Day 33: Made it to the Coast

This might have been my favorite spot we slept on this trip. We decided to drive out to Folly Beach near Charleston because it looked like there were spots to sleep on the main road along the beach and we hadn't actually made it all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in all our travels. We were supposed to go to the Outer Banks before Thanksgiving, but ended up having to cut it out when we had the electrical issues, so this was a nice little addition.

And I really wanted to sleep out there if we could because it meant that I got to wake up early and go for a beach walk while everyone else slept.

We spent a couple of vacations at Folly Beach when we lived back east, and morning walks were my thing. It's one of my favorite things to do on any trip.

Love seeing the beach houses decorated for the holidays.

And really loved getting to watch the sun come up over the water.

Growing up on the west coast, and having sunsets often hidden by fog, it was pretty fun when I realized that on the east coast, we'd get to watch sunrises instead.

It was a gorgeous morning.

And I pretty much had the beach to myself.

Lots of time to look for shells,

and walked all the way down to the Morris Island lighthouse.

I even found a wood duck--it was a little hard to see the colors against the sunrise, but the head shape is so unique.

I'm so glad that I got to start the day with a couple hours of filling my soul because when I got back to the van, Peanut was not feeling well, and he doesn't really do sick in an easy way. Even with colds and coughs, he will often end up throwing up. He had woken up not feeling well at all and we knew we were probably in for a couple of rough days.

After getting a little food in him, he rallied and we decided to do a horse carriage tour of Charleston so we wouldn't have to make him walk, but could see a bit of the city. We'd done one before and it was a fun way to see all the beautiful houses and hear a little about the history.

But it pushed him to his limit, and he ended up throwing up over the side by the end. 

So even though we enjoyed seeing the houses,

and hearing about how the city came to be, it was also hard and not our best visit to the low country. We decided that Savannah is probably our favorite southern city for wandering around, but probably not fair to make that decision after this particular trip.

We gave up and decided to get on the road, hoping the next day might be better and at least we could have time in the next place.

On the way out of town, we stopped at the Angel Oak This tree is 400-500 years old--not the oldest tree that we've ever seen, but it's massive and so beautiful.

The trunk is gigantic!

And then, it was time to go west. Our trip home officially began. Charleston was our last stop on the east coast. We figured it would be good to get a few hours of driving done so we could break up this next long stretch and have more time to do things when Peanut was feeling better.

Day 26: Saying Goodbye and Congaree

Sunday morning, we had a couple of last visits to do. We went to church at our old building, and were a little dissapointed at how few people we recognized. So many people have moved, and some were out of town for the holiday weekend. So, we said goodbye to the Parker's who were fabulous hosts, letting us use their driveway and electricity, and bathroom, and for feeding us and for the hours and hours of conversation.

Then, we made one more stop at the new inner city church where more people who we used to go to church with now attend. We found several people who we had worked with quite a bit when both Daddy-o and I served as leaders. It was great to see how well everyone was doing. One couple who had been struggling with a lot of challenges when we lived there had a crazy story--one day, they woke up and there was a baby girl on their porch. They don't know where she came from, but they were able to adopt her. They'd never had kids, and were older, and so incredibly grateful to have the chance to be parents, and it seems like it has really helped them find the meaning in their lives that they needed. It was so sweet to see. 

And then these two sisters--I was hoping to see them, but they weren't at church that day. Their mom had cancer when I worked with her, and she passed away last year, but I wanted to see them. We were walking out to the van when we heard people calling, "Sister Mercer! Sister Mercer!" I knew those voices and turned around to see Sherry and Sabrina running towards us. We ended up in a big, weepy group hug. There's nothing quite like the relationship that develops between people when you spend time together at challenging moments in their lives. We really grew to love this family. I'm so glad that they caught us.

And then, we headed south, apparently to the same spot all the other vans wanted to go to.

We spent the afternoon at Congaree National Park,

which was a beautiful swamp.

We learned all about cypress knees,

and these semi-seasonal pools.

We found fungi

and enjoyed walking for a couple of miles on the boardwalk through the floodplain.

It's not a really big place, but perfect for an afternoon of exploring.

(I love catching these moments, although right after this picture, Daddy-o put him in a headlock and it turned into a wrestling match, haha. But a photo makes it all look so sweet.)

This was so unique compared to any other park we've visited.

I'm so grateful that we've had this experience for the past month--it hasn't all been easy, but the memories make it worth the hard parts.

Love my travel buddies.

And then we ended up in a parking lot for the night. I'd hoped to camp in the NP, but they don't have any camping for vans, so we decided to keep driving for a bit to get us closer to our first stop for the next day. More parking lots than I'd like, but they're just so convenient.

Zoo Day

 

What says Christmas more than a sunny, warm day at the zoo? Haha. We may not have had much "winter", but when the kids have a couple days off school and the zoo will be lit up at night for the holidays, it seemed like a great way to kick off our Christmas celebrations. 

 

And the zoo had a couple special things that made it feel a little more Christmasy--

 

"snow" made from bubbles (because even fake snow probably can't hold up in 70 degree weather) and Santa, along with the decorations and lights.

 

 

We split up for a little while after lunch. 

 

Daddy-o took the boys over to the carousel,

 

while Bean convinced me to try the ropes course. It's always scarier up there than I think it will be when I'm on the ground, but I did the more stable challenges while Bean went on pretty much everything.

It was a fabulous day to be there.