Poinsette State Park

This morning we 'hiked' the Ravenel Bridge.  With the bridge deck peaking at 186 feet above the water, it's the only 'hill' we have within a two hour drive in any direction.  From the top you get a panoramic view of downtown Charleston, and any cool ships coming into port, like this one. 

Because we were having so much fun on the bridge, we decided to head upstate a bit in the afternoon to go explore Poinsette State Park.  The park is about 2 hours west of Charleston, which is about where the hills start.  Have I mentioned how much I miss geographical relief?  Hills?  Vistas?  Mountains, even?  Charleston is as flat as eastern North Dakota.  But, I digress.   We packed up the dog and some road snacks, and headed to the park, where we had heard there were...gasp...hills.

It was a very pretty park, and remarkably quiet for Memorial Day weekend.  We drove around the campgrounds and were surprised to see open campsites.  We stopped to take a family portrait in one of the picnic shelters.  I can't believe this one turned out - I had the camera on the timer and Seca was being so good for about 10 seconds - long enough to set up the camera and get back on the table!   And I really can't believe she's looking at the camera.

We hiked for a bit at a small lake in the park.  I had to include this picture of a frog because I was standing on a fire ant hill while taking it.  It wasn't until they were swarming on my feet and biting me that I realized what I had done.  I was jumping up and down and swearing up a storm trying to get them off me (and of course I was wearing sandals).  And the really stupid thing is that I did it again later in the day - on a different ant hill.  Fire ants suck.

 This turtle seemed to be having a really nice time in the sun.

 There are ruins of an old mill at the park.  This is part of the original mill channels, I think.  Seca had fun playing in the water behind me.

 I laughed so hard when saw this little guy sunning on the lily pad.  I don't know why he (or she) had his foot in the air.  Steve said this was proof that turtles fart.