Lake Waccamaw

We decided it was time to check out a new place we haven't been and decided upon Lake Waccamaw. Actually, Russ has been there before, but couldn't find the actual park as it's kind of tucked way back in.

We got up, had some apple waffles, gathered our gear and were off at 8:30am. The weather was beautiful and the kids were excited (which is a KEY part of doing these things, lol...the more excited they are, the less whiny they are!).

It took about 45 minutes to get to the Park Office. On the way we passed HUGE houses...if you could even call them houses...was going to take a photo, but couldn't decide on which mansion was the biggest! :P

Anyways, at the park office they have some trivia, videos to watch, games to play, etc. , but it was SO nice outside, we wanted to get moving.

They have a trail down to the dam that is about 5 miles long. Russ and I were all for it...it was the short little legs (and stroller...) that we had with us. So we decided to check out the first boardwalk and go from there.

There are some beautiful views, and lots of things to look at. The lake itself is something like 3 miles by 5 miles, and doesn't get any deeper than 11 feet! It's apparently pretty unique (even though there are quite a few lakes around that are almost exactly alike in shape and orientation) due to the limestone deposits around it. The limestone balances out the acidity of the water, making the pH levels neutral, which allows all sorts of different things to thrive there which wouldn't normally be able to.

Sigh...our slow-poke. He loves to just meander and look and touch and inspect everything. This was actually really good for him as the boardwalk allowed him to dink along and us move a little faster but still keep an eye on him.

So at the first boardwalk we decided that Russ would walk the 2.5 miles to the next boardwalk and the kids and I would walk back to the car and drive it up to meet him and we'd have lunch there. So I grabbed my wallet and cell phone out of the backpack and we parted ways. As I got to the car I realized, crap, no keys.

Of course, I have zilch for cell phone service, but went inside to ask if we could use their phone to try his cell. It worked, but he didn't pick up, so I left a message, hoping he'd get it. The park ranger said that she would just go pick him up if we didn't hear back from him soon. Within about 5 minutes Russ came waltzing back in, realizing his wife's mental state is not so solid these days and the blunder she'd made. :P

So we all drove up to the next boardwalk, had some food, pretended to be gymnasts balancing on rails, and off we went to Boardwalk #2.

I was expecting a similar walkway as the first, so was surprised to see what this one had in store for us. I was immediately nervous about Sam...but Russ reminded me that even if he did fall in...he could probably just stand up and walk out, lol.

Sure enough, as we were leaving a group of kids comes running down the dock in their swimsuits to jump in.

We decided to hike a little bit longer, despite the nasty mosquitoes, and were glad we did. It was very beautiful and found some campsites that would be pretty neat for future reference.

We pulled out of the parking lot at 12pm on the dot. It took all of 5 minutes for Sam to pass out and all of 6 minutes for Russ to do the same. When we got home, Brooklyn was barely dragging herself through the door and didn't complain a bit about us asking her to go lay down.

Mission Accomplished.