Guide to Getting Away from the Sunnyside Traveler

I've recently been sharing some places in Savannah to friends who are visiting or thinking about visiting. I thought it would be helpful for me to share that in a new post. Some of these places I've mentioned before and some are new. It's always good to check to make sure these places are still open! Businesses are always opening and closing.  I'll group things by area.  Tybee: Favorite restaurants: North Beach Bar & Grill (casual, mostly outdoor seating), Sea Wolf (fancy hot dogs and other specials, good cocktails and wine), Raw Ingredients (down by the pier, good sushi), Mi Vida ( breakfast and lunch, healthy options), Tybean for coffee, Fannies (by the pier, we like their quesadillas), Crab Shack is an experience but kind of touristy Things to do: bike around the island, watch the sunset on the back pier (https://maps.app.goo.gl/PtbfLEqR9u3W2dmK9), check out what's going on at the Tybee   Marine Science Center (they do special walks) and Lighthouse, w...

2020 Hiking Post 5 As a Gamecock fan, it can be hard to admit it but there are some nice spots for outdoor activities in Clemson. Since the school and town are located in the foothills of the mountains and there are many lakes in the area, trails and water activities are everywhere. Trail Map Just outside of the town of Clemson, is the Clemson Experimental Forest.   It is over 17,000 acres with miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking. It also borders part of Lake Hartwell. Many of the trails are mixed use but I had heard about a trail to a waterfall that was for hiking only. The Waldrop Stone Waterfall Trail is a short trail of about a mile that takes you along a creek to a couple of waterfalls. It has some challenging parts, where you have a steep descent to the waterfall (which means you have to hike back up that hill on the return), but they have built some steps and railings to help in sections. It’s also nice there are quite a few benches that you can ...

2019 Hiking Week 32 There are only three state parks that are former plantation homes. One that I posted about before is Redcliffe Plantation , outside of North Augusta. Another is Rose Hill Plantation, in the upstate region. The closest town to Rose Hill is either Whitmire or Cross Anchor. Neither is very large. So if you plan to visit, be sure to have good directions! There are good signs to the site but it is back in the Sumter National Forest area, off of I-26. Rose Hill Plantation is named for the rose garden that it has, but it was the Gist family that built the home. William Henry Gist was governor of South Carolina just before the state seceded in the 1800's. The house was unoccupied after a couple of generations until the early 1900's when a man bought the property and worked on restoring it as a museum. The state bought it in 1960 for a state park. It has a nice, long driveway, quite a few buildings on the grounds, and some trails and picnic areas for visitor...

Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site 2019 Hiking Week 15 This weekend was full of adventures. First, my husband took me on a surprise road trip and we visited the Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site . It’s between Summerville and North Charleston. It was a pretty neat park. It was a 1697 settlement by congregationalists from Massachusetts on the Ashley River. The park is $2.00 per person to enter and you pay using the envelope system, so be sure to bring exact cash.    Once you park, there is an informational sign with a self-guided tour that starts by the river and winds its way around the settlement.  Tabby Fort There’s a fort that is built out of oyster tabby. It was originally built as a back up storage for Charleston’s gunpowder. There are also archaeology sites, tombstones, and a large bell tower from the former Anglican church. The settlement was abandoned in the revolutionary war and it didn’t recover. It’s a beautiful place on the ...

2019 Hiking Week 14 Congaree National Park A few miles outside of downtown Columbia is South Carolina’s only national park, Congaree National Park. The park is over 15,000 acres and is a floodplain and "the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States" (from their website). It is a great park to check out if you are in the Columbia area. There are many things to do year round here. But I wouldn’t recommend summer, since the mosquitoes  can get pretty bad. Another great thing about Congaree is that it is free!  This past weekend we did some hiking in the park. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and it was already pretty busy. The parking lot was even more packed when we left around 1:30 p.m., so I recommend getting there early. Not just for parking but to have the best chance of spotting wildlife.  The main trail is a raised boardwalk loop that takes you out to Weston Lake. This is the most popula...

In 2019 I decided I wanted to up our amount of hiking and being outdoors. I'm always inspired this time of year to get outside. There's something about hiking when it's cold and dry and the trees are bare of leaves. I think it comes from hiking with my parents often in the winter. They usually do a Christmas Day hike which I'd love to join them for one year. I've thought about getting park passes, like the South Carolina State Parks Pass, but before I commit the money to that, I thought we'd see how much we might need it. Most parks are pretty cheap to get in ($5 or less) and there are many of places we can go for free. I also got one of the SC Park Passports where you get it stamped at each park and when you get them all stamped, you are an Ultimate Outsider. Fun. Besides SC State Parks, I love that we have the Palmetto Trail . One day it will go from Oconee to the beach. It comes right through Columbia. It's not 100% complete now but there are a lot of ...

Asheville, North Carolina, is a great city for beer. It has recently gained popularity for its locally brewed beers and has attracted a few national breweries to the region. If you live in the South, this is a great city to tour and taste the many, varied offerings. Also, there are a few towns nearby that are worth checking out. About 30 minutes to the west is Brevard and maybe 15 minutes to the east is Black Mountain. Not to mention the many other towns worth visiting in the vicinity.  I prefer to start in Brevard and then head over to Asheville. The breweries in Brevard are open earlier so you can get the most out of a day trip. I suggest checking each place's website for hours for their tasting room as well as tour hours. I've attached my map with some places pinned on it. It helps so make a driving plan so you're not going all over town. Downtown Asheville traffic can get difficult, especially on a busy Saturday.  Be sure to have a designated driver for this!  Also...