Sesquicentennial State Park outside of Columbia
Columbia is a very southern, bible-belt, debutante type of place. We went out to dinner one night and didn't bring our purses because we didn't want to deal with them (because we were planning on going dancing afterwards) and the hostess at the restaurant commented on it - I guess it's a big no no to not carry a purse around that city or something. Overall, it's a nice city - there are a lot of parks and in the summer, I'm sure it's nice because of the 3 rivers that run through it. I was also able to get a really nice pedicure and massage a la my sister for my birthday. It was also nice to talk to everyone on my birthday - thanks for all of the calls!
Many miles hiked along the Congaree River
How can you not love the name Bojangles?
Emily was really sick, so I spent a lot of my time that first week hiking along the Congaree and Broad Rivers and drinking free wine at the Residence Inn's social hour. We stayed at the Residence Inn for about a week and then moved to a lake house on Lake Murray. The lake house was really nice and quaint. Our friends from Atlanta came to visit for a night, which was fun because visitors are hard to come by! We also ate at Antonina's a few times out at Lake Murray, which was great.
Kathy, Emily and I at dinner on Lake Murray
Sunset on Lake Murray
We then moved on to Knoxville, which is right outside the Smoky Mountains. On our first day here, we drove down and collected the road that leads through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg into the Smoky Mountains. That drive just cracks me up because these two places are the biggest tourist traps I've ever seen. The Smoky Mountains are the most visited national park in the country - more people go there every year than Yosemite or Yellowstone, but I was kind of concerned that more people go down for the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum than to actually enjoy the beauty of the Smokies. Either way, we enjoyed the Smokies with a nice hike up to Laurel Falls. We also rode a ski-lift type of thing up to the top of a mountain in Gatlinburg, so I guess I'm probably just like everyone else. It was just hard to say no to that ski lift!
View from hike to Laurel Falls
Knoxville has a really nice visitor's center that has a blue plate lunch special every Monday - Friday at 12pm. There really isn't food, but free music for an hour everyday, so we are now going there for our lunch breaks. It's a nice place. There's also a cool part of town called The Old City, which I think we're going to go to tonight for dinner. There's also a collection of Appalachian music going on downtown tonight, so we're going to do that too.
Knoxville skyline from bridge crossing the Tennessee River
Lastly, we went to Asheville, NC yesterday to see the Benevento/Russo Duo and Grace Potter play at the Orange Peel and to celebrate my birthday (since Emily was so sick on my actual birthday). I kind of forgot we were celebrating my birthday, so I was very surprised when I came out of the bathroom in Asheville to a cake with candles, a bottle of champagne and presents. It was very nice - thank you, Emily! We then went to the show, which was very good. I've always wanted to see live music in Asheville, so I'm glad I got to. The town is really cool too - it's like Athens on steroids. Very hippie, with good food and natural stores, etc.
My birthday brownie/cheesecake cake
Oh, I almost forgot the best part - on the way to Asheville, we stopped by the Pisgah National Forest and hiked to the top of Max Patch, which was absolutely gorgeous - very Sound of Music meets Appalachian Mountains. The peak used to be used for grazing back in the day, so the trees were cut down and it's been maintained since then. The Appalachian trial runs through it and it gives some of the best views of the Smoky Mountains. Since there are no trees obstructing your views, you can see 360 degrees around the peak. Very breathtaking and little people know about it. Thanks, Kevin for the great tip.
On top of Max Patch.
View from top.
Experimenting with my camera.
Alright, well this has turned into a very long post - sorry about that. I just never update this, so when I do, there's a lot to say! Ok, I hope all is well with everyone and please visit us this summer. We have a nice little row house in Baltimore from April 1 - May 12 (I'll be down in NOLA though from April 25 - May 5). Then I'm pretty sure it's off to NYC. Much love!
