Beginning At Barnwell

It's here!! Our biggest trip of the year! Christmas was a little hard to plan family visits due to COVID (still), so we decided to keep it simple and safe by roaming to some new state parks for two weeks! If you're one of our 3 readers, you probably remember that last year we went across the country and hit Texas. We had so much fun camping for the holiday season, it only made sense to do it again.

We knew we had a wedding to shoot back home around New Year's, so we decided to stay fairly close to be able to get back on time. Cameron and I hadn't been to the coast with our trailer yet, so we decided that a Christmas trip to the beach would be fun and hopefully warm!

At the beginning of December, South Carolina State Parks did an awesome deal and had certain parks 25% off if you booked on that specific day. Well, what's better than a camping deal?! Not much. So I got all our sites for the trip at a great rate. We had four fabulous spots booked for the 13 days. It was time to camp! ​

The trip began at Barnwell State Park. It was about 3 hours from home and in the right direction of the coast. On the map, it looked like not much was going to be around us, but it would make for a short trip to the next stop.

When we arrived, the map was right. There was NOTHING around. The park was very nice, though. It was well hidden from the road and private. We checked in at a very small camping store and headed to our site to unload. Boy oh boy were we shocked when we saw only three other campers in the campground. The host, Edith, came over and greeted us, saying it was going to be a quiet stay. Fine by us! All we need is some woods and some "soda." There isn't much else we could ask for. 

​We enjoyed our first night in the park with a small stroll around and then headed back to wrap up in some new camping Christmas blankets (courtesy of Momma A) to enjoy beers and snacks. The weather was great, even though it was cooler. We enjoyed listening to music and dancing. An owl even joined in with the singing! It was such a fun night knowing we were going to be on the road camping for not just a weekend but a few weeks!

The next day was slated for rain, but somehow we got lucky! The skies were gray, but there was no rain. We decided to hit the trails in the park.

There was one that wrapped around the fishing pier and looked like it would be a decent sized journey, so off we went. Lunabear loved running through the jungle-ish marsh, while Cameron kept trying to call for alligators. The loop was a pretty good distance, so after we finished, we put Luna in the camper to let her rest, while Cameron and I attempted the small hike, since there was still no rain!

The second loop was rather plain without much activity, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Cameron always loves the "weepy trees" that South Carolina coastal area has. So much so, he pretends to be one! 

Fun fact: It's actually called Spanish Moss!

It finally rained that evening, so we made a quick dinner and hunkered in bed to watch a movie.

The next day, while Cameron caught up on work, I read some books and worked out before deciding to hit the trails again. Not much had changed since the day before, but it was still fun (at least to me) to get some exercise. Cameron also decided he was going to try and climb some trees! To my surprise, he did manage to hoist himself up the tree! The lifeguard in me envisioned him falling and hurting himself, so I didn't let him go any higher, despite his arguments. He was very disappointed.

We ended our last day at the park with a fun little photoshoot along the trail before hunting for firewood for the evening's activities. Some might have not found an empty park fun, but for me and Cameron, it was perfect. We could act weird and take goofy pictures without anyone around to judge. 

I'd say we had the perfect quiet and restful start to our trip that had us looking forward to the rest of the journey!