Easter in the Carolina’s

In April 2019 we took 10 days and a quick trip to the sunny Carolinas for a break from the dreary spring. First stop Hanging Rock State Park. We got there mid day and decided we had to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We swapped out our Jean’s and sweaters for tank tops and shorts and hiked Hanging Rock Trail. It was a challenge for the girls but we made it to a pretty spectacular view.

The next day the weather wasn’t looking great…a storm was blowing through. Since hiking was out of the question, we had a quick trip through the visitor center at hanging rock and decided the day was better spent driving on to Hunting Island then hanging around the park.

On the five hour trip from Hanging Rock to Hunting Island our phones lit up with a tornado warning – the wind was certainly swirly but we carried on our way not thinking too much of it. All of a sudden the wind was very calm and then bang, we felt like we were in the middle of the storm. Rain and wind pelted down and driving visibility was next to none, you could barely see the four way flashers on the vehicle in front of us. Being out on the interstate there is really no where to go so we slowly moved forward keeping with the slow flow of traffic. The storm moved off after a long 5 minutes and left the aftermath of trees and branches. We sat in traffic for a half hour or so (Piper playing Rock/Paper/Scissors with some teens in a nearby car) and the police and firetrucks came up the shoulder. Before we knew it, they had cleared fallen trees and debris and we carried on to our destination.

Hunting Island was everything I had hoped it would be. It was windy when we arrived but the days were warm and we enjoyed 5 days of relaxing, walking the beach, bike rides and lagoon fishing (no catching). The campground did an Easter Egg hunt and the Easter bunny made an appearance at the campground. Lots of children were on spring break and the girls made many new friends.

We also had some surprise guests – my parents stopped by and we spent some nice days at the beach, and a nice surf and turf dinner on the campsite. Our only complaint about Hunting Island was the bugs – the gnats were out in numbers and they sure liked to bite. Six years after our first trip to Hunting Island, we enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

Our last stop on this trip was Stone Mountain, North Carolina. The days were warm and the nights cooler than our time in South Carolina. We hiked to the base on the Stone Mountain Waterfall and then to the summit. The hike was tough and definitely the biggest one we ever have done with Piper and Harper, but it was so worth it! The view of the landscape from the top was spectacular and the girls felt so accomplished to have made it on their own. Due to the size of the park, the girls enjoyed a little bit of freedom and really enjoyed biking the camping loop on their own.