Wednesday, 7 January 2026: We arrived around 4:30 on Wednesday after turning what should have been a three-and-a-half-hour drive into a leisurely six-hour trip. We took our time, stopped at Cracker Barrel in Rock Hill, SC for lunch, ran Smokey through the Blue Beacon Truck Wash in Columbia, and then headed on to the campground.
Setup went smoothly. The campground was a neat, smaller place run by the owner, Doug, and his wife. They clearly take pride in the amenities, offer excellent local information, provide great service, and are always up for a good conversation.
Thursday, 8 January 2026: Our first day to venture out. With temperatures in the upper 60s, we decided to hit the trails. Our first stop was Peachtree Rock Heritage Preserve, where we found a 2.5-mile loop trail that included a waterfall. If you remember, we had recently purchased hiking boots, received walking sticks from the kids for our birthday, and bought a hydration pack. We discussed carrying the pack but decided not to that morning—mistake. We won’t do that again. We definitely need water, snacks, and a few essentials when we’re out in the woods.
The trails were mostly clearly marked until the last leg back to the car. One wrong turn sent us deeper into the woods. After confirming with a few others on the trail that we had all made the same mistake, we were able to get ourselves back on track. We spent about two and a half hours hiking and had an absolute blast.
Next stop was lunch. When Kevin was a kid, his family spent a lot of time in Columbia. One restaurant he has always teased about visiting is The Lizard’s Thicket. We found one just a few miles up the road. What a deal—and a very good meal. We honestly had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised.
After lunch, we headed to the Old Mill Pond Trail in downtown Lexington, SC. This park was refreshed after a dam break a few years back and now features a very nice loop trail, fully paved/ concreted, around the pond. The trail was busy with kids, dogs, older couples, and solo walkers. It was a great afternoon walk and a reminder of how good it feels to be outside and moving—though by this point, we were both completely wiped out.
Next stop: ice cream at Zesto’s. Old-style soft serve, great service, and a fantastic treat. You could easily tell this spot is a community favorite.
We wrapped up the day browsing a few local shops, including The Warehouse and The Old Antique Mall in West Columbia. After driving around aimlessly and debating what else we might want to do, we finally decided to call it a day.
Friday, 9 January 2026: This day was a work day. 76 degrees. All I can say is she likes this winter. Flip flop weather, for now. The day was calling for some rain showers and some wind. We setup our small outdoor tent since we want to protect our awning. That was a good decision, and it may have even held off the rain.
Saturday, 10 January 2026: It feels good to get back to seeing new places. We started off the day with a visit to the Soda City Market in downtown Columbia. We did not know why they called Columbia “Soda City”, but it refers to a time where the initials for Columbia was COLA, makes sense. Three city clocks of vendors, crafts, foods, and local goods. There were several buskers along the way singing, playing instruments, and dancing. We found some fresh local produce and saw many interesting things.
Just around the corner was the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens. Constructed in 1818, this house was built by a proprietor Ainsley Hall. Shortly after the house was built, life events led to the selling of the house to Wade Hampton I. His family occupied the home until the late 1800’s, at which time his daughter and her husband, State Senator John Preston, lived until the latter part of the Civil War. After occupation during the war, the house was converted into a ladies’ college then a travelers’ stop.
With the afternoon calling for some basketball, we headed back to camp. The Vols lost a game to Florida in the same manner they did last year at Florida. Hopefully we will get revenge when Florida travels to Knoxville, again in the same manner as last year (we saw that game in person).
The late afternoon saw ETSU and UNCG. A good win for ETSU, who solidified first place in the Southern Conference. We have a very good team this year.
We stayed in for dinner and cooked a homestyle meal of pinto beans, cornbread, and slaw, with mac and cheese. The leftovers held for Sunday when the temperature will drop and the winds continue.
Sunday, 11 January 2026: The weather this day would deteriorate and become very cool and continue to be windy. While the sun was out this morning, we headed to the Barnyard Flea Market. This place is huge with four main buildings of vendors selling anything you may have ever wanted. The doors made the place into a wind tunnel, but we moved through quickly stopping at what interested us. Good local produce was the haul.
We had about an hour and half to kill before our next venue was opening. Just up the road was the US-1 Flea Market. This place was packed with even more vendors and people. The much larger indoor/outdoor flea market again offered everything. At one point, we thought we were at the straw market in Nassau with the Caribbean music playing while Beth was looking at “high end” purses.
Time for a quick lunch before our first tour. Mexican was up as a cuisine, and we found Casa Oaxaca Mexican Restaurant. The street tacos were very good, but the milanesa chicken was not as good as we have had. We were fueled up for our afternoon.
First stop was the Woodrow Wilson Family Home & Gardens. This is the second Wilson home we have visited. The house was configured as a museum about Reconstruction in the South but still held the architectural styling packed with much information about the events of the Wilson family during their time in Columbia.
We continued the tour at the Mann-Simons site. This property is one of only a few locations that were black-owned and passed down during the Reconstruction Period. The house featured lots of documentation on how the house the property became black owned and was passed down. As a black-owned property, the family was able to provide community services such as a store, food counter, church, and other venues that would cater and provide a resource to blacks during the time period.
To end the afternoon of touring, we visited the Modjeska Simkins House. Simkins was a founder of the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP. Filled with great information relating to social justice, this house welcomed us to the civil rights era with plenty of information revealing the continuing efforts by the group.
After all the walking, and sometimes running, we were starving. Nothing like breakfast for dinner, and sometimes you just need to take in a community Waffle House. Good food, good entertainment, and always a local vibe. With that, we called it a day.
Monday, 12 January 2026: We found a local farm store that we have been wanting to visit all week, but they have not been open until today. Four Oaks Farm is like a lot of places we seek to find homemade goods, fresh produce, and other findings. This store was not as packed with as much of the findings (candy, chocolates, and nuts) but was packed with fresh local goods, meats, bacon, and produce. We grabbed a few things and may stop back by on our way out of town.
The sun was back out and the winds had died down so after lunch we headed to Riverbanks Zoo. Mondays in the middle of winter are the time to visit. We parked right at the entrance and felt like we had to the place to ourselves. The animals were out with some lounging in the sun.
We took the lift to the gardens and were surprised to see how much was still in bloom. The gardens also featured Lego creations on display throughout the area. The vegetable garden was full off items with early growth, and the garden, even in the dead of winter, showed signs of color along the path with a flowing water feature.
After the Zoo, we had a couple of errands to run then headed south to dinner at Shealy’s Bar-B-Que. Our camp host Doug has told us about this buffet-style local dive. We found a huge location where the parking lot was full. The line backed up almost to the door for dinner. We took advantage of the Monday – Stimulus Price, $12.50 each including the drink.
You fix your plate, then find a place to sit. The buffet was full, fresh, and hot. Baked mac & cheese, green beans, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, egg noodles, rice, gravy, baked beans, fried pork chops, fried chicken, fried fat back, mustard BBQ, hickory BBQ, vinegar and pepper BBQ, and rolls. With our plates full, we swung by the fresh salad and dessert station for some fresh salads.
Sitting was group style. Pick an open seat or two wherever you can find one. Our waitress did not miss a beat and had drinks to us before we could begin eating. Very good food! All you can eat. We finished dinner with some of the creamiest soft serve chocolate ice cream we have found in years. Excellent recommendation.
Tuesday, 13 January 2026: We headed out just before lunch and visited the Lizard’s Thicket in Lexington for a quick meal before a day of history. Another excellent meal for less than $20.
After lunch, we headed to the Lexington County Museum, a seven-acre museum complex featuring 36 historic buildings shown on each tour. Our tour guide, Beth, was very informative and provided new to us information on several elements of the tour. Many of the features we have seen before at other houses or plantations. This time we got a new perspective from our guide.
The weasel is used to wind off enough thread or yarn for an article of clothing. A dial on the the top of the weasel is set to the number of rotations. When appropriate number of rounds are met, the weasel would “pop” and release the thread. “Pop, goes the weasel” is the phrase we are familiar with from the Jack in the Box.
Another bit of information related to a horseshoe hung over a door. We have heard it points up for good luck. The one on display is turned down to “shower the person walking under it with blessings”.
Beth was one of those guides that appeared to have done her research and could answer most any question about the entire property.
Next, we headed to the South Carolina State Museum. The place was filled with a wide variety of exhibits from the Mesozoic Era to today.
Many of the exhibits featured were South Carolina specific events and others just to educate on basic history. The space was in an old mill, so there were four spacious floors to venture – a very informative stop.. The museum opened in 1988, and some of the exhibits are dated, but there we lots of areas they appear to be updating.
Dinner was at the Crossroad Cafe, a local dive recommended by Doug at the campground. Very good choice. Specials for each of us.
Wednesday and Thursday were both work days. We passed the time avoiding the cool temperatures. We packed up Thursday night for our migration on Friday