Charlotte, NC to Columbia, SC – Sunday, July 27, 2024 (Author: J)
I was up before the rest of my family as usual, so I used the opportunity to visit the Ballantyne’s fitness center for a short workout. By the time I had finished my workout and gotten ready for the day, D and P were up. We packed up and then headed to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, which was included in our room rate.
The Ballantyne serves weekend brunch in its Gallery Restaurant. The restaurant has a classy, casual vibe and serves elevated versions of standard American breakfast fare, e.g., not just French toast, Fancy French Toast. The meal started with a pastry basket. For our mains, I had the French toast special (pear and cream), P had pancakes, and D had the crab cake benedict. How do I remember everyone’s meal orders 6 months later? It’s because P and D are very repetitive in their ordering patterns. The food was delicious. It turned out that “breakfast included in package” meant that we received a $75 credit to spend on breakfast. The credit just about covered the meal; we wound up paying a portion of the tip out of pocket.
After breakfast, it was time to check out and head to the grocery store to restock our picnic supplies. D vetoed stopping at the Harris Teeter near the hotel, and insisted we drive a bit further to shop at Food Lion because it had a “better name.” I rolled my eyes and went along with it. At Food Lion, we purchased fruit, cheese, bread, and chips. Then, we continued our journey south.
As we were driving, I checked the weather in Columbia and saw that rain was predicted the following day – the day we had planned to visit Congaree National Park. We decided to reroute and head directly to the park to take advantage of the dry weather.
The drive from Charlotte to Congaree is just over two hours. Before too long, we were crossing into South Carolina and D was shouting, “Holy s*!+.” I looked up from the weather report to see a tremendous Confederate flag billowing over the highway. Holy s*!+, indeed.
Congaree National Park was established to preserve one of the last remaining tracts of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States. At about 11,000 hectares, it is one of the smaller national parks. And despite its proximity to a state capital, it is one of the less visited national parks. In my pre-trip research, I learned that it is also one of the more reviled national parks; indeed, we were warned against visiting in the summer because of the humidity and mosquitoes.
I am glad we ignored the negative reviews because we really enjoyed the park. While the other 4 parks we visited on this trip are undeniably amazing, they all have very similar habitats with similar fauna and flora. Congaree was something totally different. (It certainly helped that we visited on a summer day that somehow had low humidity and few mosquitoes).
We began our visit with a picnic in the parking lot. It was nicer than it sounds. The lot is in a wooded area with lots of shaded picnic tables to choose from. After lunch, we changed into long pants (in the restroom) and generously applied insect repellant. We were then ready for a hike.
The most popular hike in the park is the Boardwalk Trail, a 2.6-mile loop that starts near the Visitor Center. It’s just the right length for getting a taste of the park without inducing too much whining from children, so I knew it was the right trail for us. We picked up a guide for the trail at the visitor center and started our hike. Along the way, we saw an interesting variety of wildlife, including water birds, turtles, and racoons. The trail guide that we picked up helped us to also appreciate the plants that we were seeing, which really are what makes the park special. There are markers along the trail that indicate points of interest. They match up to entries in the trail guide that explain what you are looking at.
As we approached the end of our hike, we heard the distinctive grunting of a pig. Wild boars are not native to Congaree, but they have invaded the park in recent years. Indeed, the park was closed to camping while we were visiting for several nights of hunting to try to reduce the boar population. We got excited and followed the grunts. They led us to … a guy wearing a speaker around his neck that played boar sounds. I don’t know if he was there to entice the boars ahead of the hunt or to disappoint tourists who were hoping for a glimpse of a hog. He certainly succeeded at the latter.
After our hike, we spent a bit of time in the small museum in the Visitor Center. Then, we purchased our magnet and ornament and made our way back to the car. Before too long, we were arriving in downtown Columbia and checking into the Hilton.
My initial reaction to the Hilton was confusion. The hotel advertised itself as “downtown,” but the neighborhood seemed almost deserted. And the low, industrial buildings that surrounded the hotel didn’t match my expectations of “downtown” anywhere. Wrapping my head around downtown Columbia would have to wait, though. We had tickets to a Columbia Fireflies game.
We changed out of our hiking gear and piled back in the car for the 10-minute drive to Segra Park. Attending a minor league baseball game was another suggestion that we took from the Tripadvisor Road Trip forum. We weren’t able to see the Rocket City Trash Pandas in Huntsville because they were on the road during our visit to town, so we chose to see the Fireflies instead.
We don’t go to many sporting events, so the restrictions on carrying bags into Segra Park came as a surprise. The little paperback novel sized bag that I brought to carry my phone and wallet was slightly over the size limit. However, the security guys let me off with a promise to invest in a clear bag for future games, and we made it to our seats behind home plate before the first pitch was thrown.
This evening, the Fireflies were playing the Lynchburg Hillcats. Though some members of our family felt that Lynchburg had the better mascot, we agreed that rooting for the home team was the right call. P went so far as browsing the Fireflies jerseys, but he ultimately decided against making such a pricey purchase.
I wasn’t sure how P would feel about minor league baseball after attending a major league game earlier in the summer. (I know that I said I don’t go to a lot of sporting events, and that’s true. It just so happened that P and I saw our first major league game and our first minor league game in the same month). The good news is that P enjoyed the minor league game almost as much as rooting for the Red Sox. The ability to sit right behind home plate and the antics of Fly Guys, who show off their dance moves while grooming the field, compensated for the weak pitching. Both teams did have some very solid hitters, which led to a high scoring game that went into extra innings. P gets very invested in the team he is rooting for, so it was a great relief when the Fireflies clinched a win in the 10th.
When the game ended, we speed walked back to our car in a successful bid to beat any traffic leaving the park. Back at the Hilton, we squeezed in a swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool before heading to bed.
Travel Monkeys 