A little over a week here and boy, what a week! Of course, the big attraction has been the new addition – Elsbeth, who is just perfect…it’s been such a joy seeing this new little life and spending time with her parents…it’s hard to express emotions felt when you see your children having children of their own…it’s a privilege being a part of it all..OK – enough of the soppy stuff…
While we’ve been here we’ve done other stuff too…Sunday afternoon saw us head east out to the camp where Becca’s father works – Camp Discovery is located in Blythewood amongst beautiful woodland with trails and pastures – kids who don’t cope well in mainstream can come here and get involved in therapeutic programmes which help them to cope in the real world… the Open day was organised as a chance for people to visit and share ideas for the future of the camp and we were able to see a little bit of it and meet some of the people involved…and we got to try a new taste experience – a S’more! Put a marshmallow on a stick, toast it over a fire till its crispy but soft in the middle, stick it in between 2 Graham crackers (digestive biscuits for the Poms amongst us 
) with a square of chocolate, squidge it together and eat – and that, my friends, it a s’more – very aptly named I may say! YUM! (I only had one – honest!)
s’more….yummy!
Is it me or is Bella smiling…?!
After a wander around the beautiful camp, and a weird interlude with a tortoise called Bella, we went back to the folks house to watch that afternoon’s MotoGP – Steve is also a fan and had recorded the last race of the season…a lovely evening spent watching the race with a beer and some good food and lovely company…perfect way to end the day…
A trip into downtown Columbia surprised us as we stumbled onto the Veteran’s Day Parade through the centre of town…we had set off to visit the Civil War Museum but didn’t get far before we came upon roads blocked by police cruisers and streams of people heading to watch a parade…once we’d found ourselves a parking spot, we joined in and found ourselves on the side of the street watching marching bands, floats and tanks – yep, tanks – all heading downtown in Columbia…we stood on the side of the road and got chatting to a chap who was a Korean veteran – 82 years old – who filled us in on what was going on…he was a mine of information – lots of it went over my head as I was engrossed in watching the parade, but Andrew was kept entertained….lots of school bands and marchers went past in what seemed to be an endless stream of people…by the time it came to an end, we had stood there for over an hour!
Our friendly guide…
A trip out to see some RVs (I know, saddos…had to be done though!) took us past the Sportman’s Warehouse – a massive place where you can buy just about anything to enhance your enjoyment of the great outdoors – camping, fishing, hunting, guns – lots of guns, clothing, boats and everything inbetween….an amazing place which took us a good hour or so to wander around…the guns were fascinating….every size imaginable and even some in pink for the ladies!! ha!
On to the RV place where, surprise surprise, they had 5vers too 
Another very pleasant hour wandering around a huge lot of RVs and 5vers – some massive ones which make Woody look like a toy…they had 4 slides with living areas big enough to seat 6, plus a massive TV, plus a massive fridge/freezer, plus all the luxuries you could possibly think of….seriously? tugging these around? why bother? just stay home!! Then, from the sublime to the ridiculous…some teeny tiny trailers called ‘tear drop trailers’ – big enough to sleep 2 (little people…!) and get towed by a Mini! Err…pass! Still, we had a good laugh having a look around – and even found a mini Woody!
Mini Woody!
No chance! Wouldn’t even get through the door!
And this is just ridiculous!
A drive out to the Congaree State Park south east of Columbia where we did a 5 mile walk through forest and swamp – simply beautiful – the most peaceful, beautiful place – ancient forests and huge trees – blue skies and sunshine – perfect…sitting by a lake in the middle of the forest was special…trees called loblolly pines grew 100 feet and more and towered over the forest – others called bald cypress had massive trunks and had stood for hundreds of years…water tupelo trees with swollen trunks dotted here and there…
Very glad to report there were NO mozzies!
Moss hanging high up in the branches…
Tupelo…
these spikes are called ‘knees’ – they grow from the trees but nobody is quite sure why…
Next – David took us to the shooting range….now, this is something I did not see coming! Off we went to the Shooters Range – signed in and got a gun (!) plus some seriously heavy duty earmuffs, and a box of ammo plus 3 targets (mine was PINK!) and we were set to go…I wasn’t prepared for the noise! Man, guns are LOUD! Ear protection on and David talked us through the drill…he went first to show us how it was done, then it was my turn…my first shot was pretty good, second jammed the gun, third not bad, fourth and fifth much better! Andrew’s turn….not too bad…David again…not bad…me – jammed the gun again! maybe I didn’t pull the trigger hard enough?! New gun, new go – bam! head shot – this was gooood! At the end of it all, I came out with most shots in the target area (general vicinity anyhow…) so I won! It was a surreal experience overall but one which I’m glad we did…guns aren’t quite so scary anymore somehow….
Not good enough Andrew!
My pink one 
A drive out by Lake Murray took us past a little roadside diner where we stopped for coffee – walked in and sat down only to be told ‘sorry, we’re all out of coffee’…what?! Outside, we spotted Walt’s car (those who watched Breaking Bad will understand….)
No coffee…Br Ba…
Onto the next place where we had coffee AND a very good chicken sarnie and sweet potato fries!
Lunch stop…
And finally, the baby is just gorgeous – the family is wonderful – and we are very lucky to be able to spend time here – and there is more to come – Florida next week (yep, FLORIDA )…Thanksgiving…family…and special time with my new grandbaby….
Tagged: Columbia, Congaree State Park, fifth wheel, Florida, RV, South Carolina, sunshine, swamp
