Blythewood Online 691

Tag: A Day Away

  • A Night at the Movies, ‘50s Style

    The Monetta Drive-In, a blast from the past.

    A 70-mile afternoon drive to Monetta takes you to a 1950s cultural icon: the drive-in theater. Consider a “dusk trip” to the Big Mo, which begins its season March 1. Make your way to I-20 West and take Exit 33 (S.C. Route 39). Follow S.C. 39 to Monetta (approximately 7 miles), then turn right onto U.S. 1. The drive-in is a mile down U.S. 1 on the right. If you use GPS, the physical address is 5822 Columbia Highway North, Monetta S.C.

    Ease along to a parking spot with a good view of the screen and get ready for a great family event. Bring your dog if it’s well behaved. Bring lawn chairs too and sit on the grass if you like. Tune in movie audio over three different frequencies and get ready for the show. The days of hanging a clunky speaker on your car window are passé.

    When the lights drop, that one-time Mecca for wanderlust teenagers — the drive-in — flashes Hollywood idols onto the silver screen and the aroma of grilled hot dogs and buttered popcorn fills the air. At the Big Mo you partake of Americana. The drive-in is unique in that it is the only one in South Carolina to survive since the heyday of drive-ins in the 1950s.

    The concession serves standard fare, such as hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza. Funnel cakes and cotton candy bring a state fair feel to the evening. Popcorn is a given, as are soft drinks. Prices are very good, nothing like the big fees multiplex theaters charge. (You can’t bring your own food. No alcohol.)

    When Richard and Lisa Boaz opened the Big Mo March 26, 1999, they saved a cultural icon from junkyard duty. “The Wizard Of Oz” debuted, and some 60,000 cars have since rolled in for family fun and a return to the 1950s. Here’s your chance to add to the total. Just get there an hour early because people get turned away when tickets sell out. During inclement weather the show goes on. Go when peach trees are abloom for a touch of Palmetto State beauty.

    Frequent patrons get Stargazer cards for a $10 credit, and it’s not just marketing. The Monetta heavens, free of big-city light pollution, sparkle with celestial treats. One night a total lunar eclipse occurred, and, “One year,” said Richard Boaz, “Mars put on a fantastic show.”

    An evening at the Big Mo is quite a treat. Visit the Big Mo’s Web site and see what’s coming soon. Gates open one and a half to two hours before show time. Rediscover what it’s like to be 17 again at a ‘50s icon in peach country. The Big Mo.

    If You Go …

    • Admission (cash only) $8 adults (12 & over), $4 kids (4 to 11), under 3 free.
    • Gates open at 6:30 p.m. • Show starts around 8:15 p.m.
    Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

    • For Directions:

    NOW SHOWING

    803.685.7949

     

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.

  • Day trip to the Dawn of Creation

    The cypress swamp at Congaree National Park, a day trip to another era.

    To travel back to Earth’s distant past, you need only make a one-hour drive to Congaree National Park near Hopkins. From Blythewood or Winnsboro, drive about 50 miles and you can enter cypress-vaulted cathedrals that tower over black water. You can canoe or walk beneath one of Earth’s tallest canopies. Everything is free and you can bring your dog.

    When you arrive, park near the Harry Hampton Visitor Center. Rangers will answer your questions and help you plan your day. Check out the natural and cultural history exhibits. Watch a film on the park’s history and activities.

    More than 25 miles of hiking trails lead you into Congaree floodplain wilderness. (Colored markers keep you on trails.) The 2.4-mile boardwalk, suspended over still water and swampland, can be walked in two hours or less. (Limited access for dogs.) From it you can spot ample wildlife. Varying seasons bring different species. Look for cardinal flowers, salamanders, mushrooms, tree frogs and even osprey. Want a guide to explain things? Call the park to make reservations for special walks and canoe trips.

    You’ll find much to do all day — picnicking, fishing, kayaking and just enjoying the beauty and serenity. Bring your own canoe or kayak, and don’t be surprised to find yourself staring up a lot. South Carolina’s last virgin forest stands as tall as any temperate deciduous forest in the world. World-record size trees here take their place among California’s redwoods and Yosemite’s sequoias. Three-hundred-year-old loblolly pines, exceeding 15 feet in circumference and 150 feet tall, reach into the sky.

    Before saws and dams arrived, 24 million acres of bottomland beauty carpeted the East Coast. Congaree Swamp — the one bottomland refusing to go quietly in the night — saved itself, but not without a fight. In the 1890s, loggers felled some bald cypress monarchs whose water-soaked logs sunk in revenge rather than float downriver to saw mills. The frustrated loggers abandoned their quest. Only nature has touched Congaree since.

    Nature set this green-variegated gem — the country’s 57th national park and South Carolina’s first — along the Congaree River’s north bank some 20 miles southeast of Columbia. It’s the country’s largest contiguous tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest.

    Exploring the park will work up an appetite. Unless you plan to make the 25-minute drive down Bluff Road to a restaurant in Columbia, you might want to pack a picnic for eating in designated areas.

    Drive. It’s there — the dawn of creation, you could say. Walk the boardwalk over the black water. Take trails deep into the primeval forest. Canoe where otters braid through cypress knees. Inhale the same rich forest scents prehistoric foragers breathed. Then let out a thankful sigh that a relic of the great forest primeval endures — just a day trip away.

    If You Go …

    • No entrance or tour fees.

    • Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    • Visitor Center 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

    • There are three rest rooms and one is open 24/7.

    • For directions visit http://www.nps.gov/cong/index.htm

    803.776.4396

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.