James Island County Park, Charleston, SC: 7 - 17 October 2018
Sunday, 7 October - Packed up and headed to Charleston, SC. Straight down I-26 south for 5 hour drive. Arrived at James Island County Park. Show your reservation at the park entrance to avoid a $2.00 entrance fee. Checked it at the campground and got a code to the park gate to enter after hours. The sites are well spaced with trees separating most of them. We had site #9 which was on the outer loop. The sites are all sand and very level. The campground is well spread out. The best sites appeared to be on the outer loop. The inner loop sites were a bit close and some did not have septic. Great air tv reception, actually got to watch Thursday, Sunday, and Monday NFL. The site has 50/30 amp, sewer, and water with all the connections being close to the site. Water pressure was strong. Our site was semi-secluded and spacious with picnic table and standard fire ring. The bathrooms/bathhouse was spotless. The location of this campground is perfect; 10 miles to downtown Charleston and 10 miles to Folly Beach. As Jennifer had never been here, and we were celebrating our anniversary, we were both looking forward to this leg of the trip.
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| Example of outer loop |
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| Kids playground |
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| Dog splash park |
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| 1 of numerous swings throughout the park |
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| Activity zone...had to pay |
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| Team building course...had to pay |
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| General store |
Tuesday, 9 October - Spent the day at Folly Beach. Parking at the pier was $5.00 for the day. We had previously noticed that beneath the pier would be a great place to hang hammocks. So on this trip we took them. Needless to say we spent the entire day swinging in the ocean breeze sleeping, people watching, and reading. It was a bit breezy given the hurricane rolling in but it was still so relaxing! This pier is the 2nd longest pier on the east coast
Wednesday, 10 October - Had the experience of riding out remnants of Hurricane Michael in an RV. Thank goodness all we got was a day of wind! The tropical storm crossed South Carolina more inland giving the coast a reprieve. We took the time to explore Joint Base Charleston. It was about 30 min from James Island. We checked out the BX and found the passenger terminal for future Space-A-Travel opportunities. There are a lot of trips leaving there for Germany. Jennifer was more excited about finding a place to get her eyebrows threaded then finding the Space-A-Travel. I will just assume it's a woman thing, LOL!
Thursday, 11 October - Went down to Folly Beach to see the higher than normal tide due to the tropical storm that went through. The coastal breeze was brisk and the cool air was refreshing.
Spent the rest of the day back at the campground riding our bikes on the great paved trails around James Island. They have 3 trails (blue/green/orange) each averaging about 1.5 miles. The trails are very flat and scenic. I know this because Jennifer dragged me out of bed every morning to run....while on vacation!
Had visitor in the RV when we got back...small lizard that managed to sneak in when the door was open. Jennifer would not come off the bed until I found it and actually threatened to burn down the RV if he wasn't found! I found it alright...in the bed with her. She freaked and he jumped onto the pillow. It was a sight, managed to catch him in a glass and put him back outside but not before she made me show her he was actually in the glass.
Friday, 12 October - Spent the day touring Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. This is the last large scale Romantic Gardens in the US. To tour the grounds was $20.00 a person. The grounds were amazing but we recommend visiting in the spring to see all the gardens coming into bloom. Even in the Fall it was amazing, especially the Spanish Moss hanging in the huge oak trees. The grounds ran adjacent to the scenic Ashley River. They do offer tours of the plantation house but after seeing Biltmore Manor we felt we had already seen the best. They also had a swamp garden tour that we walked through and only found 1 small alligator sunning.
Saturday, 13 October - Had an early morning 5k to run that Jennifer had signed us up for a long time ago...bless her heart :-). The weather was cool and we had a great run. Really proud of Jennifer as this was her first 5k that she was able to maintain a constant run pace for all three miles. We celebrated with a stop at the Dunkin Donuts.
Cleaned up and headed down to the historic district of Charleston for the rest of the day. If you ever plan on driving to downtown Charleston, be prepared to search for parking. There are a lot of visitors on the weekends. Having a F250 added to the problem, we did finally manage to find a garage that had 7' clearance for $11.00 a day, just had to walk a bit. We walked about 6 miles through the historic section with the cobble stone streets and southern style houses. The historic section is the second oldest in the world, second only to Rome, Italy. Got to shop at the famous outdoor Slaves Market. Jennifer was in heaven...After finding a quaint little sandwich shop, Market St. Deli & Salads (which we HIGHLY recommend if you are down there), we walked through Battery Park and down famous Meeting Street.
Legs and feet were ready for a rest. During our nightly fire we got a visit from a family of 5 racoons that boldly came right into the campground to see what we had to offer. We retreated to standing on the picnic table as they perused our campground. I tried to take a picture but it was too dark.
Sunday, 14 October - Downloaded a walking tour application for $5.00 that had 93 points of interest to visit with audio provided. We went back downtown Charleston and walked for several hours and saw some very interesting places. We did the typical tourist trap and took a carriage ride for $25.00 each. The lure was it was hot and our legs were tired. In addition we learned a lot about the rich history of Charleston. Learned that Charleston has the third oldest colonial building in the US. Came back to the campsite just in time to see the Bengals get thumped by the Steelers...oh well it was almost a perfect day.
Monday, 15 October - Went to Patriot's Point to tour the naval vessels. The aircraft carrier Yorktown, a WWII Destroyer, and the last diesel WWII submarine. Our tickets also included a trip to Ft. Sumpter in the Charleston harbor. We spent about 6 hours touring the vessels and fort. There was also a Vietnam experience exhibit that had a replica FOB set up. All together it was $42.00 a person. An interesting day of military history. I know Jennifer suffered through it like a trooper to appease the history buff in me. I was worried about her claustrophobia acting up inside the submarine as it was really confined. Upon exiting the opposite end she said "Thank God, I thought I was going to have to turn around and go back to where we entered!"
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Tuesday, 16 October - Hottest of the days. Back to Folly Beach with our hammocks for a final day of enjoying the sun and surf. Best napping ever and Jennifer was in heaven people watching! Found a neat little restaurant at Folly Beach called "Taco Boy" and had some amazing fish tacos!
Wednesday, 17 October - Stayed at the campsite all day packing up the RV and preparing it for winter storage...ugh. We actually hooked it to the truck and had everything ready to pull out when we went to bed. In the morning we woke up early after a restless night of sleep, like we always do on the return home day, pulled out at 0500 and was home by 1500.
Campground rankings (best to worst) to date: #1 - James Island County Park, #2 - Holly Bay, #3 -Townsend TN KOA, #4 - Carter Caves, #5 - Dale Hollow State Park, #6 - Green River, #7 - Rutledge RV Park, #8 - KY Horse Park, #9 - Covered Bridges Campground
Signing out for 2018....however we do have couple cruises this winter that we will include in the blog for those interested in cruising.
Signing out for 2018....however we do have couple cruises this winter that we will include in the blog for those interested in cruising.
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