Noisy Apes, Giant Sharks, and Killer Plants: Road Trip Part Two
Today was the hottest day in Nashville ever. That’s not an exaggeration. We broke the previous record high temperature of 107 degrees, set in 1952. Today’s high was a whopping 109 degrees in the shade. Instead of dwelling on that misery, let’s go back to a gentler, cooler time… last week visiting my mom in South Carolina where the temps were only in the upper 90s.
Although our trip to South Carolina was a bit more epic than I had wanted, once we arrived at my mom’s house, we had a great time. I thought I would share some highlights, in case you’re looking for inspiration for your summer vacation.
Riverbanks Zoo
I’m on record as a fan and member of the Nashville Zoo. I learned during this visit to SC that my membership at the Nashville Zoo gets me in free to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC, one of the best zoos in the country. I was glad to get a little more mileage out of those membership dues!
The Riverbanks Zoo has a number of animals that the Nashville Zoo doesn’t, which makes visiting the SC zoo a special treat for the girls. We saw lions, koalas, and Galapagos tortoises, among others. We missed a bunch this trip, however, since we left fairly early due to the heat. That just means we’ll have to catch the grizzly bears and gorillas next time.
Something else to keep in mind next time is that one part of the zoo where there are no animals but there are plenty of rides that cost extra. Hannah wanted to tackle the rock climb, Lily wanted to go on the carousel, and I wanted to go see the (no additional charge) animals. I get that zoos need to have a few rides to bring in extra revenue, but I’ve got to remember to avoid this little animal-free zone in Riverbanks until later in our visits there.
If you grew up going to the Riverbanks Zoo like I did, you’ll recognize these noises:
Near the front entrance is the siamang exhibit, where a few gibbons hang out on tree-covered islands and, if your timing is lucky, make a ton of noise. I’m glad I was able to share this experience with my girls this visit.
The South Carolina State House
Another childhood memory I have is taking a tour of the South Carolina State House with one of my school classes. I’m thinking it must have been sixth grade, since we did a unit on stamp collecting that year and that was the year that the 25-cent SC Statehood stamp was issued. Visiting the State House last week with the girls didn’t bring back many memories, however. I learned that there were some extensive renovations made inside and outside back in the 90s. Those renovations turned out well, because it’s really beautiful there now.
We watched a 15-minute film on the history of the State House (thanks, General Sherman, for burning it down when you came through town!), then took a self-guided tour around the interior. (“Self-guided tour” is tourism-speak for “walking around on your own.”) Both houses of the state legislature were in session, so we couldn’t see the big rooms where all the fun happens, but it was still pretty cool wandering around the lobby. There were at least a dozen people in the lobby watching the speeches on closed-circuit TV, which gave us a small first-hand glimpse at government in action.
The South Carolina State Museum
Also back in 1988, the same year that SC stamp was issues, the SC State Museum opened its doors. I’ve always remembered it as the museum with the giant shark in it, but as the girls and I walked through the exhibits, I remembered seeing many of them back in the day. Although that was comforting in a nostalgic sense, I was a little disappointed to know that they were still running with some of the same exhibits 25 years hence.
The museum’s big traveling exhibit right now features genuine artifacts from the Titanic. I didn’t think the girls would be into this, but when they saw the signs for it, they begged me to go. I’m thinking Hannah picked up on some of the 100th anniversary hoopla earlier this year. Hannah loved the exhibit. I think she could have stayed in there for hours reading about the sinking of the ship and the various bits of furniture, cookware, and personal items on display.
Lily didn’t dig the Titanic exhibit quite so much. When we entered, we were handed fake boarding passes on which were printed the names of actual Titanic passengers. We were told that we would find out what happened to our passengers at the end of the exhibit. For the next 45 minutes, all Lily wanted to do was speed through the exhibit and find out what happened to her girl, Madeleine Astor. That made it hard for Hannah and me to linger. Worse, when we got to the end, all we found out was that Madeleine survived. Lily wanted to know more. What did she do after the sinking? What happened to the baby she was pregnant with during the voyage? Luckily, the gift shop had a nice fat book full of Titanic trivia, so I was able to answer those questions. Whew.
My passenger? Some guy from third class. Hannah’s passenger? None other than the “unsinkable” Molly Brown. All three of our passengers survived. Double whew.
The North Carolina Arboretum
We had more fun in South Carolina, hanging out with my mom and grandparents, having tea with the assembled American Girls dolls (Hannah’s two dolls plus the two my sister has left at my mom’s house), going out to eat at some of my favorite places, seeing Brave. For the trip back, I modified my road trip approach. Instead of trying to fit in three fun rest stops along the way, I aimed for just one, the North Carolina Arboretum. After the long drive down to SC, I was worried about making the drive back any longer than it needed to be, but stopping at the arboretum turned out to be a great move. The girls loved it there, especially Hannah, and I think we could have spent far more than the two hours we spent there.
The arboretum’s temporary exhibit, “Wicked Plants,” is one of the best educational exhibits I’ve ever seen. From the brochure: “Menacing two- and three-dimensional interactives set in an eerie environment are designed to educate and entertain audiences with information about some of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations.” The “interactives” were a lot of fun, including one room set up as a murder mystery. (Who killed this woman? And what plant is to blame?) We learned about poisonous plants, toxic foods, allergic reactions, and more. And just outside this exhibit were some real, live, wicked plants, including fly traps and pitcher plants. If you’re anywhere near Ashville, North Carolina, go see this exhibit!
Oh yeah, the bonsai trees, on permanent exhibit at the arboretum, were pretty cool, too. That exhibit took me back to 1984. I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’ve seen bonsai trees in person. Predictably, Hannah now wants to grow her own.
The three of us are heading into another week of vacation this coming week. With the success of our road trip to SC, I’m thinking another road trip could be fun. Maybe we’ll go north this time, to Chicago. I know there’s lots of fun things to do there, and I’m betting there are some interesting rest stops we could make in Indiana. Maybe not giant-treehouse interesting, but fun anyway!