A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
I was visiting my brother, Houston, and his wife, Lynda. We were on a ramble across mid-Georgia, hoping to visit Warm Springs and tour the “Little White House.” We’d had several distractions along the way, and whether or not we would actually make it to Warm Springs was in question. Spoiler alert – we did make it. But not without a few more distractions, both coming and going.
Easter weekend. Laura had Friday and Monday off from Furman and decided that she needed to head back down to Florida to check on her mom. She decided that she needed some “sister time” with Amy to talk about how their mother’s care was going. That being the case, I decided to needed some “brother time” with Houston, so for the holiday weekend we headed in different directions.
I arrived at Houston’s farm below Watkinsville, Georgia about mid-morning on Friday. I was loaded to the gills with every toy we might need – kites, cameras, banjo, drums, recording gear, computers, and paddling gear. I was set for any eventuality. We would actually use quite a bit of that gear.
Gonna lay down my burdens,
Down by the Riverside,
Down by the Riverside,
Down by the Riverside,
…Ain’t gonna study war no more.
It was Keith’s birthday. I’d called him to see if he wanted to go for lunch, but he was already in Asheville for some early appointments. He suggested I join him up there for a late breakfast instead. Having no other plans, I agreed. It turned out to be another day of discovery and laid the groundwork for further exploration.
Alan and I were out on a photo trek. We had followed the Triple C Railroad from Blacksburg in Cherokee County down to Smyrna in York County. We were now about to make our best discovery of the day and meet “that one guy what knows stuff” about the place we were to visit.
Alan had a list of places he wanted to explore. That’s always a good thing. I got an e-mail from him several weeks ago with an attached Google Map showing places in Western York County, including the communities of Smyrna, Sharon, and McConnells. Our schedules finally aligned so that we were able to go on our photo trek this past Saturday.
Thursday morning had come and gone and I’d already had a full day. I had given my talk at the SCASL conference, but it was too nice of day to just hang out at home. I was in the mood to do more rambling. I had seen an article about a new kayak ramp down in Pelzer and decided that would be my target for the afternoon.
The day had already started out well. I’d made my debut with the Musician’s Circle at the Pickens Flea Market. There was still a lot of daylight left and the weather was beautiful. I felt the urge to ramble. In the course of the afternoon I found three historic churches and one old school, all of which were new to me.
So far I’d had a great day out exploring. I had an interesting visit at the Old Santee Canal Park, and the next day I’d be paddling part of the canal from Lake Moultrie. Now, however, the afternoon sun was sinking and I had to get to my night’s lodgings. Along that route I found some more cool bits of history.
Read More “Exploring the Old Santee Canal – Part Three, Moncks Corner to Santee” »
The target of our Second Saturday adventure was the old Santee Canal. In the previous post I presented a bit of the history of the old canal. Now it was time to do some ground-truthing. I was heading down a day early so that I could visit the Old Santee Canal Park and as much of the surrounding area as I could.
Read More “Exploring the Old Santee Canal – Part Two, Old Santee Canal Park” »
Call it writer’s block, winter blahs, or post-inauguration depression, but for whatever reason I’ve just not felt like blogging. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing interesting things, each worthy of their own post. It’s just that I haven’t been able to muster the energy to do in-depth research or document our adventures. However, on this lovely Sunday morning I have a bit of peace and quiet, so I’ll try to backtrack a bit and bring everyone up to date.