'Soda City', South Carolina

Today we spent the day wandering in Columbia, South Carolina, also known to the locals as "Soda City." Note that no inventing or manufacturing of soda ever happened here and that the nickname actually comes from an early abbreviation of Columbia, or "Cola."

We discovered a small park and this memorial to Jack Linwood Van Loan. His name probably won't ring a bell but the place 'Maison Centrale' might. Can you guess what it's more notable name is? 

This city likes its murals so any respectable adventure blog will include them. And what's not to like about a quirky statue of the world's largest fire hydrant? Standing almost 40 ft tall, it comes complete with signs that say "no dogs within 50 ft."

If you're a 90's music fan, you may recall that Hootie and the Blowfish are from Columbia, South Carolina. A rather unimpressive statue awaits any fan and thankfully it's a freebie. Their debut album Cracked Rear View was pretty darn good in my opinion. Can you name any of their tunes? Next trivia question - the band's lead vocalist started a solo r&b career, then later hit the country charts. Who was it?

I had my first ice cream of the trip and the butter pecan cookie waffle cone did not disappoint. Mango held off on the ice cream but did try a vegan sloppy joe that he said was very good. Needless to say, I don't need to worry about making dinner.

We wandered around Mast General Store and found a jigsaw puzzle we had to have then it was back to the campground just in time for happy hour. We were disappointed to learn that the campground is not renting out kayaks right now as we were looking forward to some time on the pond before we move on. But the 2 mile loop around the pond (last picture) is available if exercising makes it to the top of the priority list.

'Maison Centrale' is better known as the Hanoi Hilton. Van Loan was a POW there for 6 years along with fellow inmate John McCain. Darius Rucker was the lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish.

-June 

Jack Van Loan

Hootie and the Blowfish monument

Tunnel Vision Mural

Neverbust Chain mural

Neverbust Chain - created in 2000 by local artist Blue Sky

And we're back.

Back out adventuring in Edna that is.

Brunswick, GA

Before you start talking about social distancing, mask wearing and all that other stuff - yes, we are careful and will head home if a serious second wave of illness strikes.

That said, this trip starts out all about the Carolinas. It will be much more than that but we plan to cover both South and North Carolina in depth. Lots of bucket list items here for me ... Charleston, the Biltmore, waterfalls and white water rafting. Yes - we are going to do a rafting trip.

So we are armed with cameras, day packs and lots of ideas of things to see and do. I saw that City Market in Charleston is reopening today, yay! There will still be things that are closed or have limitations but we will enjoy this trip despite those little blips. It's our third big trip and we both think we've mastered what works well for us. 

Now, if I can only remember to turn off the a/c when I turn on the new Cuisinart oven, we'll be golden!

-June

12 miles down the road

March in central Florida is wonderful. Warm days, mild evenings and it's not yet bug season. The perfect time to camp. 

We've been wanting to try Long Point Campground, a nice little county park in southern Brevard county. A couple weeks ago while out for a drive, we stopped in to check on availability. We were able to string 4 nights together on the same site. Perfect. Edna hadn't been out in a while and Mango's been itching to go.

 Foot bridge to Scout Island

Long Point is mostly filled with snowbirds. I think ours is the only Florida license plate here. We are right on the water (Indian River) and can hear the gentle waves all day long. A nice sunny spot and a fire pit have been perfect to host family and friends who have visited. 

Today, we took a nice walk to Scout Island, which is across a foot bridge (the only other access is by boat). All natural Florida here so a nice walk among the mangroves, Australian pines and other flora was relaxing. Again, no bugs and not too hot. It doesn't get much better than this. We both had our cameras and took lots of shots. On our way back across the footbridge, we spotted a manatee working it's way along the shore. 

This is the perfect spot to have a kayak. We've been considering a Sea Eagle 370 since we retired two years ago. It's inflatable which means easy to store and travel with. We would get a lot of use right here at home. Haven't ordered it yet but on the way back from Scout Island, there were 2 kayak life jackets for sale at a neighboring campsite. Yes, we bought them. I'm guessing that means we'll soon be the proud owners of a kayak.