It’s been a minute since the Beavers got out to enjoy a state park. This is because we spent almost three weeks this summer in South Africa. It was the trip of a lifetime for sure, and we visited four national parks there (Table Mountain, Cape Agulhas, Addo Elephant, and Kruger); however, if you want to know more about our trip down there, I guess you’ll have to wait for the international version of the Beavers’ travels! 🙂 (Or, if you’re friends with us on Facebook, you’ve already seen them.)
But right before school started back, we decided to take a quick, two-night jaunt down to the coast. We stayed in a tiny home in the small town of Ravenel, which also came with goats and chickens. (Teagan was a huge fan.)
Teagan had wanted to come to Edisto ever since looking through the State Park Passport booklet. She saw the pictures of turtles and put extra stars and circles in her book, just to let us know that she *really* wanted to go. I had been to Edisto once before (15 years ago), and I remembered it being a pretty beach, not at all commercial like Myrtle Beach.
Our time at Edisto this go round can be summed up in one word: shells. It’s the stamp for the state park, it’s what was all over the beach, and it’s what banged up our feet and hands. Teagan did manage to find a whelk shell (the one in the stamp image), which she was super excited about.
Since we don’t go to the beach often, the girls wanted to do nothing except play in the water. So, there wasn’t hardly any walking along the beach (which may have resulted in seeing a little more, or finding other shells). I tried taking them to where some trails went around the marsh and to where some of the historical areas are (I believe there is something left over from the Edisto Indian tribe from a bygone era), but it was raining at the time. (We did see a couple of crabs, which the girls enjoyed seeing.). Additionally, the two days we were there were the two days that the environmental education center was closed, so we couldn’t see any displays or wildlife that they had there.
So, while we did have fun in the water, I feel like there’s so much more we could have done, and maybe I’ll say that Edisto isn’t necessarily the best place to bring kids to play in the water. This is more the place to have a leisurely stroll along the beach, hunt shells, or enjoy a walk by the marsh and watch pelicans fly overhead. The drive in is beautiful, lined with so many old trees with Spanish moss hanging down. It’s a nice place to unwind (which is, admittedly, hard to do with two kids in a tiny home!).
(Oh, and while we didn’t see any turtles, I was surprised to see so many turtle nests along the beach. Super cool!)
Beavers in the Park 