After a busy January we were looking forward to slowing down and just enjoying our time together as a family. We had a couple field trips planned and both were well worth our visit. Plus, we got to check a new state off our to-visit list!
We started February where we ended January, at R Shaefer Heard Park on West Point Lake in Georgia. The Friday before we headed out we spent a few hours at The Biblical History Center in LaGrange, GA. They had just opened again that day after being closed for 2.5 weeks for a water line break that flooded their interior.
We opted for a full tour experience, beginning with a meal that included flour tortillas, black and green olives, spiced applesauce, couscous, hummus, grapes, lentil soup, green salad, raisins, bitter herbs with salt water, and grilled chicken, all eaten with our hands (after washing first, of course). During the meal our guide explained the traditional Passover meal and how it may have looked both during the Exodus and during the Last Supper.
After the meal we joined our guide outdoors to view and learn about a goat hair tent, sheepfolds, alters, how the cross may have looked, a wine press, an olive press, a marketplace, and a home.
Our tour concluded indoors with a walk through their exhibits of artifacts and (scaled down) homes from the wilderness to the Roman occupation.
We were the only people who had booked a tour that day so we had our tour guide all to ourselves to ask as many questions as we wished and we very much enjoyed the experience.
We left R Shaefer Heard Campground the second weekend in February and headed northeast to Mill Creek Campground, a county park near Sumter, SC. From there we drove an hour west to visit Congaree National Park.
Congaree National Park does not charge entrance fees so it was just our girls and I that visited for a day of picnicking and hiking. The west portion of the boardwalk trail was closed during our visit but that did not hinder us from hiking the eatern part of the boardwalk trail, the Weston Lake Loop and the Sims Trail.
For just $20/night for 30amp electric and water hookups and $25/night for 50amp electric, Mill Creek Park offers 126 camping sites, a bathhouse with hot showers, horse stalls for $5/day, hiking, a fishing pier, kayak/canoe launch, a picnic shelter, and a newly renovated 1940s-era lodge.
Upon arriving at the park we chose a campsite (there were only three other campers there so we had plenty to choose from) and set up camp. We didn’t see anywhere to pay camping fees and decided to wait until someone came by to collect. They came around two nights later while we were out and then again the next night so we could pay our camping fees. We didn’t see them more than a couple times after that during our stay.
We stayed at Mill Creek Park for 2 weeks enjoying the very quiet surroundings and hiking a portion of the Palmetto Trail. However, I don’t believe the restrooms were cleaned more than once during our entire stay. I also need to caution any future visitors that the road in is only one vehicle wide with little space to pull aside to let anyone pass, so be very careful when arriving or leaving and hope no one else is also arriving or leaving. We never had any issues but there were never more than a handful of vehicle at the park at one time.
Our next stop on our journey was Cedar Point Campground on the North Carolina coast (our first time camping in North Carolina!) between Jacksonville and Morehead City. This campground is situated near the mouth of the White Oak River and is run by the Forest Service. It offers 36 sites with 50/30/20 amp electric. Drinking water is available throughout the campground and a dump station and trash bins are also available near the dump station.
Recreation opportunities include the nearby Tidelands National Trail, kayaking or canoeing, and fishing. We enjoyed walking the trail and watching the birds and little crabs that were abundant during certain times of the day.
During our stay here we had the opportunity to visit the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center where we enjoyed a tour of their facility and saw many sea turtles recovering from boat strikes and cold stunning. They are only open to the public two Saturdays a month so it is essential to book tickets in advance because they often sell out.
Another great place we had the pleasure of visiting was Fort Macon State Park near Atlantic Beach, NC. This state park is free to visit and offers a daily tour of the pre-Civil War fort, small arms and cannon demonstrations, and a visitor center with a video and exhibits of the fort’s history. We were fortunate to be in the area during a historical reenactment weekend and got to witness the firing of the cannons. It was quite the experience!
We also enjoyed an evening at the Fort Macon beach access/bathhouse parking area with the Crystal Coast Stargazers viewing the heavens through the various telescopes that others had set up and listening to a talk about the contellations from a park ranger. We were able to see Jupiter and four of its moons, plus Orion, the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, the planet Venus, Sirius, and Betelgeuse, and many others I can’t name. Since we’re studying astronomy in our homeschool this year this was a wonderful opportunity to add in a field trip!
We left Cedar Point Campground and headed back to Mill Creek Park, mostly because I failed to book another campground along the coast far enough in advance. We were able to stay for 10 days before the campground was overrun with people and horses and all their gear for an organized trail ride. We had known about this beforehand and were given permission to finish out our final four days in the park dry camping in an empty field on the opposite side of the pond.
We left Mill Creek Park once more and continued our trek south into Georgia, stopping for a week at Altamaha Regional Park near the city of Brunswick. This small campground offers full hookups for $30/night with access to a camp store, free wifi, bathhouse, playground, and boat ramp. It was pretty busy during the weekends but fairly quiet during the week. However, Starlink and cellular access was very limited and we had to deal with very slow internet the whole week. The bathhouse was also very dirty and we were very glad to have full hookups and our own toilet and shower.
These last two months are an example of how we best like to travel; moving slowly and taking the time to visit the places that educate us and provide new experiences. Moving every two weeks gives us the opportunity to explore the areas we visit without getting too bored (I really don’t like being in one spot for more than a couple weeks) while still keeping us traveling to new areas during the cold winter season. Next month we’ll arrive back in Florida where we’ll be for about 6 weeks and then we’ll make our way back north to our home base.
Happy travels!
Have you visited any of the campgrounds we stayed at this month? What about the Biblical History Center, Congaree National Park, the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, or Fort Macon State Park? What did you think? Let us know in the comments! You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!