I decided to enter a painting into the SC State Fair. I’ve not done this before but, all that was involved was a trip to Columbia. Gas prices being what they are, my friend, Kate, thought it would be nice to augment the 2+ hour drive (each way) with some fun. Bless you, Kate, for suggesting Congaree National Park! My Master Naturalist class had an overnight field trip to the Congaree that I wasn’t able to attend. I had no idea that the park was so close to the fair grounds 🙂 I jumped at the chance to visit, even if for a short time!

We decided to take the self guided tour of the 2.5 mile boardwalk trail. The weather was perfect. The morning had been cool and cloudy but the afternoon on the boardwalk was lovely. We actually had to shed our sweaters! I’m in big trouble if we ever have to move back up north – cool to me now is low 70’s………

The skeeters were active so we had to move right along, though I did manage to get a quick sketch of a tupelo tree. Today, I found a tree poem and added it onto my journal page. What a lovely place to spend the first day of fall 🙂 You can click the image for a larger view.