2-27-21 Santee National Wildlife Refuge and Taw Caw park

Layla and the kids were alwasy up before us.  So Angie often took her down for a walk.  She snapped these pictures on their morning walk.

the lake from the pier by our building.

 After her walk, she was too tired to vacuum too ambitiously

But she still wanted to vacuum

much prettier day today---lots of blue sky and the temps warmed up to the low 80s.

Layla would always go with us down the little elevator while her mom and dad took the steps.  Layla liked to follow the instuctions for social distancing.

We decided we should try fishing off one of the docks in the Wyndham resort. 

looking back towards out building from the dock

Ken getting the fishing pole ready

Layla walking the runway

she didn't care about fishing, but was happy just being there.

she also liked attacking me

hugging me down

a boat going by.  The kids checked on going on a boat tour, but they were closed until March 1st (the day we were leaving).

Layla thought maybe the fish would come eat the bread, but they didn't even come over for that.

Layla didn't care, she liked running down the middle of the dock.

Back at the condo, I did a little bird watching from our lanai.  Didn't see many birds, but this couple was cute.

so was this chickadee.

Angie found a drive through wildlife drive about 20 minutes away, so that was a must do---in my books.

lots of wetlands and trees.

glimpses of Lake Marion

it really is a huge lake

this part of the lake has a lot of alligators!

since hardly anyone was on the drive and we were going about 5 mph, Layla got to ride on Grandpa's lap some of the time.

another alligator

beware of gators on the trails!

parking for one of the trails---which we didn't walk

more scenery

cute little green things growing in the wetlands.

back to the road

Layla riding with Angie and Josh now and staring back at us

a bunch of birds that we didn't see.

another stately tree.

more wetlands.  I hoped to see a lot of big birds here but didn't  (today)

but we still enjoyed the ride

saw a lot of turtles.

another part of the lake

Layla thought this was a cute little gator

I thought the lake here was really pretty

wonder how the fishing was out there?

canoe trail?

a swimming gator.

by the exit/entrance.  I think the route was about 11 miles.  Took us about an hour or 2 to do it.

there was a park with a playground nearby, so we decided to let Layla play some more.  While she played, Angie and I investigated a boardwalk by the playground to see if there was anywhere to fish from it.

looked promising

flowers!

more great views.

finally, a somewhat different bird---yellow rumped warbler.

mr. yellow rump again.

love reflections in calm water.

more of the boardwalk

Layla playing on the playground---almost spinning off the slide

By the time we got back from investigating, Angie decided it was time to get Layla back for a nap instead of fishing.  We'd come back tomorrow for that.
 

Back at the condo, we went to the pool area so Josh could grill burgers for our dinner.  We thought we'd have a picnic by the pool---and we did.  So did the mosquitos.

Layla and I enjoyed soaking our feet in the 60ish degree pool water.

We also saw a pretty nice sunset.

 I'm usually not bothered too much by mosquitos.  So I can imagine how the others felt.  We scarfed our yummy burgers down and headed back to our room.