No pictures today

Things (re)learned today:

1. A picnic table, a shoddily built deck over a fetid pond, and a parking lot equals a recreation area in SC.
2. The vast majority of Southerners are not polite, gentle folk. They are ignorant, belligerent rednecks.
3. Hunting is the only reason to go outdoors. People who like to walk around and take pictures are commies.
4. National Forest land exists at the whim of Georgia-Pacific.
5. Government employees are not there to help you.

Peachtree Rock Preserve, 2007-10-29, noonish

Peachtree Rock is one of my favorite places in the Midlands of South Carolina. It's the like a whole world away from places like Congaree Creek or Congaree Swamp, yet it's not very far from either of these. It has a bit of the sand hills in it. It used to be a part of the ocean floor many moons ago.



Today, I walked over to Little Peachtree Rock. Because of its location in the preserve, there is less graffiti and vandalism on Little Peachtree Rock. You can also get closer to this one, if you're willing to step in perfect spots for snakes to sun themselves.



Those tubes and burrow holes were probably left by shrimps and worms around 60 million years ago.



This "far end" of the trail at Peachtree Rock always takes my breath away, partly because I have to climb up and down so much on that side.

Carolina Raptor Center, Monday, October 22nd, 2007

We've needed a few things from Costco, and I've been putting off going for a while now. Today, I was going to go to Charleston to get those things and to take pictures. I found out there's a Costco in Charlotte. Charlotte is closer, but the traffic is nearly worse than in Charleston. Still, Charlotte on a cloudy day is better than Charleston during thunderstorms.

By some small miracle, there's a Sam Ash right next door to Coscto in Charlotte. I was able to get out of Sam Ash without spending money, but it was a close thing. While in there, I heard about a shop called Celtic Trader which may have sold my stated reason for going to Sam Ash: bodhrán beaters. Unfortunately, it turns out Celtic Trader has closed their doors. The drummer at Sam Ash thought they might still be open, but he hadn't been that way in a while. After some searching on foot and dealing with people who don't know a music shop from a record shop, I found out that Celtic Trader had closed down. Well, it was probably for the best as far as my finances today are concerned. It's a shame, though.

Another thing around Charlotte that I've been hoping to visit is the Carolina Raptor Center. My love of dinosaurs spills over to their modern day cousins, birds. If you want to get within a couple of feet of a killer bird—close enough to smell its lunch in the noon day sun— then this is definitely the place to do it. There are some beautiful birds here, and I wish I was a better photographer.

Redcliffe Plantation, Saturday October 20th, 2007

This past Saturday was full of thick, Southern promise which was made with real lard. Originally, my darling hubbin was going to be hung over and recovering in bed from a party on Friday night. I was going to go to the SC Wooden Boat Show since he wouldn't want to go. This did not so much happen because we both spent Friday in bed. We spent so much of it in bed that he slept nearly 12 hours, and I overslept by an hour making myself 20 minutes late for work.

This basically means we were fresh as daisies for traipsing about on Saturday. I found out more about the SC Wooden Boat Show which made me less inclined to go. I found out about some other festivals on Saturday and ran them by John. He found a few more, and we decided on the Living History Park's shindig in North Augusta, SC.

We found out that the Living History Park was basically a ren faire for different time periods. Since parking was a nightmare, we gave up on that and went to look for food. Long story short, we found the best mustard based barbecue we'd ever had. We also found out that folks in Langley, SC have two things: God and sweet potatoes. We didn't bother stopping at the Sweet Potato Festival in Langley. Since we'd been thinking about going for a while, though, we ended up at the Redcliffe Plantation.



In spite of the company—cranky people older than Methuselah from a church in Carrumbia and some rednecks—it was really pretty enjoyable. The guide was knowledgeable, as most of the State Park interpretive guides tend to be. The park was well maintained. The house was beautiful. The only real drawback was the drought. It was dryer than a camel toe. We had a chance to go to a once-a-year tour of a nearby graveyard, but I had to go home and get some sleep. We'll probably go back again for some more pictures since the batteries died in the camera.

Your moment of zen

Great Blue Heron in a pond at the Edisto Memorial Gardens in Downtown Orangeburg, SC.

New Coke with bullet holes...

Not so much of the travel today, and only one picture. When I finally felt well enough to hold the camera steady today, work traffic had started. There were accidents all over the place, including areas where I wanted to stop and take a few shots. I settled for this. I'll ask my beloved husband to put some gas in the car tonight or tomorrow morning so that I can go a little further afield while he's sleeping. I would like to visit some of the rural areas around Orangeburg tomorrow. I might even brave North, SC.

The trouble with travel

In a 48 hour period, I drove well over 1000 miles total. Some of it was beautiful and almost serene. Some of it was ugly and hurtful. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. I don't have any pictures to post this time. There are too many wooded areas that used to be part of National Forest land or abutted said NF land which are now subdivisions. There are new houses which the Mountain Protection Act would have prevented. There are farms where there should be grasslands and riparian zones. North Georgia is still beautiful to me. It is still home. However, it is changing for the worse. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Picture posties, picture posties

John and I visited Forty Acre Rock Heritage Preserve and NR Goodale State Park . We didn't get very far on either hiking trail. Perhaps sometime in the Winter when there are fewer bugs we'll go again. I'd like to see Forty Acre Rock in both the Winter and the early Spring.

We went because, for once, we both had off on a Saturday night. This won't happen again for another month and a half. My next "time off" is for John's birthday and then for Halloween. I plan on going camping for Halloween, so let's hope there's some good weather then.

Flounce Free

I haven't packed up my toys and gone home. I am just "re-envisioning" my blawg.