Day 2.53: Columbia, SC to Durham, NC

We woke up and ate some Eggo waffles for breakfast with Miles and Betty before saying goodbye and thank you for their warm hospitality.

We drove a few minutes to Beth Shalom Synagogue in Columbia, where Arielle had a great meeting. Abe had received two birthday gifts from AMC but hadn’t had a chance to go see a movie in theaters aside from at film festivals, and so we found one that was only a few minutes off the road in Charlotte, just after we crossed into North Carolina. Abe went in a got a free large drink (Hi-C Fruit Punch) and a free large popcorn, and Arielle took the popcorn right back in after we dumped it out into the box we had gotten and some Ziploc bags for the free refill. Not a bad stop! We made lunch (peanut butter and banana sandwich for Abe, turkey sandwich for Arielle) and continued for the next two or so hours to Carrboro.

Our first stop was at the home of Dave and Sarah, Arielle’s cousins, and got to see their older son Max and meet their younger son Wes, who wasn’t born the last time we visited in 2014. We got to see their new house, which was beautiful, and had a great dinner with them, featuring penne with peas, onions, walnuts, asparagus, and parmesan cheese as well as a salad. We enjoyed catching up and laughed when Sarah insisted that Abe had recommended a movie to her back in 2014 but neither of them could figure out what it was (three hours later, she called after finally having figured it out).

We drove about thirty minutes to Durham, where we arrived at the home of the Greybers, who Arielle knew from when Rabbi Dan was an intern at her synagogue in Los Angeles years earlier. After unloading a lot of stuff, we spent some time talking to Jen, who was leaving the next morning for the weekend to visit Rutgers with her son Benjamin, who Arielle had babysat when she was much younger. When Rabbi Dan arrived home with his son Ranon, we talked to them for a bit and went to sleep soon after.

Approximate number of miles covered: 253

Day 2.52: Charleston, SC to Columbia, SC

We woke up and tried to get out relatively early so that we could get to Congaree National Park, a place that no locals in Charleston seemed to know existed even though it’s less than two hours away. Apparently, it was designated as a national park in 2003. It’s pretty small compared to others, and we spent less than two hours there. We did a hike that was supposed to be mainly on the boardwalk but still managed to get lost, mainly because a part of it was under construction and we ended up walking past our theoretical exit point to somewhere we had already been. We saw some cool trees and reflections in the swamp, but that was about it. This isn’t a must-see, but it’s a worthwhile stop if you’re in the area.

On our drive out of the park, Arielle noticed what look like a dark cloud above the trees that quickly turned into black smoke, so she called the police to report it in case it wasn’t a planned burn. We drove about half an hour to Columbia, where Arielle met with Henry, a gentleman involved with the local Jewish community who her avuncular Miles had known for many years. We then drove about twenty minutes across town to the home of Miles, Betty, and their dog Rusty. They have been friends of Arielle’s parents for many years, and it was great to be in their home for the first time. Betty made a delicious salmon dinner with ratatouille, and we chatted for a while afterwards before their nightly ritual of watching MSNBC. Arielle realized that she likes knowing what’s going on in the world and should probably read or watch the news going forward. After a lovely evening together, we went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 134