Cypress Gardens, South Carolina

One of the great things about having a travel trailer is you can just pack up and go some where for no other reason, then you just feel like it.  So when my parents suggest taking the older two to Florida for a couple weeks, we all thought it was a great idea. At then end of their stay, my parents would meet us in Santee, S.C. which is midway between their house in Florida and our house here in Pennsylvania. Yes, they were old enough they could have flown back by themselves, but where would be the family adventure in that?  So we looked at our Woodalls book and picked a campground in Santee.

Once we picked up the twins from my parents, we figured we’d spend a few days kicking around the area, spending some family time and hearing all about how the twins spent their days being spoiled by their grandparents in FL.

This bright green little guy caught our attention

One of our days we ventured over to Cypress  Gardens in Moncks Corner, SC a beautiful little get away with all sorts of nature tails and critters to see. Now while this might not be a vacation destination all of it’s self, it was certainly worth a little detour to our trip.

There were rolling thunderstorms the day we went to visit, so we didn’t take the boat tour. But we did get to see plenty of wildlife from the edge of the swamp. It seems funny to use the words, beauty and swamp in the same sentence, but there are plenty of pretty things to see in this black water swamp. The trails are well signed and explain much of the wildlife you will encounter as you meander through the woods. The hanging Spanish Moss, the bright splash of color from a flower, here and there, yes the swamp truly is a thing of beauty.

Please be forewarned that teenage boys think it’s funny to make their mom jump, by saying things like What’s that big spider right there,<pointing a few inches from your face> Was that an alligator I heard splashing in the water?? (yes, the many joys of motherhood!!!)

Had R sit next to this snake so we could really see how big that thing was!!!

Swamparium was a bit hit with the older two, you get an up close look at some of the animals that make their home in the swamps of SC. There are also come animals that live in other swampy areas around the world. The little two liked the butterfly house with it’s winged residents dancing from flower to flower.

We went to Cypress Gardens in late July, so we missed seeing the azaleas in full bloom along with the bulb flowers. If we were to go again, I’d like to go in the spring to see all the vibrant colors. Although I’m sure no matter what time of the year you go, there’s always something interesting to see at the swamp.