The View from Caesar's Head State Park

Up, up, up, up, up……..

Around and around and around and around and around some more.

Groans from the back seat.

Prayers from Anchor and me that our children’s constitutions would hold true and that we would not have to clean this morning’s breakfast from the backseat carpet.

 

Anchor and I exchanged wondering glances that any destination in South Carolina could reach these heights.

 

On and on and on and on.

 

We finally made it to the top and found the majestic Caesar’s Head indeed inside the border of South Carolina.  Our poor devoted minivan begged for mercy as we pulled into the parking lot.  I was tempted to kiss its sweet blue hood in gratitude for ferrying us safely to the top.  The heat of the hood and the priorities of the day delayed that kiss.  We were off instead to answer the urgent needs for a bathroom stop, a park stamp and then curiosity's demanded exploration of the site.

We were of course drawn to the view.  We joined the procession of tourists and looked out over the ledge to the view the vastness of the mountain region of South Carolina.  Instinctively, I grabbed my youngest children’s hands too tight yet not as tightly as I would have preferred as we drew closer to the viewing area.  There were barriers of course but their reliability is a hard sale to the instinctive nature of my mama bear heart.  The children were enamored and strained for a better look.  They had seen the sights one at a time up close as they hiked the trails of the individual parks of the South Carolina Mountain Region.  There we saw Table Rock.  Over there was Paris Mountain.  Was that Lake Jocassee?  The children pointed each landmark out with great excitement.  I was so proud that these children of mine knew these places and that the names were as familiar to them as those of their friends at school.

 

Still, I drew them back and we proceeded down a metal staircase between two pillars of rock.  Here was Devil’s Kitchen – a cave without a roof.  The walls were damp and the temperature dropped as we descended the cold staircase.  The way was narrow but we stepped quietly through the semi darkness.  The family behind us graciously waited and gave my children an extra moment of wonder.  In all our hiking and trekking adventures throughout South Carolina, we had not encountered anything as unique as Devil’s Kitchen.

 

We emerged and the summer sun attacked our eyes with intensity.  We stumbled out for a second view of the overlook.  We saw how much we had explored during our Ultimate Outsider journey.  We appreciated again the magnitude and majesty that was South Carolina.  As I looked out across the vista, I remembered each journey we had made, each way point we had passed in our quest of Ultimate Outsider glory.  I prayed the memories we had made here in the South Carolina State Parks would stay with my children forever.

There are so many options for families in this modern era and there is a lot of good in each of them.  But our family has staked our claim here in the wilds and wonders of the parks.  They have imprinted themselves on our hearts and minds.  They have drawn us close and grown us into a different kind of family.  They have cemented and sealed us as Ultimate Outsiders.  I look over my children’s faces and wonder how this journey will shape the people that they become.