Tag life in South Carolina

Swimming daycation at Lake Jocasse, Devil’s Fork State Park, South Carolina

Anna--The Adventurer 2 Comments

A beautiful, cleary, perfect day filled with sunshine and great weather! My Sweetness (aka my boyfriend) heard about Lake Jocasse from a a local South Carolina native (he is originally from Rhode Island, myself from the mid-west). A new adventure and location awaited us as we used the GPS to get us there! About an hour from Clemson, South Carolina, Devil’s Fork State Park is located in Oconee County, near the tiny town of Salem, South Carolina.

The lake itself was originally man made but it’s fed by local streams and more, keeping the water Very cool and wonderful. A tiny beach was created and a swimmer’s area is marked off with a yellow bouy line for a no-wake zone. While boating tours are offered (for a price), we decided to set up picnic in the grilling and table areas and hit the little beach for swimming!

The lake does cover up an old cemetery; gleaning from a a bit of research, the bodys were exhumed and relocated but the the village and cemetery are under the lake now. How the State park earned the named of “Devil’s Fork” is unknown to me but it sounds like something from the movie “Romancing the Stone” with Michael Douglas where he and Kathleen Turner have to use a treasure map and go past the Devil’s Fork to find the good stuff.

There were lots of families there today and at a neighboring picnic spot, the family was playing a variety of Mexican style tradiotional mariachi style music, which added to the ambiance of the day.

I swam from the beach to the no wake yellow buoy twice, which means my swimming in the pool is paying off as well (I swim several time as a week in an indoor salt water pool at a Rec Center. I used to be a lifeguard many many years ago, too). The water was cool/cold and super refreshing. While swimming around, one can watch the motor boats and kayaks, conoes and so forth, which are fun to watch.

Definitly 2 thumbs up for a great place and an lovely place to visit for a day-cation.

Lake Jacosse at Devil’s Fork State Park, Salem, South Carolina

American History and Coffee at Lake Keowee

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A little adventure date with yourself…..a perfect way to spend an afternoon, even when it’s windy!

Choosing a place wasn’t on the agenda, simply driving until a potty break was needed. Asking the local gas station attendant, I inquired about local points of interest and the young man (not to come across as a senior lady but he was truly very young!) and he directed me to Mile Park at Lake Keowee.

While it is a residential lake (meaning that I could see homes scattered around some of the perimeter of the lake) it’s stunning! The wind made the docks click and bag, the whistles going under the planks and zip through the leafless tree branches.

A leisurely walk around the edge of the lake, I chose a picnic table with a great view to enjoy my coffee (gleaned and purchased at the gas station), I read and replied to a letter sent from my brother in Colorado, soaking in the sunshine.

The bit of history, as seen in the photos, was a pleasant perk to the day as well.

Happy Adventures!

https://youtube.com/shorts/q9Ph7pwaRlE?feature=share A short little video of Lake Keowee

Multi-Generation Family Adventure–Beaufort, Lady’s Island & Hunting’s Beach, S.C.

Anna--The Adventurer 2 Comments

Who knew that going to the beach in January could be so much fun!

As per their annual tradition, my parents made their winter road-trip across the country, stopping in South Carolina after the New Year to visit their daughters (my sister and I live relatively close together, within an easy commute of each other), Papa (my mother’s father) and of course, my brother-in-law and to meet my Sweetness (he lives close, too!)

So what do we do? We spontaneously decide to hit the coast while playing games over a family dinner Thursday night and we left promptly Saturday Morning!

Along the drive to Beaufort, the place we decided to stay for the night, the Spanish Moss indicated how close we were approaching the ocean, with every mile, it became thicker, creating a mystical “fog”, draping from the trees, power lines, and every place it could position itself, with all of its silver-miller and mossy green and grey hues.

We easily checked into our hotel and enjoyed the recommendation of the hotel concierge by dining at a local restaurant called “Dockside”–and it was lovely atmosphere and good food, especially the raw oysters! Nothing like a good local meal to finish off the drive there.

Sunday Morning, after we had breakfast at the hotel and checked out, we drove over the bridges, across Lady’s Island, through Port Royal and headed to Hunting Beach, on the Atlantic Coast, and enjoyed a heavy day of finding seashells and enjoying the surf and feeding the birds, generally enjoying each other’s company, with laughter as I donned my swimming suit and my mother wrapped up as she felt chilled…but all laughter and fun as we fed the birds and just enjoyed the day.

A late lunch at Port Royal, much later in the day, at the Fish Camp was a great way to wrap things up. While waiting outside for a brief moment, enjoying looking at the ships with all their riggings, I spotted a dolphin breach and play in the firth. What a lucky and fortunate spotting!!! Alas, I wasn’t fast enough with my camera to capture the beautiful dolphin, but it did smile at me when it came up!

My parents, Papa, and Sweetness enjoying the sand and surf

Hunting Beach Seagulls Video

Low Country Boil

Anna--The Adventurer 2 Comments

A low country boil, as I have been told, is very similar to a crab cracking party–either way, it’s a whole lot of good food and fun to be had with family and friends. I was put in charge of finding clean newspapers and a steaming pot (with the fire ring kit, etc) for the party. The fire ring kit and steaming pot was the easy part, I borrowed one from my neighbor (and invited him to come along!)

I obtained the clean stack of newspapers with a stroke of luck; I happened to catch a newspaper delivery man and asked if he had any unsold newspapers from previous days that I could purchase off of him–he gave me a stack of folded, untouched papers for free, which was a blessing as we needed a lot of newspaper to line the tables.

The low country boil was held outside in a friends backyard. Everyone brought something along for the shin-dig and oh, boy, what a party!! Music, dancing and of course great food!!!

The large steam pots were put over fire rings, using propane tanks. The guys steamed up potatoes, chunks of corn on the cob, sausage chunks of an assorted variety, and of course, shrimp, lots and lots of shrimp–people even brought homemade cocktail sauce, drawn butter, paper towels, and more!!

Even the pups got to enjoy some scraps (and no, they weren’t eating from the tables!)