweetened gray tea. My uncle is enjoying his free glass.
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Day 10: Tuesday April 6, 2010 - The Drive Home
On our last day, we said our goodbyes and headed on the open road. It was about 11 AM when we left. It is supposed to take 11 hours to drive from South Carolina to Pennsylvania. All I can say, was that did not happen.
On our drive home we got stuck in three large traffic jams that lasted each about an hour.
It was one of the hottest days yet; in the high 80’s. Well, I can tell you that is not a good thing when driving at a slow pace. With the sun beating down on all the cars and the slow pace of the traffic conditions, about every 5 minutes we would pass 2 to 3 cars that ended up overheating and getting stranded on the side of the road.
At one point in our first traffic jam, a car in the right lane (we were in the left), overheated and died. They are sitting in the center of their lane, and everyone has been just passing them on the right shoulder. We pass them on the left. As I look in the corner of my rear window, I see an old man. I get about 250 yards down the road and I am thinking…..I am not in any sort of condition that I cannot help him. I can’t consciously leave him there. Why isn’t anyone stopping? I pull-over, stop, and shut off the car. I tell Steve I am running back to see if they are okay. I literally am running back, while people are still passing them. He had been sitting there already several minutes, I suppose. When I get there, I ask the old gentleman if he is okay. He seems disappointed and answers, “We were doing so well. It overheated. I have some water that we put in earlier, but it just died now.” I said, “Would you like me to help push you off onto the side of the road, sir?” He answers with, “that‘d be great.” I run back to Steve and let him know I’ll need help pushing. So, we get back to the car and start pushing. We make it safely off the side of the road. I ask the gentleman, “Would you like a ride somewhere sir?” He says he can’t leave his car. So, I mention that we would be able to call the police if he needs. He tells me that would be nice. Steve offers to call, since at this point I have no phone. He calls and tells the police what mile marker the couple is near. After the call, I ask if the man would like us to stay with him till the police comes. I was worried because he was old and he was standing in the sun. I didn’t want him to have an accidental heart attack or stroke. The man said that it was not needed. Steve, at this point, is pushing us to go since we have a long trip ahead to go still. We probably had about 8 more hours to go. He also says, “Jess, we need to go before your car overheats too.” So, I tell the gentleman good luck and we head back to my car. We get back to my car and I find that when I start the engine I get a “Chhhhchhhhhhhhhhchhhhhh.” Steve gives me a really pissed off - frustrated look, like why did we ever stop in the first place kind. I say, “Let‘s not panic… I‘ll try again.” I start the engine and push on the gas a little. “Chhhhchhhhhchhhhhhhhhhhhchhhhhh.” I say, “Awww crap!….. Please Lord, help me to start my car……… This would sorta stink if we helped those other people because of overheating and then we get stuck out here too.” Steve was not happy at this. I try a third time to get a “Chuggg chugggg chugggg” and a lurching movement from the car. I press on the gas, I press it again. I press it another time. And finally the car does a huge lurch forward and starts moving more smoothly. We breathe a huge sigh of relief.
That day there were many people in the same circumstance as that gentleman. I wondered how many cars broke down during those three different traffic jams, and how long many had to wait for help. We were lucky. My car has 254,000 miles on it right now.
In one traffic jam, there was a complete stop for a little while. I got out and stretched my legs.
The last traffic jam we saw a blinking sign before it happened that read, “car fire - traffic congestion will begin at exit 73. Expect an hour delay.” We got to Exit 69 on route I-95N and we were in it. When there is bumper to bumper traffic and three lanes merging into one, 4 miles is a lot of extra time to wait. So, when it stopped early we were like oh boy, this is going to be a long day. When we finally passed the incident, it turned out that it was an RV that had caught fire. The only thing remaining was the frame. It had entirely burnt down. And those RV buses are not cheap. I can only hope they have a good insurance on it. We don’t know what had happened. Although, we are interested to find out whether it was an internal fire or something had hit it. I guess we will never know.
Three traffic jams in one trip or day, I think is unusual. It was in fact, a long day. But, I do not entirely despise traffic jams. In fact, sometimes it’s nice to have a small traffic jam on a sunny day. I know, I am weird. I like to sometimes people watch out of the corner of my eye; see if people are patient, frustrated, guess where they might have been coming from. And the big reason why I think traffic jams are nice once in awhile, is because it forces people out of their ME-ME-I-I mentality for a moment. In a day where everything is so fast-paced, it sort of makes people have to take a moment out of their day whether or not they like it and maybe focus on other drivers or an unplanned situation. Of course, you have some major douche-bag drivers out there that don’t care about others. I typically despise the type that drive up the lane as far as possible and then cut in, when they saw the sign to get over two miles back. Or ones that will cut people off because they can save themselves 2 car spots. If I didn’t have the ability to balance stress levels, I might want to have road rage. Haha. But generally, I have found that there are some really patient and kind drivers out there, which is a nice and pleasant surprise.
Reiterating again, it was a long day…. We ended up getting home around 1 AM instead of 10 PM. Needless to say, I was glad to get a good nights rest in my own bed again.
END OF STATE #4: SOUTH CAROLINA
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DAY 4: Wednesday March 31, 2010 - Francis Beidler Audubon Center
Some days you wake up late and move slow for no reason. That was today. Although, part of the blame can be passed onto Uncle John’s random visits from his neighbors, who came over and stayed over till about 1:30 AM. We stopped at the Orangeburg County library to hop on the internet, check some e-mail, upload some photos, and read some books. Steve was reading a book about classic sitcoms, while Uncle John was reading up on Orangeburg history. By the time we got out of there, it was 1:30 PM.
We realized we did not have much time to travel an hour an half today and still see something thoroughly. So, we decided to visit one of the things on our list, which was closer and could be done in less time. We decided on the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest.
Click here for my video tour of the Forest.
The Francis Beidler Forest encompasses over 16,000 acres of an area called Four Hole Swamp.
The forest is named after Francis Beidler, a conservationist who bought and preserved this piece of forest, when the area around it was being clear-cut. It remains the world’s largest stand of virgin Bald Cypress and Tupelo Gum trees.
When you arrive at the visitor center and pay, they give you a booklet to take while on the trail, describing different things you will see while also helping you understand the science within nature.
One point of focus in the booklet was what a swamp was, as opposed to a marsh.
They defined it simply as a flooded forest - trees and water together. In contrast, a marsh is a flooded grassland - simply a grassy area submerged with water. However, one misconception mentioned is that the trees do not have to be in the water year-round. They are flooded only periodically, and can even be dry during periods of drought.
When walking through the swamp, not only do you see the Bald Cypress trees, but some funky looking stalagmite type roots. They are called knees.
While we were walking, we were able to see a woodpecker, a crane, squirrels, and turtles. Although, the booklet mentions a variety of different animals who inhabit the area. We could have possibly seen snakes, gators, bobcats, owls, and other mammals.
One of the coolest things we saw was a hollowed-out Cypress tree, large enough to be able to walk into. You could look from the bottom out the top and see the sky. The other cool thing we saw was called black water.
Uncle John had decided to work on his car, so Steve and I spent the day at the park. When we got home, we ate a chicken dinner and had a bonfire in the backyard.
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DAY 5: Thursday April 1, 2010 - Middleton Place
Today is April Fools Day. And I was fooled alright! My sister contacted me by text message in the middle of the day saying, “Dad says he wants you home tomorrow. He‘s really mad at you. He said you left your junk all over the house and your room is stinking up the house cause it smells like cat poop. He‘s really mad. April Fools. Did you remember?” My sister had made sure that my text message was cut off, so I would get scared. If you know my dad, he is a little bit on the serious side. He tends to be very clean, so when I received this, I started freaking out. We have 5 more days to our trip. I was like….. “What? You can‘t be serious!!!” Then I kept reading and I found out my sister was kidding. Touche! She got me!
Feel free to tell me any of your April Fools jokes that were played by you or happened to you in the comment area.
Today, I was awesome. I woke up on time. Okay, Steve said he did too. So, he is awesome too. And I think my Uncle was up before both of us. So, he gets an A+. But for some reason, we are not awesome when it comes to getting out in a reasonable time. We woke up at 7 AM and did not leave till 8:30. All we needed to do was get changed and have breakfast.
We arrived at our destination of Middleton Place at 10:30 AM. It is a non-profit national historic landmark, which has both a plantation and an extensive amount of gardens to walk around. It covers 6,500 acres, with the landscape ranging from forests
to swamps
to gardens
to lakes
and open fields.
It was owned by a family named the Middletons. Basically this guy named Henry Middleton inherited this whole mass of land through a dowry when he married Mary Williams. Once women are married all their possessions go to their husbands, who take control of everything. So, all this land pretty much went to this guy Henry. At some point Henry decided to give the entire estate to his son, Arthur, on his 21st birthday. The guy Arthur sounds kind of a rich snob….. He was educated in England and then given all this land at 21. He then got married and they spent 4 years or so traveling Europe. At some point in this story, there was no one to give the land to in the Middleton name, so it was given to the cousin J.J. Pringle Smith. It stayed in the Pringle Smiths hands. Interestingly enough, it still is in the Middleton lineage. One of the Pringle Smiths is the current President of this non-profit.
As soon as we entered the Middleton Place, we were engulfed in the midst of beautiful foliage. There are countless gardens around the Plantation with all sorts of flowers and bodies of water.
On the property, there is a Mill, Sundial Garden, Slaves quarters, Chapel and Spring House.
The most interesting thing about the site is that it was one of the plantations whose original houses did not survive the Civil War. During the year 1865 some union soldiers had wined and dined in the beautiful plantation house and the next day, they turned around and burned everything. They burned the main house, the North Flanker, and the South Flanker. The South Flanker was the guest wing and did not have as many valuables, so it was not as destroyed. After the Civil War, it was rebuilt by the family. On the site today, the remaining rubble is still in the same location as it was in the 18th century.
Daily, they have interpreters on site. They offer a carriage ride tour, which drives you around the whole plantation and talk about its history. And they also offer on-site historians who show you and let you try everyday activities. Some types of historians on-site were a blacksmith and a potter. Steve and I were able to learn from one historian how to grind corn down to small bits for grits.
Yes, a real alligator. You can check out my youtube video, where I got really close to one!
After getting a good tan by being out in the gardens all day, we headed to Edisto Beach to cool our sore and tired feet. We scavenged for good quality shells. It wasn’t too hard because there were piles of them.
After Edisto Beach, we drove to Ryan’s All-You-Can-Eat Buffet. It was good. I’d like to mention that every time Steve eats, he eats A LOT!!!! He says, “I‘m a fat kid at heart.” Haha. I tell him he is lucky he has fast metabolism. He is a couple months younger, so maybe his metabolism will slow up and catch up to mine soon.
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DAY 6: Friday April 2, 2010 - Daytrip on my Uncle's Sailboat
Written by Steve, Edited by Jess.
Since we were to have continued beautiful weather and some higher temperatures at the end of the week, we decided that today would be the perfect opportunity to spend time on the boat. We would get a nice tan, while enjoying the nice lake breezes.
We left fairly late in the morning and drove about an hour and a half to get to Lake Murray. We arrived around 1 PM. After undoing the ropes that were keeping the boat stable in the water, Steve had to grab two poles near the front of the boat to keep the boat straight while my uncle slowly backed out from the dock. Steve jumped onto the boat and we made our way towards open water.
The weather was quite warm, and of course the beating sun made me feel like jumping into the lake. So, with my Uncle’s permission I collapsed the ladder on the rear of the boat and jumped in. I knew the water would be chilly at this time of the year. In fact, my Uncle said I was crazy to go in. But as soon as I hit the water, I was glad I did. It was cold, but it was so refreshing.
I held on to the back ladder on the boat. It is surprising, but even with light winds the boat moves fairly fast.
I decided to see if I could swim up to the front of the boat. I got tired not too long after letting go of the ladder. The furthest I got on one try was maybe a little over a third of the way. It was good exercise at least!
The wind started to pick up by 3 o’clock, so my uncle suggested I get back in the boat and not try swimming and be possibly left in the water. We had the wind in our hair and relaxed in our own ways. I tried getting some sun for a while, as did Steve; my uncle hid in the shade and read while occasionally lifting his arm to change the boat’s course.
My Uncle John is what he calls, “El Capitan” of his boat, the Teak Butterfly.
Although, Steve got to be the skipper at one point, at the beginning of our trip on to the lake. I also manned the wheel when we came back towards land. There are lots of boats entering and leaving a marina, so it is very crucial to drive very safe. My Uncle took over as we were entering the no-wake zone near the docks. You also have to be very careful of the depths of a lake. He pointed out there was one section that could be a problem for the boat, if it got too close to the shore.
We docked around 5:30 PM and chilled on the boat for about 45 minutes. Many other boats began to dock at the same time to eat and drink at the outdoor restaurant/bar as well as in their boats. We packed up and decided to try to find somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at this great all-you-can-eat buffet, which had awesome tasting bread with honey butter. Yum!
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Day 7: Saturday April 3, 2010 - Myrtle Beach
It took about 4 hours of driving to get to Myrtle beach. One cool thing we saw on the way, was an old-fashioned fuel pump, which we got to try because they were still in use at this place.
Here is a video of us filling up.
As soon as we got off the highway, there was bumper to bumper traffic. Not only was it Myrtle beach, a huge tourist attraction; but it was also Easter weekend.
Myrtle Beach has been working on a new boardwalk. They are using that new type of plastic-wood for the boardwalk planks. Myrtle Beach’s boardwalk will remind you somewhat of Ocean City, New Jersey’s boardwalk. They have tons of tourist shops and eateries.
(c) Steve took this photo.
I have been wanting very badly for awhile to try parasailing. I always thought it would be fun. So, I kept looking for somewhere that offered it. Lo and behold - Ocean Sports did just that. For $50.00 for a half-an hour, they take you out on this banana boat tied to a jet ski to the boat. From there, the boat captains harness you in and lets you into the sky. It was great! 
(c) Ocean Sports. I am probably technically not supposed to have this up, besides the one on their site. Although, they probably don't care because of their proofs stamped all over it. I have to buy a copy to have the unproof taken off. This picture cracks me up because we are both looking back at the water. Read further and you will find out.
If you heard or read about my trip to Arizona, you will have heard that I went on a hot air balloon ride while I was out there. This was very much peaceful like that, without the loud hisses of hot air gas. It was so scenic from up there. You see the blue water below, the coast of South Carolina, and feel light as a feather. The only thing that was scary was how you were being held up. The rope was less than an inch thick. The only downfall is not having enough time in the air. You are only up there for about 10-15 minutes. I wonder if all parasailing trips are like that. As I said before, Myrtle beach is a big tourist area, so we were a group of two on the parasailing adventure.
The funny thing was as we were being reeled back in, my uncle’s visor flew off. Luckily, before it sank the Jet Ski employee was able to grab it when he was bringing the new adventurers to the boat. My uncle was thankful. The guy said he liked the hat, and my uncle joked that he would sell it to him for five bucks.
The only thing I would recommend when you go to Myrtle Beach, is to be wary of the type and amount of people there. It is frustrating to write, but while I was there my phone was stolen from right under my nose. I had it in front of me on the restaurant counter, and a couple of minutes later it was gone. I will not be angry and complain for paragraphs, but I think it’s pretty low of people to do such things. Needless to say, there is not much more to report in the day because we left earlier because of the incident and the long drive.
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Day 8: Sunday April 4, 2010 - Easter Mass, Edisto Gardens, & Drive-In
We attended Easter Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Orangeburg. The Mass was given by a priest, who was formally from the country of Africa. I really enjoyed what he said. To sum it up he had mentioned that we must come out of the darkness (sin) and into the light (holiness), which is related to the tomb and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We then walked around Edisto Memorial Gardens. At this time of the year when we went, it is a little bit short of when the flowers are in bloom. It is really well-maintained.
The longest black water river in the world runs through a part of this park.
After we walked around Edisto Memorial Gardens, we headed for some nice cool ice cream. We ended up at Sonic Drive-In.
Check out her wheels, roller that is...!
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Day 9: Monday April 5, 2010 - Charleston Tea Plantation
On our last official day in South Carolina, we visited The Charleston Tea Plantation. This plantation is able to boast that they are the only ones to grow tea in America. It is home to American Classic Tea, under the company Bigelow Tea
.
The tea plantation is located on Wadmalaw Island in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. On the sign below, it shows the nearest tea plantations.
The actual tea plant is called Camellia Sinensis, and they have 127 acres of tea.
The interesting thing that I learned, is that there are not so many types of tea plants. It is the oxidizing of the tea leaves, that actually makes the different types of tea. For example Green tea is made by no oxidizing of their leaves, whereas Oolong Tea is oxidized for a longer set of time.
One positive to visiting here, is that they give you a free drink of their tea. You can try sweetened green tea or non-sweetened gray tea. My uncle is enjoying his free glass.
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Day 10: Tuesday April 6, 2010 - The Drive Home
On our last day, we said our goodbyes and headed on the open road. It was about 11 AM when we left. It is supposed to take 11 hours to drive from South Carolina to Pennsylvania. All I can say, was that did not happen.
On our drive home we got stuck in three large traffic jams that lasted each about an hour.
It was one of the hottest days yet; in the high 80’s. Well, I can tell you that is not a good thing when driving at a slow pace. With the sun beating down on all the cars and the slow pace of the traffic conditions, about every 5 minutes we would pass 2 to 3 cars that ended up overheating and getting stranded on the side of the road.
At one point in our first traffic jam, a car in the right lane (we were in the left), overheated and died. They are sitting in the center of their lane, and everyone has been just passing them on the right shoulder. We pass them on the left. As I look in the corner of my rear window, I see an old man. I get about 250 yards down the road and I am thinking…..I am not in any sort of condition that I cannot help him. I can’t consciously leave him there. Why isn’t anyone stopping? I pull-over, stop, and shut off the car. I tell Steve I am running back to see if they are okay. I literally am running back, while people are still passing them. He had been sitting there already several minutes, I suppose. When I get there, I ask the old gentleman if he is okay. He seems disappointed and answers, “We were doing so well. It overheated. I have some water that we put in earlier, but it just died now.” I said, “Would you like me to help push you off onto the side of the road, sir?” He answers with, “that‘d be great.” I run back to Steve and let him know I’ll need help pushing. So, we get back to the car and start pushing. We make it safely off the side of the road. I ask the gentleman, “Would you like a ride somewhere sir?” He says he can’t leave his car. So, I mention that we would be able to call the police if he needs. He tells me that would be nice. Steve offers to call, since at this point I have no phone. He calls and tells the police what mile marker the couple is near. After the call, I ask if the man would like us to stay with him till the police comes. I was worried because he was old and he was standing in the sun. I didn’t want him to have an accidental heart attack or stroke. The man said that it was not needed. Steve, at this point, is pushing us to go since we have a long trip ahead to go still. We probably had about 8 more hours to go. He also says, “Jess, we need to go before your car overheats too.” So, I tell the gentleman good luck and we head back to my car. We get back to my car and I find that when I start the engine I get a “Chhhhchhhhhhhhhhchhhhhh.” Steve gives me a really pissed off - frustrated look, like why did we ever stop in the first place kind. I say, “Let‘s not panic… I‘ll try again.” I start the engine and push on the gas a little. “Chhhhchhhhhchhhhhhhhhhhhchhhhhh.” I say, “Awww crap!….. Please Lord, help me to start my car……… This would sorta stink if we helped those other people because of overheating and then we get stuck out here too.” Steve was not happy at this. I try a third time to get a “Chuggg chugggg chugggg” and a lurching movement from the car. I press on the gas, I press it again. I press it another time. And finally the car does a huge lurch forward and starts moving more smoothly. We breathe a huge sigh of relief.
That day there were many people in the same circumstance as that gentleman. I wondered how many cars broke down during those three different traffic jams, and how long many had to wait for help. We were lucky. My car has 254,000 miles on it right now.
In one traffic jam, there was a complete stop for a little while. I got out and stretched my legs.
The last traffic jam we saw a blinking sign before it happened that read, “car fire - traffic congestion will begin at exit 73. Expect an hour delay.” We got to Exit 69 on route I-95N and we were in it. When there is bumper to bumper traffic and three lanes merging into one, 4 miles is a lot of extra time to wait. So, when it stopped early we were like oh boy, this is going to be a long day. When we finally passed the incident, it turned out that it was an RV that had caught fire. The only thing remaining was the frame. It had entirely burnt down. And those RV buses are not cheap. I can only hope they have a good insurance on it. We don’t know what had happened. Although, we are interested to find out whether it was an internal fire or something had hit it. I guess we will never know.
Three traffic jams in one trip or day, I think is unusual. It was in fact, a long day. But, I do not entirely despise traffic jams. In fact, sometimes it’s nice to have a small traffic jam on a sunny day. I know, I am weird. I like to sometimes people watch out of the corner of my eye; see if people are patient, frustrated, guess where they might have been coming from. And the big reason why I think traffic jams are nice once in awhile, is because it forces people out of their ME-ME-I-I mentality for a moment. In a day where everything is so fast-paced, it sort of makes people have to take a moment out of their day whether or not they like it and maybe focus on other drivers or an unplanned situation. Of course, you have some major douche-bag drivers out there that don’t care about others. I typically despise the type that drive up the lane as far as possible and then cut in, when they saw the sign to get over two miles back. Or ones that will cut people off because they can save themselves 2 car spots. If I didn’t have the ability to balance stress levels, I might want to have road rage. Haha. But generally, I have found that there are some really patient and kind drivers out there, which is a nice and pleasant surprise.
Reiterating again, it was a long day…. We ended up getting home around 1 AM instead of 10 PM. Needless to say, I was glad to get a good nights rest in my own bed again.
END OF STATE #4: SOUTH CAROLINA
Posts
Nice photos, Jess! (The opera is "Porgy and Bess". NOt Porky. If you have never heard it, we have it.) Give up on the early starts, it is NOT in your genes! Have fun, anyway. Where is a photo of the puppy?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteWoops, typo! Haha. Thanks for the catch. I made sure to change it. Yeah, I have heard of it. Please feel free to share it with me. I have never listened to it. Photo of puppy is now up. Thanks for reading!