A trip up the rivah

We took a long, yet fun trip waaaaay up the "rivah" to the Santee Cooper Lakes of SC.  We left with our neighbors and their two boys Saturday afternoon and arrived up at Lake Marion that evening. 

One of the cool things about getting to the lakes from the river is the LOCKS.  And even this clausterphobic girl didn't have a melt down, although it could have seriously happened.  The locks were built in 1940 during the great depression.

So picture this-you are going down the river for a SUPER long time from Charleston to Moncks Corner to the locks-you pass under this cool old train bridge-and when you arrive, the lakes are 75 feet ABOVE you.  YES you read that right-7-5 FREAKING feet ABOVE YOU. 

Do you see the top of the lock in this picture-at the top of that is the lake-where your boat will end up.

Better view of the lock-we start at the bottom and end up at the top 

The boats who were on the lake (up top) are now coming down to our river...

And in go all the boats as we prepare to go to the top of the lock

And I watch as the river closes out behind me and I am now "stuck" in this "lock" for the next 25 minutes as water pours in and raises us up 75 feet.

We are now at the top of the lock and you can see below where we started-notice the train bridge????  Crazy right?

And off we go into the lake and to our neighbors lake house to cook out.

How cute are our neighbors and their boys.  They were so good on the trip.  It took us longer than we anticipated, but they were so well behaved.

 

And I have to share some cool wildlife we saw at the locks.  I love brown pelicans...they are so cool.

https://www.santeecooper.com/portal/page/portal/santeecooper/environment/recreation/pinopolislock

It was fun seeing this part of the my state from the water.....SC sure is beautiful from the waterways!