Hiking in a Hurricane

post by Michelle Griep

Hurricane Joaquin, I spit in your general direction. Stupid weather. Apparently things get cancelled in South Carolina when a little rain gets in the way. Okay, so it's a freaking lot of rain, but still I'm a little mopey the Revolutionary War reenactment at King's Mountain got cancelled.

That didn't stop us though, and bonus, I can check off experiencing a hurricane on my list of things to do.

First stop today was the Cherokee Museum in Walhalla. It's a little town with an even littler museum but we spent over an hour and a half talking with a few of the founders, Luther Lyle and Hugh Lambert. I learned a ton about the Cherokee culture. Definitely worth the visit.

The Cherokee Museum

Then we tooled over to Oconee Station, a 1792 stone building used originally as a military outpost and a place where settlers could run to when threatened by Indians. But that's not all that's there. Even older is the Station Falls. We hiked it in the torrential rain. Was it worth the soggy hike? You betcha. In hindsight, though, it probably wasn't a brilliant idea to cross a river when flash flood alerts are everywhere. 

That earned us a bowl of soup in a nearby local restaurant. I'm not sure, but I think I ate okra. Anyone? Can you identify? And apparently cornbread is the go to side dish because it comes with every meal.

What is this?

Since our later walk at King's Mountain got scrapped, we hung out in downtown Greenville for awhile. Lo and behold, they've got some falls too, right smack in the middle of downtown . . . a much easier hike than the one in the afternoon.

One other observation . . . southerners take seriously the decoration of graves. There are flowers galore at every cemetery we pass.

Stay tuned. More tomorrow, rain or not.