Friday, May 11, 2012

Rain? What's That?

We haven't seen rain in three weeks...hardly even clouds...We had a DOWNPOUR today...Thunder, lightning! LOVED it! It didn't last long, the downpour was over in a few minutes, but the day remained grey with the threat of more intermittent showers. We're here at Lake Greenwood RV Park in little Cross Hill...a TINY town, nothing to do there, so we're gonna have to drive somewhere to go see anything! We are 61 miles from Greenville, 23 miles to GreenWOOD, just your average shopping town, and a little over an hour to Spartanburg.

Shoeless Joe Jackson
So, it was road trip day....Eldy was restless and wanted to take a drive...not the best day for it with all the rain coming down, but it looked like the worst of it had gone over us. Sometimes you just gotta get out of your little box on wheels for awhile. We drove to Greenville, SC, 61 miles from our park...Home of a Clemson University extension, four museums nearby, all things Shoeless Joe Jackson (baseball bad guy or remarkable player, you pick), and Greenville is one of American's Top Ten Towns named by Forbes Magazine in 2011.

It was BEAUTIFUL! One of the coolest towns we've seen....lots and lots of huge shade trees, great shopping district, upscale hotels, designer boutiques, restored 19th century brick buildings,  great glass and steel architecture, and tons of cool one-of-a-kind eating joints. There are sitting areas in the midst of beautiful plantings everywhere, even under a bridge, where there were little bistro tables and chairs to have lunch outdoors at.

Then, there is the beautiful Falls Park that has the Liberty Bridge, a 355 foot suspension bridge held by two 15 degree angled trusses supporting only ONE SIDE of the bridge that hangs over a 60 foot waterfall on the Reedy River. It's like being in a botanical garden as you walk the grounds that are landscaped with native plants and flowers. Then there's the Swamp Rabbit Trail--18 miles plus of a beautiful walking, hiking or biking trail (lots of luck going up and down the hills!)

We walked Main Street for a bit, checked out all the sculptures...some interesting ones there...Some big ones, and some tiny ones, like the "Mice on Main"...a little scavenger hunt for children coming to Greenville, a project thought up by a middle schooler and completed by a local artist. There are nine little mice all up and down Main Street in Greenville for kids to find. The young man's project was based on his favorite childhood book, "Goodnight, Moon," one of Sparky's children's favorites, too.

It was a great way to spend the afternoon, and the rain held off...We were VERY impressed on the beauty of Greenville in our short time here...Great restaurants, clean city, lots of history here, beautiful architecture, we'll be back another day to spend more time and explore this beautiful town.....

2 comments:

  1. I am waiting for a rain day so I can clean the filthy motor home. I hate being inside cleaning when the sun is out!
    Looks like a great place, Greenville. We have never spent any time there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, what a little treasure you found. I added it to my Pinterest board of places to see.

    Is the campground a Thousand Trails park?

    ReplyDelete