bugsy running on lone rock beach with the airstream and f-150 in the background

Trip planning: the Carolinas in November

angel oak tree john's island
Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island, SC

Hello! We have a quiet summer Airstream-wise and are itching to get out on the road! To scratch that itch, we’re starting to plan our next Airstream adventure in November. We have two weeks between plans in Southern Pines, NC and Burlington, NC, so that seems like a perfect opportunity to go Airstreaming. Where should we go?

Bugsy running on the beach
Bugsy enjoying the beach near St Augustine

We initially considered going down to northern Florida to revisit some of our favorite towns from our Florida trip in January 2022, but later settled on a shorter loop focusing on some coastal areas in the Carolinas we’ve never been to.

Here’s what we’re currently thinking

airstream on the beach
best beach campsite ever, in Page, AZ (sadly not an option for this trip)

We’ll start with a couple days in the Southern Pines, NC area, known for golf, horses, and a historic downtown. We’re considering Idlewild Farm Stays, a full-service RV park a mile from the Carolina Horse Park and 15-20 minutes from downtown Southern Pines.

From Southern Pines, we’ll head three hours south to Georgetown, SC, the third oldest town in South Carolina. The waterfront community has a charming downtown, and at least one brewery. Fun fact for those of us with ties to Boston: the foundation of Tom Yawkey, former owner of the Red Sox, has given a ton of money to programs in Georgetown County, including the creation and maintenance of 20,000 acres of coastal wildlife refuges. We’re looking at staying at Hidden Marina Campground in Georgetown.

Two hours south of Georgetown, and and hour south of Charleston, is the laid-back beach town of Edisto Beach on Edisto Island. The main draw to us here is the beachfront camping on a dog-friendly beach at Edisto Beach State Park. Even though it’s just a two-hour drive from Georgetown to Edisto, we’re considering stopping in North Charleston for a night at one of the three breweries that are Harvest Hosts locations.

Just over an hour south of Edisto is the beautiful old town of Beaufort, SC. Beaufort, SC (pronounced “byew-fort”) is not the same as Beaufort, NC (pronounced “boh-fort”), but they are both quaint and historic coastal towns. Beaufort, SC is the second-oldest town in SC (now we know the second and third oldest, can you guess the oldest?) and we’re looking forward to exploring town and maybe getting out on the Intracoastal Waterway. We’re eyeballing Green Acres campground in Beaufort.

Next up, an hour south of Beaufort: Hilton Head Island. Is it too touristy? We’ll see. There are two big RV campgrounds on the island; we think a friend advised us to stay on the north side of the island, so we’ll have to confirm that before choosing a campground. Hilton Head has lots of breweries and restaurants, and we’re most excited about the bike paths crisscrossing the island.

drawing of a roseate spoonbill
an example of Southern wildlife: a Roseate Spoonbill, spotted in Florida

And then we turn inland! Did you know there’s a national park in South Carolina? Congaree National Park has over 20,000 acres of wilderness to explore on foot or by kayak. I haven’t looked at any specific hikes or kayak rentals yet, so I don’t know our plans in the park, but we’ll likely park the Airstream at this campground halfway between Congaree and Columbia. Columbia should be interesting as it’s the state capital and the home of the University of South Carolina. Plus, it has a gazillion breweries.

From there, we’ll keep driving northwest a couple hours to Greenville, SC. We’ve taken the Airstream to Greenville before and are happy to return. Downtown is bustling and walkable and there’s a great brewery scene. We liked the campground we stayed at before, but it was a bit too remote; Harvest Hosts has a brewery option and a church option that look interesting and more convenient.

Bugsy and R2-D2 at Zillacoah Beer Co
Bugsy enjoying an Asheville brewery

And you know if we’re just over an hour from Asheville, we’re going to go to Asheville. It’s our favorite. We may try a new place to camp, though: a downtown brewery is a Harvest Host. If we do that, we’ll need hookups the following night as it’ll be our last before parking in my sister’s driveway, so we’ll likely do a night in Black Mountain instead of a second in Asheville. Which is perfectly fine with us because we absolutely love Black Mountain!

Here’s a rough map of what our trip would look like. It’s a pretty sweet little loop! But this trip is, what, four months away, so who knows what the actual route will look like…

Thanks for letting us plan out loud! Let us know if you have opinions in the comments!

Comments

7 responses to “Trip planning: the Carolinas in November”

  1. Deb Avatar
    Deb

    Historic Bluffton near Hilton Head: if there on a Saturday, go to the farmers market! Fun! And Bluffton is sweet. Great walk about town.
    Congaree: if there on a Saturday, do the ranger hike to stands of the biggest trees!
    When in Hilton Head, you are right at Savannah. Think you might NOT love HH.

  2. Deb Avatar
    Deb

    Roxbury Mercantile on # 174 SC
    As you head toward Edisto
    Stop for lunch at the patio at Roxbury Mercantile. Great seafood.

    1. bugsy Avatar

      Thanks for all of this good stuff Deb! It’s all going on the list!

  3. Uncle Jim Avatar
    Uncle Jim

    All this falderal is nice and comfy but if you guys are looking for an adventure of a lifetime, spend your trip in my old hometown. It’s world famous of course and you know exactly where it is so go, have fun and by the way, being armed is a fairly good idea.

    1. bugsy Avatar

      We need you to give us the official tour!

  4. Stephen Avatar

    Beaufort has the The Kazoobie Kazoo Factory & Museum – you can learn all about kazoos and make your own. It’s also pet-friendly! Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park is a nice walk along the Beaufort River.

    When visiting Greenville, head on over to nearby Spartanburg. They have lightbulb sculptures all around town decorated by different artists, but even better is Rockers Brewing Company (formerly RJ Rockers). They’re pet-friendly inside (well, they were back in 2018 when we visited anyway) and they have a great selection of beers. Their Son of a Peach wheat beer is very good, but they also have IPAs, sours, etc.

    Table Rock State Park is sort of on the way from Greenville to Asheville in case you want to stop for a hike along the route.

    1. bugsy Avatar

      Super super super thank you as always, Stephen!

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