Coffee, Congaree, and Congregations

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Watching the sun rise (even though that's not really an actual thing) is one of my favorite things to do but to do that being an early riser is a must!  We decided to venture out of the city and drive to where we could actual watch the sun rise, say good morning to all the wildlife, and appreciate the peacefulness of nature (no city noises).  We decided that 4:30 a.m. was a good time to start this adventure which as always began with cups of coffee from Dunkin' Donuts (we have started a tradition of stopping to get Dunkin' Donut coffee (just coffee) before each adventure we take...this family definitely runs on Dunkin'!  With coffee in hand we made our way to the only national park in South Carolina, Congaree National Park.  As a side note:  a plus to being up so early we got to see Mars.  We had been "Mars hunting" Friday night but because of clouds we weren't able to see it.  But have no fear, we were able to see it early Saturday morning and it was so cool!!!!  Did y'all see Mars Friday night/Saturday morning?  Okay, back to Congaree National Park.  This national park is a dream.  There are many trails to hike and a boardwalk that makes a loop from the visitor center to Weston Lake and back to the visitor center...it's so nice!  We arrived at Congaree National Park a little after 6 a.m., put on our packs, hooked up Katie, the adventure dog and hit the boardwalk.  The quietness and peacefulness that takes over when communing with nature is a feeling I am very grateful for and hope to have many more opportunities to experience that feeling.

We made it to Weston Lake just in time to hear a Blue Heron in the distance then to see that beautiful creature fly out of the fog and right in our view over the lake.  There were places for us to sit on the boardwalk at  Weston Lake so we spent a little bit of time just taking it all in and while it was too foggy to actually see the sun rise, we enjoyed coming out of the darkness of night/early morning and seeing the light of day bring nature out of its sleep. 





Back at the visitor center, we talked to one of the park rangers and by this time, visitors to the park were beginning to appear.  Congaree National Park is a great place to visit and explore so go ahead & get out there.
On the drive out of the park, I saw my very first fox squirrel, chillin' beside the road eating breakfast.  The fox squirrel was completely black with the exception of a couple of white spots on his face.  While I definitely thought he was much bigger than the gray squirrels hanging out behind my apartment, I was informed that this was actually a small fox squirrel.  So now of course I want to see a large fox squirrel in the wild.  My love for wildlife runs true and deep...with the exception of snakes, I just cannot deal with snakes.

Since we were in the Hopkins area, I had come across some information on a historic church in the Hopkins/Gadsden area that I wanted to visit so we went off to find it.  Our journey took us through Minervaville.
After passing through Minervaville, we located Richland Presbyterian Church.  The church was built in 1884 and had 11 charter members.  The church merged with Congaree Presbyterian Church and moved to Eastover in 1922.  The church building pictured below is closed.

 Charter Members.



 The original gate.



 This was the perfect way to start the day!

Happy travels,
Amber

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