On Sunday, we decided to drive up to Charleston for the day. I had never been and my old college roommate had just moved there with her fiance. So we loaded into the jeep for the hour and a half ride.

My cousin had told us about a Wildlife Management Area that had a pond full of alligators on the way, so we decided to go. It’s called Donnelly Wildlife Management Area. It’s a couple miles north of the Harriett Tubman Bridge. The place is weird and awesome all at once. We weren’t quite sure where to go. It’s got a main gravel road that sort of loops through the place and no less than 500 million small driveable trails. They’re all named and the gates are wide open so we assumed it was fine to go wherever we wanted. There was nothing telling us not to but it still felt very wrong to a rule follower like me.We finally found the lodge which had a large pond in front of it with rice trunks. My cousin had mentioned these so we figured we were in the right place. Sure enough we started counting alligators. They’re all super tiny in the pictures because we only had the go pro.

At one point, Josh drove up on this little bitty “trail” that split the pond. As we drove, we apparently startled an alligator right next to my window and you could hear him slide down into the water which I was not a fan of! All I could think of was the jeep getting stuck and having to walk back down that little trail. Not my idea of fun.

We finally had our fill of sketchy trails and gators, so we got back on the road to Charleston. Once we got there, we went to a park on the waterfront and had a picnic that was quickly overrun by wildlife. I felt like Snow White only they were all trying to steal my food and I really don’t enjoy squirrels. One time, a friend in college tried to feed on a fry and it bit her. My luck, if one bit me it’d be rabid. Plus they’re only rats with bigger tails.

This one squirrel wouldn’t give up. Like, people were commenting on his bravery. So, Josh set the go pro down with an apple right in front and snagged a video. I’ll get that up here soon….

We met up with my former roomie and her fiance who showed us around. It was nice getting to see them. We spent the day walking around Charleston and I sort of wanted to move there immediately. It’s such a pretty town, plus all the food there looked and smelled amazing. I basically wanted to move there and eat my way around and gain 50 pounds.

Most of the pictures I took were not of interesting landmarks, but were instead of the crazy birds and squirrels at the park so you’ll have to google images of Charleston to find anything interesting, haha.