Mountains and the “T” Word

 

Cross Hill, SC @ Lake Greenwood Rv Resort, site 62  (high 83, low 67)

 

Yesterday, was an interesting day…..and not all of it was in a good way.

When we got up and the weather was beautiful and sunny, so we decided to take a day trip.   We are about 100 miles from the mountains, and we had heard that Greenville, SC was a nice place to visit.  Off we went about 10:30, still undecided on where we were going.  So much for an early start!

We finally decided on Greenville.  Here in the south it’s not called “ville”.  It’s pronounced “vull”.   So off to Greenvulle we went.

We drove through their downtown area that is lined with shops, and open air restaurants.  Since it was Sunday, there were people and cars everywhere, and limited parking. 

We drove by a place called Falls Park on the Reedy. 

It looked kind of interesting, but again, too many people and too little parking.

I just Googled it and this is the information I got.

This downtown public garden features the only curved, cantilevered pedestrian suspension bridge in the United States.

Maybe we should have stopped.  That sounded interesting.

Anyway, we drove through Greenville and decided we weren’t too far from Brevard, North Carolina, and there was a campground we wanted to check out.

Of course “not far”  in mountainous areas is different than on flat ground.

We ended up driving on this curvy little mountain road that went right up a mountain.  After driving, and driving, we finally stumbled upon a place to stop called Ceasers Head State Park, which is in South Carolina, but very near the North Carolina border. 

It turned out to be a little gem with a beautiful scenic overlook.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as we arrived, it started to rain, so we went back to the car to wait it out.

After a few minutes the rain quit and the sun tried to come out, so we walked back to the overlook and snapped a few more photos.

It was a beautiful park, and since we were at 3208 feet elevation, it was nice and cool. The highest peak in South Carolina is 3560 elevation, so we were close.

They have some nice trails with waterfalls, but we weren’t prepared to take even a short hike, since I was wearing flip flops.  Of course the weather was a concern as well.

After we left the park, we still wanted to go to Brevard and check out the campground.

We crossed the North Carolina line.

 

Not long after we saw these signs, than my weather app on my cell phone went off alerting us to a tornado warning back where the motor home (and kitties) were.

That certainly got our attention.  I looked at the radar and saw a lot of small storms.   This was not a watch (the possibility of tornado) but a warning which usually means there is a tornado on the ground.

This tornado warning said something like “ there are strong storms, with the probability of a tornado forming. The warning covered a large area, but it included our home.

Of course, I started to worry and we headed back towards home.   I had exchanged phone numbers with Peggy and Jay (our neighbors with the pontoon boat) and I gave them a call to check on the weather. The weather was fine at this point.

I was mostly concerned about the cats, but of course I worried about our home as well.  On top of that, we had left our inflated kayaks sitting out, unsecured, so I could just see them blowing away in the wind.  

We headed back home via I-26, and ran into quite a lot of rain on the way back.  I didn’t have cell/internet service for a good portion of the way, so for all I knew, we could have been heading into a tornado. 

The tornado warning lifted at 4:15 and I called Peggy and Jay to see if things were okay.  Fortunately, they were.

We finally got home about 6:30 to discover everthing, including the kayaks were fine.  Jay had moved them beside the motor home and they were wedged between the MH and a hedge.

Our front window shade which is held on by really, really strong magnets, was laying in the bushes though.  My first thought was that when it blew off, it might have damaged the windshield wipers, since they rest on the outside of the sunshade.   They appear to be be fine and we even tested them to make sure they work.

So…..what started out as a beautiful day in the mountains was cut short by a tornado warning.

By the time we got home, it was a little cloudy but nice.  Our plan was to take a walk around the lake and then finish happy hour in the hot tub.

We took a few pictures.

The butterfly bushes are starting to bloom.

There are Japanese Maples all over the grounds.

I understand that the head designers at Park Seed were the ones who landscaped this place.  Mel, the owner reportedly told them he wanted something blooming all the time.  Well done guys!

Day Lilies

Echinacea which is also known as  purple cone flower. 

 

After our walk, we refilled our drinks and went down to the hot tub prepared for a nice long soak.  

Unfortunately, the heat had been turned off and the water was cold.   Grrrrrr……   For some reason Mel turns off the heat on rainy days.  : (    So we were out of luck.

There is about an 80% chance of rain today, so I think we’ll stay close to home.  We may leave tomorrow or Wednesday and hopefully head for some place dryer!