Sesquicentennial State Park, Columbia, SC

Columbia, South Carolina

Ramona has family in Columbia, SC so this city is always on the “must see” list when traveling anywhere nearby. We camped at the Sesquicentennial State Park - which name Ramona continuously mispronounced into the Google Maps app, and which app steered us on arrival through an increasingly improbable neighborhood until we ended at a blocked footpath bordering the back of “Sesquie” park! Fortunately two laughing gentleman helped steer us back to the main road and park entrance.

As the capitol and home to University of South Carolina, Columbia has a lot going on. There’s an interesting downtown scene with dog-friendly dining (The Flying Saucer and Pawleys Front Porch) and the very cool Nickelodeon Theatre on Main Street, where you can sip beer while viewing independent/foreign/artsy films (we saw The Death of Stalin). We enjoyed an evening with Cousin Bill’s friends including artist Nancy Butterworth, whose delicate botanical-impression pottery we saw at Columbia’s Home/Studio tour.

We spent a morning with our cousins walking the trails of Congaree National Forest, viewing the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the country. The history of this forest is interesting - a grassroots effort (including Bill’s participation) saved the forest from logging - and the forest is home to many “champion trees” including the largest known of 15 species (several pictured - Bill will have to remind me which these are specifically). Congaree also hosts a rare synchronous flashing firefly event yearly in mid-May to mid-June, but we were too early for that. Fortunately we were also too early for the notoriously numerous mosquitoes.

We took a day-trip to Charleston, and walked its charming streets with cast-iron-gated glimpses into gorgeous yards, here where a privileged poodle napped away.

Also pictured is the famed Rainbow Row. TIP: Don’t come to Charleston with your Ford F250 made even taller topped with windsurfers - we spent a great deal of the day finding parking.

Would we come back?

We'd definitely come back. Not only do we have family here, but some friends aren't too far away. Columbia was more interesting than we thought and there are places we'd like to explore more such as the nearby Lake Murray. So, yes, we would come back and likely will come back--preferably on our way out to the Florida Keys, if Dorian gets his wish.

Sesquicentennial State Park was nice and it may be the best option for anyone trying to stay close to Columbia's center. However, it was a bit small by state park standards and I'd be open to looking for alternatives. Still, there was nothing there to complain about--a nice lake with a bike and walking trail around it, kayak rentals, etc. Verizon LTE signal was decent.

Would we live here?

It's a bit too early to say, particularly since I'm interested in lakes and we somehow managed to not see Lake Murray.

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