Happy Saturday!  (Every day is Saturday for us. Actually, we look forward to the weekdays when there are fewer people at stores and attractions!  #RetiredLife)

We spent a few hours yesterday at Congaree National Park in central South Carolina.  I had no idea there is a national park here until I saw it on a tourism website. We decided to avoid the interstate and see the local area on our drive down there, which made our drive extra long … probably 2-1/4 hours or so. It was mostly a boring drive through miles and miles of forest with hardly a car in the other direction, but there were some surprises.  The Fishing Creek Dam was very cool to see.  I couldn’t get a good picture from the car because the thing is massive, so I took this picture from a State website:

I had been driving around with a bill that needed mailing, asking Bob to keep his eye out for a mailbox or post office when, in the middle of that multi-mile road in the middle of nowhere, we came across the Liberty Hill Post Office. I can’t think of a better place to mail a bill! Love this little historic post offices!

We arrived at Congaree National Park to find that most of the trails were flooded out.  Flooding happens here about 10 times a year, mostly during winter, but we were able to enjoy a couple mile walk on the elevated boardwalk through the swamp.  Those of you who have seen “Free State of Jones” will find this familiar. Literature says that, just like in the movie, “African-American slaves used the floodplain as a refuge and place to find liberty.”

While we didn’t see much more than squirrels for wildlife, we were lucky to see a Pileated Woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in North America, sitting on a fallen tree searching for insects.

Today is a rainy day.  Good day to vacuum, tinker with the motorhome, and enjoy a book with a hot cup of tea!  Moving on to Aiken, SC, tomorrow.