Edisto Beach State Park - Racoons, Snakes & Old Hippies

May 19, 2016

WARNING: Very little hiking (or much of anything, really) went into the making of this vacation. But for the sake of documenting our adventures, I decided to go ahead and write about this wonderful trip anyway.

After weeks of fidgeting in anticipation of our summer vacation, on a Wednesday morning, the time had finally arrived. The Camry was loaded the night before, and the alarm was set for 5:30am, like any normal week day. In the early morning fog, Gadget, Lily & I set forth on a 4 and 1/2 hour drive to Edisto Beach, South Carolina.

When Gadget and I first met almost eight years ago, I was practically a part-time mermaid, and on the other hand, he was neither a fan of swimming, nor sandy, hot, sunny, crowded beaches. But, give the boy a stunning, untouched, lonely beach like this, and he'll never want to leave.

There are two camping areas at Edisto Beach State Park, both of which accommadate tent camping & RV camping. One camping area is along the shore, while the other grounds (the one we camped at this go-around) is situated beside the salt marsh. The marsh sites are "walk-in", which means your car must be parked in a general lot -- no luxury afforded of parking directly at your campsite. Over the years of camping, Gadget & I have evolved from only camping at sites that have electricity, water, and a parking spot, to now choosing the rustic sites, without water (brackish water, in this case) or electricity. We are used to lugging all of our gear by hand up hills in the rustic sites in the mountains, but at the Edisto, there are several metal wagons at the parking lot which guests can use to carry their gear. This special treat was amazing.

Cooking up something good.

SNEEEEKS! I woke up from a hammock nap at our camp site to see this romantic couple having some adult time., just feet away from where our dog was sleeping, too.

Anxiously awaiting a dropped pancake.

Every day, we watched the marsh tide roll in and out. Despite all the warnings we received about alligators, we did not spot any, which is likely a good thing.

As previously mentioned, there was not much hiking action happening on this trip -- well, aside from the countless walks along the shore, and trips to/from the car to the camp site. But Edisto Beach State Park comes equipped with several hiking trails through the marsh, so we had to see what hiking in a tropical climate was like. In this picture, Lily is running toward and growling at a raccoon at the edge of the woods.

Not pictured: Wine stains on my white t-shirt from smuggling alcohol into the state park, and spilling said wine all over myself. I do live up to my name, Messy M.

Silhouettes of love.

The temperature was absolutely perfect for playing in the water all day.

Did I mention Gadget wouldn't splash around in the ocean with me? He put the blame on needing to watch after our Lily.

A girl's got to stay cool one way or another.

Her favorite part of the trip: napping. Lily was not too impressed with the beach, nor the heat that came with it. We think we will let a set of pup-grandparents keep her next time we venture to Edisto.

Sun shade FTW.

En route to Botany Bay... where we were turned around, due to a strict no dogs allowed rule.

A thunderstorm blowing through forced us off the beach for a few hours on our second day. We were the fools, because the storm never actually touched down.