Four Part Harmony

After packing up and saying our goodbyes at the beach, we headed southwesterly, back into South Carolina.
We had to make a trip to Congaree Swamp, the old National Park (then a National Monument) that Nicki worked at many years back.
We set the tent up late, and woke to a chorus of birds and frogs.
Anna and I strolled around in the morning mist before putting on the tea and oatmeal.

After breakfast, we set out for the Visitor’s Center to see if there were any familiar faces.
They weren’t open yet, but on the big interpretive display outside the center, we saw this picture of Nicki and couldn’t believe it. She’s out with a tree measuring crew running a big GPS unit.
The picture didn’t come out at all, so you’ll have to make a trip down there to see the real deal some time.

We went on a great couple mile hike along an elevated boardwalk that the Park has built back through the swamp. The highlights being the towering loblolly pines and the baldcypress with their swollen bases and pneumatophores (your botany word of the day – photo to the left).

Anna had a pretty fun time. We saw some deer and a couple of turtles swimming in a lake which fascinated her to no end.
Also, I think it was about this point in the trip when she decided to start referring to herself in the third person. For the past week or so she has been saying things like, “she wants to go see mama”.