Swamp People

On Shannon and Neal's last full day in Charleston, we decided to get real country on 'em and take 'em out to the swamp to catch gators. Okay, not really. Really we just drove to Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner and explored the swamp and nature trails there. 

This activity actually far exceeded my expectations. It may be one of my favorite new attractions in Charleston. First thing we did was hop in some flat-bottom boats and paddled out into the black water swap (don't worry, there was a marked path to follow.) 

Here's my view from the boat. Beautiful cypress trees growing out of the black water. 

Are you thinking this setting looks very romantic and beautiful and oddly familiar? Maybe it's because this is where they filmed the boat scene from "The Notebook"! You know....

This part from the movie

Here Shannon and Neal are in their boat. Just as romantic, eh?

 Unlike the movie, there weren't hundreds of white birds floating around on the water while we were there (I heard they flew those in for the movie.) But there were tons of pretty lilly pads!

Paddling in the lilies

Lots and lots of lilies

Don't worry, Mom, we didn't see any gators in the swamp, but we did see some in Cypress' swamparium! We also checked out the nature trails and the butterfly house (where we met a fellow Okie by the way.)

By far the best part of the day was when this happened...

Oh yeah, we're cool.