Everyone got up and got dressed and we had breakfast at our host's house. We stayed with Bonnie's uncle Glen and aunt Ellen. Once the girls had their fill of fruit and yogurt and such, we were off for Columbia, SC.
We arrived at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden just in time for the penguin feeding which was pretty cool. I loved seeing the rockhoppers, I must say they are my favorites.
We toured the zoo for a while seeing all the animals there were to see.
I think the highlights would have to be getting in the enclosure with the kangaroos and wallabies and feeding the giraffes.
We ate lunch at the Kenya Cafe there in the zoo. It was pretty much the standard food service grub found at most zoos, nothing really more to say on that.
After lunch we went around and saw more animals and took Emily to the Children's Zoo so she could go on a pony ride.
We also took a little hike over to the gardens area. We didn't know until afterwards that the gardens are rather large and taking the tram over is the best way to go see them without wearing yourself out, but we still had a nice walk in the woods through a small loop trail just past the bridge that connects the zoo and gardens.
The archway above was part of the Saluda River Factory and is part of the "ruins" of that historic district that was situated in the area.
After our hike and a trip to the gift shop I pulled out my South Carolina visitor's guide and saw that there was a National Park not too far from where we were. I suggested we go visit (as I also like seeing our National Parks and this was one I'd never even heard of). The family indicated they were up for it, so away we went.
We arrived at Congaree National Park around 4pm and hit the visitor's center as it closed at 5 and the rest of the park is open 24/7. We looked at the displays, watched a short film about the park, and I picked up a few souvenirs (a magnet [to grace my fridge and to join the ever expanding collection] and a National Parks Passport book which I promptly stamped so that I'd have that done before they closed).
We then made a quick restroom stop and I checked the mosquito meter and we hit the boardwalk trail.
The trail is 2.4 miles and winds through a nice portion of the old-growth floodplain forest. It was a bit humid, but still a pretty nice walk and the girls got through the hike with little complaining.
After a while, Katie started getting tired and so she and Emily would walk down the trail ahead of us for a while and "skip a bench" and then stop. This allowed Bonnie and I to walk the trail in a bit more quiet and at our own pace so that we could listen for birds...this strategy paid off as we FINALLY got to see Pileated Woodpeckers. We have them in Oklahoma and I've been numerous places where evidence of their living there is all over the place, but until this trip I'd never seen one.
We left the park around 7 and headed back towards Waxhaw, NC where we were staying. As we still had an hour and a half of driving ahead, we opted to stop at a regional chain, Bojangles, and grab some chicken for the road. We made it back to our "base of operations" around 9:15 or so and stayed up chatting for a bit before heading off to bed.
All in all a good day seeing animals of both the caged and un-caged variety.
*Special note: All of the photos in this post were taken on our phones.
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