Is it a BEAR??

Day 3 is complete and it was another busy day! We had an early start to our day. We were on the road by 7:45 AM. Our first stop was for some breakfast! We really wanted What-a-Burger but there were none to be found. So, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for a wonderful chicken biscuit. 

Our first stop of the day was to Covington, Georgia. This quaint town is home to many movie and TV sets. Make sure to stop at the visitor center to get some great pictures and some information about the town. Ron, who was working at the visitor center is a wealth of information and the nicest guy!! 

We went here because it is the home of the Vampire Diaries show currently on the CW. To our GREAT surprise they were actually filming today!! I don't want to break any spoilers out there but I did get to see 2 actors and the whole film crew :) I was in heaven!! We even picked up some merchandise.  

After spending some time in Covington, we headed to the South Carolina Capitol. Here is the welcome center sign!

This is the Capitol Building!! #29! Columbia, South Carolina It was very beautiful.

There is a statue of George Washington! My class loved George Washington so I made sure to take a picture!

This is on the building to describe the construction of the State House.

Whenever I see staircases like this I think about Gone With the Wind! I wanted to have on an elegant dress and walk down the stairs like royalty!

This is the House of Representatives side. Guess what! The other side was the Senate! After 29 capitols you figure out where everything is!! This capitol building was a little smaller inside than some others I've been to. There was a nice waiting area where you could sit on couches and relax. I felt very welcome while visiting!

We decided to walk around the building a little bit. There were beautiful trees and gardens all around the capitol.

 This church was next to the capitol.

 Another view of the capitol!

After leaving the capitol we headed for Congaree National Park. We ate a picnic lunch and then started our hike. We chose to do the boardwalk path.

 Watch out for mosquitos! (and other nature creepy crawlies)

Congaree National Park is so amazing! There are huge trees and tons of wildlife! If you know me well you know I don't do well in nature. You will be so proud of me! I immersed myself in nature! I walked off the path a couple times and got touched by bugs!

 Look! I'm hiking!

 Shortly after snapping the above picture we ran into some wild animals. Before we got too close to actually see them I started to panic. I looked at Natalie and asked her; well more like panicked and freaked out, and said, "OMG! Are those bears????" Thankfully they were just baby wild hogs. We quietly kept walking and freaked out the rest of the hike. And when I say "we" I really mean "ME!" But, I survived nature!

 So... after finding this lake there was no more trail.... so we headed back... and the path we needed was closed because the boardwalk was broken. Well, since we forgot our map in the car we took a chance and went down a different path. Thankfully we ran into a guy hiking. We asked him if the path led to the boardwalk or visitor center. He told us that it did in like 4 miles.... I wish I had a picture of our faces at that point. We were a little shocked. He gave us his map and trucked on... left us to fend for ourselves. We eventually found where we needed to be.

After getting back to the car and blasting the AC we headed for our pit stop. Yep, that's right, we are staying in North Carolina tonight. We are staying in an apartment that was built in the 1930s. It is so cute and welcoming.

Well, another day is done and I am so tired! We are picking up our travel buddy tomorrow and will soon be a trio! Again, thanks for reading!