This museum is run by the SC National Guard, and covers “South Carolina military history from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror”. They are in the process of expanding it to cover “Army aviation”. Some photos from a visit. The museum. That is a Light Amphibious Resupply Cargo Vehicle parked in front. M106A1 … More South Carolina Military Museum

[NOTE: I’ve blogged all these “how-to” posts before, but am gonna re-run them on occasion, since folks may have missed them, and many of them have been updated or expanded since they were first posted.] There is one weather condition about which a van-dweller can do very little: when it is hot outside for a … More Condensation and Cold Weather

The Botanical garden is attached to the Zoo and is included with admission. Some photos from a visit. The Garden Maintaining the garden Fountain Waterfall A rose, by any other name Dianthus I could not find a marker to ID this…. Dahlias Daffodils Bluebells Green Anole lizard trying to pick a fight with me Yellow-Rump … More Riverbanks Botanical Garden

The weather here in Columbia SC has been pretty crappy lately—cloudy and chilly. So when the sun finally came out and things warmed up, I wanted to spend a day outside, and made my way to the Congaree National Park. Although it is not a very large park, it is the biggest remaining tract of … More A Rare Turtle in Congaree National Park

It’s been cloudy and chilly in SC for the past four or five days now (my solar panel was not happy at all with it). So today when the sun came out and it warmed up to the 70s, I headed for the Riverbanks Zoo. This is a very nice city zoo with an aquarium … More Riverbanks Zoo

Most state capitols have a history museum. Some or good, some are… not. The one in Columbia SC is *very* good.  🙂 Some photos from an afternoon at the museum. The museum Inside the museum Lifesize replica of a Megalodon shark, 30 feet long Albertosaurus Glyptodon Dugout canoe. Carved from a single cypress log, it … More South Carolina State Museum

Despite the importance of the Battle of Eutaw Springs, near Columbia SC, during the Revolutionary War, the battle is mostly forgotten today, and the site is now a small roadside park. When British General Charles Cornwallis had marched his army out of Charleston to engage General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Courthouse, he had left 8000 … More Eutaw Springs Battlefield

With the British surrender at Saratoga and the retreat from Philadelphia in 1779, nearly all of the northern colonies were firmly in the hands of the rebels. The British, meanwhile, were being drawn into combat with the French in the Caribbean over control of the rich sugar colonies, and the political agitation in London against … More Camden SC Battlefield

I’ll be in Columbia till the end of next week. There are a couple Revolutionary War battlefields near here that I want to see, and I hear the local zoo is also nice. It’s in the 60s here. Brrrr. I hope it warms up for good by the time I get to Charleston in April. … More Greetings From South Carolina

I tried yesterday to get to the Centers for Disease Control Museum in Atlanta, but alas I couldn’t get in. Since it’s a Federal facility they have a security gate and check everyone’s ID when you go on.  Well, Pennsylvania being Pennsylvania, they were not “Real-ID compliant” back when I got my PA drivers license, … More Well, I *Tried* to Get to the CDC Museum….