When it comes to food, even the gulls have decided that Walmart is the way to go.
We'll be doing the Wally World Waltz for a good while. So, we've decided that it would be fun to try to find and explore a nice park in each city that we stay and perhaps others that we are just passing through.
Our first attempt was in the cute 'Riverboat Town' of Conway, S.C.
They have a neat river-side trail that is a combination of paved
and boardwalk sections along the Waccamaw River.
Perhaps our favorite thing about Conway is that this city that takes their trees seriously. So much so that they have been rewarded as a Tree City USA for 27 years running. An example of their love of trees... We were driving down one of the streets (a two lane road) when a sign appeared that said 'Road Narrows'. It did... down to one lane. Why? Because there was a tree there!
The Forest Tent Caterpillars (so identified because of their white spots rather than the white stripe of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar) had found their way into the city. Although they can be damaging to tree populations, they are native, not invasive, and very pretty.
Despite the 'tent' part of their name, unlike the Eastern variety which gather in a tent like unit, these caterpillars group together on a silky woven sheet. They are also the only tent variety to be nomadic foragers; meaning that they often move to new and distant locations.
Although Wisteria can be considered a nuisance like Kudzu,
there is no denying it is pretty when it is doing it's thing.
We spent a couple of relaxing days in Conway before continuing our northward migration.
Just before leaving S.C. (practically within spitting distance of N.C.) we stopped in on the Vereen Memorial Gardens. We had read that it was a "hidden gem". They were right.
We drove up an azalea lined road which led to a shaded and quiet parking and picnic area.
From there you can take any of a number of trails through the woods or informative walks along boardwalks which stretch across the marsh and lead you to the shore of the Intracoastal Waterway.
This is the Intracoastal the way it used to be.
We spent a few hours wandering along the sand, boardwalks and wooded trails.
Refreshed and relaxed... Annie carried us onward and into North Carolina.
Red Buckeye blooming in the woods at Vereen Memorial Gardens.
