Summer Adventures: Part 1 (June 2024)
Our busy summer began by returning to one of our favorite places when we toured South Carolina as part of our Ultimate Outsiders experience in 2023. Oconee Station Historic Site was one of our top five experiences last year. However, when we went the two historic buildings were closed. We wanted to have the opportunity to see inside of them. The Richards House built in 1805 and the Blockhouse built in 1792, are incredible structures built on what was the western frontier at the time. We enjoyed the opportunity to explore inside both buildings.
After exploring the two historic buildings, we hiked about 1 1/2 miles to Station Cove Falls. It is an extremely photogenic waterfall that is very quiet during the week. We had lunch at the falls. Although we did see other hikers both coming and going, we were alone at the falls during lunch for over 1/2 hour. I did want to mention there is a shortcut to the falls. Instead, of starting the trail at the Oconee Station parking lot you can drive back north on Oconee Station Road and there is a small parking lot on the left-hand side as you are heading north. There are places for 5 or 6 cars to park. If you park there, Station Cove Falls is only a 1/2 mile hike from that parking lot.
At the end of June we took a trip to Michigan but stopped for the night to ride the zipline at the Creation Museum. We have been to the Creation Museum many times but this time we just went to participate in the Screaming Raptor Zipline. We booked the Level 3 ticket which gave us about 3 hours of zipping for about $100 each. Level 4 included another hour, but we felt like 3 hours was enough. We had a great time and plan on trying ziplines at other locations in the future. After that activity we took a few minutes to walk the beautiful botanical garden of the Creation Museum.
Michigan
We concluded our trip by arriving in Michigan to visit Don’s mom. While there we walked every morning at Council Point Park in Lincoln Park, MI. They have a nice walking trail along a branch of the Ecorse River. We also played some pickleball at Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Park in Wyandotte, MI. We had a good visit with Don’s mom and looked at some assisted living homes for future reference.
