What to do in/around Columbia, SC?

I'm going to be at Ft. Jackson for the last three weeks of August. My weekdays will be busy, but my weekends will be free. I won't have easily accessible transportation during the week either, but I am planning to rent a car for the weekends -- I've been on enough Army bases to know that I don't want to be on them any more than I have to. So, other than staying in air-conditioned buildings, what is there to do there? I am planning to head to the beach at least once, but which one(s)? Also, what else? Thanks in advance.

Go look at the giant fire hydrant, eat in the old train station, check out the tailgating cabooses at the University...and that's all I got.

Go get a degree from USC, it only takes about 15 minutes and $50.

I'm pretty sure Columbia is home to Maurice's BBQ--- delicious BBQ with the added "flavor" of having a white supremacist bookstore attached. Creepy, but a bit hilarious when you see some of the titles of the books. I bought one as a joke years ago, and the writing was far below what would be acceptable in 2nd or 3rd grade. (at least at the public schools I went to as a kid)

Stunning, but kinda funny that anyone would take that sort of crap seriously.

"Abe Lincoln was a lying liar who lied"

"The war of Northern Aggression"

etc. etc. etc.......

DustoffDave wrote: I'm going to be at Ft. Jackson for the last three weeks of August. My weekdays will be busy, but my weekends will be free. I won't have easily accessible transportation during the week either, but I am planning to rent a car for the weekends -- I've been on enough Army bases to know that I don't want to be on them any more than I have to. So, other than staying in air-conditioned buildings, what is there to do there? I am planning to head to the beach at least once, but which one(s)? Also, what else? Thanks in advance.

Go to Folly Beach in Charleston. There are a lot of college bars and such in downtown Columbia. I'd avoid most of the places near Ft. Jackson. To be honest, I hated Columbia and all of the areas surrounding it. SC shouldn't exist between Greenville and Charleston.

Nothing.

That is unless you want a rotary engine crammed into a LBC. If so, look up Curmudgeon, that's his neck of the woods.

Columbia ain't hittin' on squat, and I live here. Not forever, though; I plan to move to the Upstate after my kid gradutes high school. Let's say it's a good place to be from.

If you are stuck here for a while Lake Murray is nice if you like boating etc, the Vista has some bars and stuff. Avoid Five Points after about midnight, that's when the bad stuff happens.

The racing scene around here sucks mightily because it's pretty much non existent. Frankie's Fun Park over near Irmo has go carts, that's about as close to a local race scene as we have. Carolina Motorsports Park is about 40 minutes north, the 24 Hours of LeMons will be here again in late September. There is no local autocross scene and that is killin' me.

This is the most college football crazy town on the planet, so if that's your bag it's okay I guess.

West Columbia is, shall we say, redneck even by South Carolina standards.

Stay away from any USC frat parties. They will hand you a bong and then rat you out.

Five Points is where most of the action is. But see Curmudgeon above about 5P.

Piggie Park (Maurice's place) is to BBQ what Wendy's is to hamburgers. Except for the white supremicist tie-in, there's nothing.

BTW, Maurice Bessinger ran for Governor once. He rode around on a big white horse wearing a grey suit that resembled a Confederate uniform.

Hmm, so far this trip isn't looking too promising. As far as Maurice's is concerned, it sounds interesting, but not sure if an active-duty Army Officer would be very well received there... College FB isn't really my thing either. Looks like I'll be heading to Charleston most weekends and staying on-base during the week nights. Too bad about the lack of AutoX, I would rent a Fiesta and abuse it...

rant/ Not particularly looking forward to this trip anyway. I'm being sent there to be trained to do the job I've been doing for 6 months AND my second child is due on Sep 1st, so it's a possibility that I'll miss the birth because of this. I didn't miss my first child's birth and I was deploying to Iraq! Maybe I'll just take my GMAT study materials and sit in my room. /rant

BBQ around here is a lot like religion; everyone has their favorite and to diss it is to invite a smack upside the head. So understand that from a local perspective I am going out on a limb here.

Maurice's used to be pretty good but like spitfirebill says now it's just OK. In this old curmudgeon's opinion you need to go to Shealy's in Batesburg, about 35 miles west. The mustard and pepper vinegar based varieties are my favorites, with the pepper vinegar getting the ultimate nod. The ketchup based sucks; as I have said before don't you dare put ketchup and brown sugar on my pork 'cause I don't like cake frosting on my pig.

You should definitely check out Charleston if you've never been before. Columbia is large enough that you can get away from the Army mentality for the weekend if you want to. Are you going to be going to business school full-time? The GMAT isn't really that bad; if you're good at standardized tests, you'll do fine. It's only slightly harder than the ASVAB

Almost every place in SC is within a 2-3 hour drive. Mountains in the upstate or the beach. Charlotte is a 1-1.5 hour drive, Atlanta 3.5-4 hour drive.

If you have access to a bike, there are decent mountain biking trails at Harbison State Forest near Irmo. Several other state parks within a few hours if you want to hike or Congaree National Park/Swamp.

Alternate BBQ location is Hudson's Smokehouse on US 378 between Columbian & Lexington.

State Museum used to be free or $1 on some Sundays.

There's a Forest Service shooting range near Newberry off I-26. Free and has a concrete pad with a roof to provide some shade.

Come to think of it, Congaree Swamp has a night tour that I understand is pretty cool. The tour guide takes an infrared light and shows you all the neat (and sometimes scary) critters that are all around us. I need to drag the kid out there one night.

Saluda Shoals Park is ~1 mile from my house. Nice place. $2 admission.

Riverbanks Zoo is a nice one, well tended etc. There's a interactive bird cage, you go in with a little cup of sugar water and the birds will come sit on you, drink out of the cup. They will also crap on you (my daughter thought that was hilarious) so don't wear a nice shirt/jacket.

IMHO the only decent hiking in this state is around the Greenville area. Everything else is sand on flat ground.

Chucktown has the beaches etc, there's all kinds of touristy things to do downtown. Plenty of overpriced restaraunts if that's your thing.

Sweat, that area of the country is responsible for producing all the humidity for the rest of the world.

You can also feed the giraffes at Riverbanks Zoo.

3 art museums Gibbes, McKissick, & Columbia Museum of Art (unless I'm confused and Gibbes isn't in Columbia, can't remember). I've only been to the Columbia Museum of Art and if you aren't really into that, the price seems kinda steep.

A couple of places will rent kayaks/canoes or inner tubes and drop you off & pick you up on the Saluda River.

If you didn't bring a weapon and want to shoot, there's an indoor range where you can rent handguns on US 378 in West Columbia called Shooters Choice. Sometimes it gets crowded, best weekend time used to be Sat before noon. Haven't been there to shoot in a long time since I found the free outdoor range.

Famously Hot Music Festival. Weekend of Aug. 25. Friday is EDM (had to look that up...Electronic Dance Music), Saturday is "rock" day with 5 or 6 90's Alternative bands (Eve6, Soundgarden, Buckcherry forget the others), Sunday is "country" day. It's at Finlay Park in downtown Cola and I think the tickets are $20/day with no 3 day passes.

Always can stay on base an harass the recruits...oh wait, the Army gives their recruits weekends off don't they?

I think there's a MX course out off I-20 east of Cola headed towards Florence.

There used to be 2 places to rent boats on Lake Murray. One was pontoon only, the other had regular boats & jet skis but I'm not sure if they survived the recession. There were also 2 dinner cruise boats on the lake last summer. Most of these were out of marinas near Chapin on the NE side of the lake.

Horse stuff in Aiken, not sure if there is anything going on while you are here.

Might want to check if there are any concerts on base. There used to be a tour sponsored by the US Army that would hit Ft. Jackson each summer. Concert was at the outdoor stadium on base.

There are a couple of other concert venues in/around town. Colonial Life Arena, Township Auditorium, and the Newberry Opera House. Might be something to see there.

We have a minor league baseball team the Columbia Blowfish. Not sure if their season is over yet, but it is near the end.

Couple of theaters for plays if that is your thing. Town Theater, Trustus, and there is one affiliated with USC's drama department.

If you are into air shows, there might be something happening at Shaw AFB, McEntire ANG, or Owens Field. Sometimes they have vintage aircraft at Owens or the Thunderbirds/Blue Angels in the area.

Just tossing' out ideas, haven't actually checked any interwebs to see if any of these are going on.

Nuttin . . .

Vista is meh as well as 5P. We do go out to the Vista ever so often.

5P does have Pawley's Front Porch for tasty burgers. Shealy's or Little Pigs (right by Ft.J) for BBQ.

I normally hang out here at the crib with some friends, a few beers and my grill

In reply to Strike_Zero:

Sounds like how we Irmese do things. My brother has a sailboat so occasionally I go out on it. I don't make good rail meat (despite my bulk) so I don't go out racing with him.

Alright, this is sounding better. Thanks for the tips guys! This stuff should be plenty to at least fill the three weekends I'll be there and probably a few of the week nights. If Atlanta is only 3-4 hours away, I may head down there one weekend too and catch a Braves game -- never seen them play at home, and it's Chipper's last season.

nicksta43 wrote: Sweat, that area of the country is responsible for producing all the humidity for the rest of the world.

And not far from the epicenter of dog pecker gnats.

At least the gnats up here aren't like the 'flying teeth' of Charleston. Standing outside at dawn or dusk can be pure hell unless you use Avon 'Skin So Soft'. trOOf, it's the only thing that runs them off. Actually, it will run off anything with a nose.

One other thing Columbia has over Charleston is actual elevation changes. My house ~25 miles inland was at 26 feet above sea level. There are no hills, just a E36 M3pot of flat sand and oak trees.

Osterkraut wrote: Go get a degree from USC, it only takes about 15 minutes and $50.

Dang. When did the price go up?

Maybe some of us GRMers in Cola need to hang out, down some beer and shoot the E36 M3.

I haven't been to Pawley's in a while . . . hint hint . . . clue clue

Pawley's, huh? Might have to check that out... hint hint nudge nudge.

"Gourmet" burgers . . . or something like that LOL!!

Any place that names a burger(s) after places in SC and puts a fried egg on it is good in my book.

What time we eatin? I usually free from the shackles of my work laptop around 5:30pmish and completely back to normal around 7p . . .

Wait two weeks and I'll join you...