South Carolina Botanical Gardens

Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Location / Map

Trails: Nature
Distance: 2 miles
Time: 35 minutes

Rating: && (out of 5)

Kerri took James to a birthday party, so I took Andy to the Botanical Gardens. When he woke up from his nap, we grabbed the backpack and headed out. It was about 4:00pm when we got there. The skies were getting dark, so I was a little worried about rain, but we were never going to be too far from the car at any point, if it started raining. This time I parked on the end closest to the fish pond / caboose / picnic tables. If you kind of zig-zag downhill from here, there is a hard-to-see path starting from one of the picnic tables. It goes downhill to the left of the amphitheater, and comes to a set of stairs, then crosses over a bridge. From here, we took the "main" nature trail in a clockwise direction, and headed out on the wide path toward the rear parking lot. From there, we turned around and completed the loop of the "main" nature trail. Andy had a great time, yet again, and we returned to the car around 4:35pm. It was a little warm, despite the overcast skies.

South Carolina Botanical Gardens

Date: Saturday, October 3, 2009
Location / Map

Trails: Nature
Distance: about 1 mile
Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Rating: && (out of 5)

While Kerri went running, I took the kids hiking at the SC Botanical Gardens. Andy gets so excited to ride in the backpack. James seems to like walking on his own, but he doesn't stay "focused." He has to find a hiking stick, then check out a cool plant over there, then try to pick a flower for mommy ("no James don't do that"), then look for mushrooms, then go over to a small stump and act like he's playing a recorder (yes that really happened). But he also loves to cross the bridges, and look for waterfalls, and go see the "house" / "pyramid"...things that are actually on the trail. So, we were a little slow today, and about halfway through the hike, we stopped for a much-needed snack break. Andy was a little upset that I was taking him out of the backpack, even though it was to give him FOOD!