A beautiful park, with several water features, splash and spray for children, guided canoe trails, tubing and a leafy shaded walking trail by the Saluda River, 2.5 miles in one direction (about 5 miles round trip). You may not even need your sunglasses or sun screen, it is so canopied with leaves. There are benches at intervals to sit and watch the dappled green and yellow water. Even Renoir would have liked to paint it. Today there is the sound of the cicadas playing their violins. They have not yet come to the upstate where I live. I have heard that some people say the temperature can be gaged by the loudness of the cicadas. The more loudly they sound, the higher the temperature. The weatherman says that this weekend, the temperature is to be 109 degrees.
Shane is having his third birthday party here at the park on Saturday. (His actual birthday is July 3.)
Friday, June 29, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Hunting Island State Park, SC June 21, 2012
We used to come to Hunting Island and stay in the State Park cabins until they were all closed down to be demolished or else were washed away by the eroding surf two years ago. We thought it was paradise where the tiny deer came up to your cabin, the raccoons to your door, the pelicans flew overhead and the dolphins swam up close to you in the water. You can still hike there by going into the woods/jungle at the end of the lagoon, following the lagoon almost to the far end and meeting up with a trail that winds around until you cross the highway and go out onto a boardwalk across the marsh which goes to two hummocks inhabited by birds and crabbs and sometimes an alligator.
Harbor Island, St. Helena, SC June 17, 2012
Harbor Island lies in the marsh between the Harbor River and Johnson's Creek out from Frogmore and before Hunting Island and Fripp. We have rented a house on this island for the past three years.
It is a bird scanctuary and on the beach, the turtles come in May and June to dig holes to deposit their eggs. Today if you walk from the Harbor River end past the houses and the condos to the far end of the island, you can see nine false turtle crawls. This is because there is a rack of wattles that has been pushed ashore by storms during the winter and fall and many of the turtles will turn back to the ocean rather than crawl over them to dig a nest. I have talked to the turtle volunteers and they tell me that some turtles have been brave enough to crawl over the rack and lay their eggs and one nest is due any day to release the turtle babies into the sea. Some nests have been predated by foxes and raccoons and if they are, the volunteers move the remaining eggs to another location.
It is a bird scanctuary and on the beach, the turtles come in May and June to dig holes to deposit their eggs. Today if you walk from the Harbor River end past the houses and the condos to the far end of the island, you can see nine false turtle crawls. This is because there is a rack of wattles that has been pushed ashore by storms during the winter and fall and many of the turtles will turn back to the ocean rather than crawl over them to dig a nest. I have talked to the turtle volunteers and they tell me that some turtles have been brave enough to crawl over the rack and lay their eggs and one nest is due any day to release the turtle babies into the sea. Some nests have been predated by foxes and raccoons and if they are, the volunteers move the remaining eggs to another location.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
June 6, 2012 Greenwood Heritage Rail Trail
It was a dark and gloomy day. There was a low cloud cover like a dirty grey blanket. The temperature was under 65' at noon. The Heritage Trail begins "Uptown" beside Circular Avenue and the now defunct branch of Palmetto Bank. You can park in the deserted bank parking lot.
(You can read "Palmetto Bank" where the letters used to be.) This looks like what could be a great walking trail. It was recently bushhogged and along the way there was purple verbena growing wild where at one time it must have been planted. The trail was completely deserted. Not a soul in sight and after the fourth Neighborhood Watch sign and the Greenwood Police Jurisdiction sign, I decided it was not safe to walk there alone and turned back after about a mile.
The great surprise was wonderful Uptown Greenwood, blessed with the long ago insight of some one who planned this wide wide square which is still alive with trees, plants and even plant sculptures such as Ari, the lion with cubs crafted out of ivey and the Lander College Mascot, a large bear like animal, made out of what might be privet. What was once the movie theater is a grandly refurbished venue for local theater. There is the McCaslan Bookstore which also has Melissa and Doug kids toys for sale, Harold's Deli, and what appear to be thriving business offices and the brand new library whose gray dome is also a landmark on the right just before the trail head. While talking with clerks in stores or greeting friendly people on the street, I had the impulse to use my best Southern colloquialisms.
On July 13 and 14 of this year, the annual "BBQ and Blues Festival of Discovery" takes place with more than 13 free to the public blues performances. You can also sample the competition BBQ's for only a dollar.
My plan is to come to the festival and walk the trail with friends and enjoy the festival.
(You can read "Palmetto Bank" where the letters used to be.) This looks like what could be a great walking trail. It was recently bushhogged and along the way there was purple verbena growing wild where at one time it must have been planted. The trail was completely deserted. Not a soul in sight and after the fourth Neighborhood Watch sign and the Greenwood Police Jurisdiction sign, I decided it was not safe to walk there alone and turned back after about a mile.
The great surprise was wonderful Uptown Greenwood, blessed with the long ago insight of some one who planned this wide wide square which is still alive with trees, plants and even plant sculptures such as Ari, the lion with cubs crafted out of ivey and the Lander College Mascot, a large bear like animal, made out of what might be privet. What was once the movie theater is a grandly refurbished venue for local theater. There is the McCaslan Bookstore which also has Melissa and Doug kids toys for sale, Harold's Deli, and what appear to be thriving business offices and the brand new library whose gray dome is also a landmark on the right just before the trail head. While talking with clerks in stores or greeting friendly people on the street, I had the impulse to use my best Southern colloquialisms.
On July 13 and 14 of this year, the annual "BBQ and Blues Festival of Discovery" takes place with more than 13 free to the public blues performances. You can also sample the competition BBQ's for only a dollar.
My plan is to come to the festival and walk the trail with friends and enjoy the festival.
Monday, June 4, 2012
June 2, 2012 The Swamp Rabbit Trail
Greenville. Today I joined the Walk for NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness) which was supposed to be a 5K beginning at Fluor Field and proceeding along the Swamp Rabbit Trail.
The trail goes from downtown out to Furman University and on to Travelor's Rest. It is shaded by river birch, young oaks and many many blooming fragrant mimosas. Oddly, no one knew where the end of the walk was and so we continued on and on until someone decided we had gone too far and we turned around. The walkers were people with mental illness, their families, employees of hospitals and psychiatric offices, and others, even a large dental office group. Schizophrenia is the disease that took Peter and his sister, Maria.
The trail goes from downtown out to Furman University and on to Travelor's Rest. It is shaded by river birch, young oaks and many many blooming fragrant mimosas. Oddly, no one knew where the end of the walk was and so we continued on and on until someone decided we had gone too far and we turned around. The walkers were people with mental illness, their families, employees of hospitals and psychiatric offices, and others, even a large dental office group. Schizophrenia is the disease that took Peter and his sister, Maria.
May 30, 2012 A Walk to the Park
James and I walked to the park on Gregg St from his house this morning. We took his wagon with all of the superheroes he had gotten on his birthday party on Sunday. His party had been in this park too where all the children wore the superhero capes his mom, Colleen, had fashioned out of T-shirts. They all sported a yellow flash of lightening on the back (I glued them on). Today James is wearing his cape and running like a flash of lightening through the park with me chasing him like one of the "bad guys". We found a bird nest on the ground and also some muchrooms growing in the sand boxes.
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