South carolina, here we come!
Saturday we packed up and bid farewell to Sevierville, TN, and drove to Travelers Rest, South Carolina. We crossed the French Broad River:
This is the same river that flowed past our campground in Sevierville, but it was much narrower at the campground.
We drove towards North Carolina:
This is how all of eastern Tennessee is- hilly and covered with trees! We crossed into North Carolina:
This is the fanciest Welcome Center I have ever seen! This fountain was very pretty, and notice the bear sculpture on the right! In the center there were thousands of brochures on everything, and they were arranged by topic so you could easily find what you were looking for. There was also a lady working there who helped you find things, and suggested others you may be interested in! I know, the last thing I need is more brochures, but it was amazing! Then on to South Carolina:
It was a very short drive- I think about 3 hours, and we spent some time at the Welcome Center of NC.
For the past 2 days we have been driving around looking at model homes and talking to development salespeople. Greenville, SC has a lot to offer, and was named one of the best small cities in the US. There are lots of shopping, dining options, activities, a revitalized downtown, and Falls Park on the Reedy:
It’s quite pretty! The Reedy River flows through Greenville, so they took advantage and made this beautiful park! It is several acres, and there was a stage area where there are performances, and a suspension bridge across the river- that is where we were standing to take this pic! There are lots of restaurants along the river, and it’s a nice stroll through the downtown section to the park.
We found a builder who makes “semi-custom” homes (you choose the lot, the floorplan and the outside elevation style and colors, then you have options for flooring, counters, cabinets… all cosmetic things, but no structural changes allowed). They had a couple floorplans we liked, and would happily consider them to build a house for us! It’s a matter of timing though, as we won’t be ready to build for a while– but we are keeping this option in our back pocket, as the prices and quality were very good! It’s interesting that housing is substantially cheaper here in the Greenville, SC area, as compared to everywhere we looked in eastern Tennessee!
Another thing to like about South Carolina is the roads- they are wider than the roads in Tennessee, and most have shoulders- they aren’t scary like the roads in Tennessee! And SC is flatter, so you don’t have all the hills and blind curves! SC is not as tax friendly as Tennessee, though- something to consider!
Today we stopped at a Japanese restaurant for dinner, and they were closed 🙁 so back to the car to look at Yelp- and this is what happened:
The skies opened up and it poured! Glad it waited until we were in the car, because we would have been soaked in seconds! Ten minutes later is started to settle down- whew, have we seen a lot of rain on this trip!