- Hi, I'm Erik the Travel Guy.

650 miles of shoreline, history, lip-smacking barbecue, and all in the center of the state.

Lake Murray, South Carolina is next on Beyond Your Backyard.

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For 73 years, we've been bringing travelers to Italy.

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- My name is Erik Hastings.

Yeah, that's me.

And for as long as I can remember, I've always loved to travel and I still do today, but you know what I've learned?

There's so much more that brings us together than divides us, which is why I've made it my mission to do the very same things you can do, but to take you beyond the experiences, to uncover the soul of every place we visit.

Let me introduce you to the people, the places and the secrets that remind us how exciting it is to share with one another, to understand one another and to realize just how connected we really are.

I am Erik the Travel Guy, and this is Beyond Your Backyard.

Thank you for watching and welcome to Lake Murray country.

You know, it was back in 1927 when the town said we need more power, which means they had to build a giant dam, which created a beautiful lake.

Now, those of you who are in the know understand that we can't possibly cover everything there is to do and see all in one episode, but for you first-timers, we're going to give you a glimpse of what you've been missing all these years.

On today's episode, we will get out on that gorgeous lake.

We will learn the history of the region, sample delicious food and feed some very hungry seals.

But we're also going to dive into what some referred to as the Purple Martin phenomenon.

It's going to be a good one.

Let's get started.

As always let's turn to our beloved map to get a sense of just exactly where we are.

Now, Lake Murray country is located smack dab in the middle of South Carolina and stretches across Lexington, Saluda, Newberry, and Richland counties.

It's also just a stone's throw away from the state capital of Columbia.

So there's no shortage of diverse experiences.

We made the trip down in August.

So it's safe, if not downright charitable to say that things were a little on the warm side, but that wasn't going to stop us from experiencing what Lake Murray has to offer.

Now, stay with me on this, because we've got water, a little agriculture, green spaces, and live animals.

[Goat Bleats] You may want to hold onto your hat for our first stop though, because things are about to get wild.

This is Riverbank Zoo and Garden.

Riverbank Zoo and Garden is one of the premier wildlife attractions in the state, which is just one of the reasons Lake Murray is unique.

I caught up with one of the keepers to get the inside scoop on how it all works and maybe, just maybe, do a little animal keeping of my own.

When you come to work, how do you describe what visitors are going to see every day when they're here?

- Well, the easiest description is animals.

You're going to see a lot of really cool animals that you never get to see elsewhere.

- But, I'm sorry, are we working with, like, more than 2000 animals?

- We are.

- It's just not like some roadside attraction.

- Nope, not at all.

So when we're working with animals here, we want everything to feel natural.

We went everything to look natural, and we want the animals to act as they would in nature.

You know, certainly we're connected with the worldwide inner web box.

We can look up anything we want, usually in real time.

we can see cameras of animals - Yep.

in their natural habit, but yet there's no substitution for actually seeing these animals in person.

- Yep.

- Wouldn't you agree?

- Absolutely.

It's just like whenever you travel, you can see a picture of a mountain, but once you see it up close, that's a completely different experience.

And we want people to see these animals up close.

I really like seeing a child light up when they see an elephant for the first time.

- Right.

- And so one thing people really like about our facility is how small and intimate it is, but how big at the same time with everything that we have.

- How big is this zoo?

- It's 170 acres.

- Okay.

That's pretty big.

- It is.

- I don't think people realize this is one of the most celebrated zoo in the United States.

Like top 10.

- It is, top 10.

- This zoo makes these lists every year consistently.

- Yep.

- Why?

- Well, look around.

It's a really great zoo.

- Yeah.

- One of the coolest things I've always said about the zoo is, you know, 170 acres sounds large for a facility, but we are a little bit of a smaller zoo facility.

But because of that, everything is always changing.

This whole front entrance area, our sea lion exhibit, those are brand new within the last five years.

Um, we're currently working on new master plans to renovate a bunch of other exhibits.

So this zoo, because we don't have a lot of space to just keep expanding out, we're constantly changing what we have and updating it.

- Guests can go a little behind the scenes.

- Yes.

- Right?

What can they do behind the scenes?

- Sea lion is one of the behind scenes tours you can do.

- Really?

- Yes.

- All right.

Tell me about these guys.

These are, these are pretty amazing creatures.

- They are.

So we have eight animals in the exhibit.

Three of them are harbor seals and the other five are California sea lions.

So people can pay a little extra with their admission, but they get to come behind scenes, come on deck during a training show .

.

.

- No.

- And then they can actually come into the kitchen, talk to a keeper and then actually come around to the front and throw some fish to some of the animals too.

- Can I do that?

- Oh yeah.

We're going to go out and throw some ice.

- Are you serious?

- Yes.

- Oh, this is going to work out.

All right.

We will, let's go now.

- Okay.

Sea lions are large animals.

Our largest is over 600 pounds and our smallest is about 200 and something, our harbor seals.

- Yeah.

- So we like to have shields with us just because they are a carnivore, they do have those really large teeth and they're very curious animals, so.

- This interview was going fine until I heard large teeth and curious.

Sounds like code to me.

"I don't know how I feel about," no, I'll be fine.

- I, I believe in you.

I think you'll be okay.

- We got this.

- Yes.

You're brave.

You travel.

You're good.

- I'm all right.

This looks like the dinner I had like four nights ago.

It's surprising.

- It is just raw fish.

So we have extra if you're hungry.

- Oh, very good.

- So you can come up with me here.

- Alyson, you have the greatest job in the world!

- I do!

- This is amazing.

You really don't do anything on this platform other than the educational programs, so they're expecting something to happen.

- Yep.

When we come out, especially with those silver buckets, they're looking for food.

- They know.

- So this is where we do our training sessions.

- People see these seals.

They're like, they look like they're having the time of their lives.

Are they?

- They are.

They're always interacting with each other, playing.

They really like enrichment objects, balls and stuff that they have to get fish out of.

So very smart, very social animals.

- Alyson I have to tell you, this has certainly been one of the most educational interviews we've done, but also the best smelling.

- I do not get that often.

- It's just, it's nice.

From water, back to dry land, I said goodbye to my new aquatic friends and headed out in search of some more local wildlife, which brings us to the massive green acreage found here.

This was my first visit to this part of South Carolina.

And frankly, the greenery was hard to miss.

This is Congaree National Park, located just a brisk 25 minutes from downtown Columbia.

Congaree sports a beautiful display of ecological biodiversity, from trees hundreds of years old to the sweeping floodplain surrounding them.

You'll be hard pressed to find a place like this anywhere else.

So what is this park?

How do you describe this park to someone that's never been here?

- So Congaree National Park is the largest intact extent of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States.

You know, much of the similar landscape was logged out from the late 1800s into about the 1940s, Cypress trees, which are very prevalent in floodplain forests, were very highly sought after by loggers.

- This is a place about connecting with our roots.

Is it that important now?

- It's especially important now, you know, as we're starting to see, you know, you know, more people just kind of, you know, into the screen rather than the green outside.

It's just, you know, we're, we're not really connected to the world around us.

We're just looking at what's right in front of us.

- I'm sorry.

Help me out here.

This will not go unnoticed.

Did you say too much screen time, not enough green time?

What was that in there?

- People are more connected to the screen rather than the green.

- I love it.

What are most people surprised by?

- They walk out and after seeing some of the things that they see, the huge trees, or maybe a river otter in the creek, or maybe they've gone out paddling in a kayak or a canoe, you know, they come out and they normally have this awe inspired, you know, look on their face.

And it's like, this was by far one of my top, top parks because you know, you just don't get to see places like this.

You know, we've got parks with mountains and we've got parks with, you know, huge trees everywhere, but huge trees and a wetland landscape.

You just don't get that as much.

- Should we go take a walk?

- Let's go take a walk.

- Are you gonna wear the hat for the walk?

- I will wear the hat.

- Oh my gosh.

I love the hat, I love the hat.

All right, good.

What do you say to parents that are watching this right now going, you know, I can bring my family out of here, but I don't know what to tell them?

- I mean, this is, it's a great family park and we've got lots of, lots of trails that are actually really easy for families to come out and so you can get your kids exposed to, exposed to nature without getting them dirty.

You know, we've got this wonderful boardwalk out here and they can experience lots of wildlife.

You know, like otters, kids love otters.

- Right.

I love otters.

- You know, you've got a chance to see those down on the, down on the creek and all kinds of birds and deer, things like that.

So a great place for kids to just kind of get an exposure to nature.

- You come out here and there's a feeling that's very hard to put your finger on if you haven't experienced it before.

how do you describe it?

- I mean, magical is a great way to describe it.

I like primeval, especially, like I said, when you get into some parts of this park, you know, that haven't been touched or, you know, seen an ax to a tree, you know, you're seeing a place that is ancient.

- Like Jon said, getting away from the screen and spending time in the green is a beautiful and crucial experience that there's nothing quite like.

But once again, I was surprised at the agriculture scene here and quite a few area chefs are committed to growing local.

Of course the best accoutrement to any meal is a heaping portion of companionship, which is why I caught up with Janet and Gloria of Two Gals and a Fork.

They run a food tour company, showing people all the best food in town and the history behind it, which is how I ended up here at Aladia's.

What are people wanting on the tour?

What, why do they, why do they call?

I mean, they heard you're fabulous, of course.

- Of course.

- Who hasn't?

What, what did they call?

What did they say?

What are they looking for?

- The food and, and believe it or not, most of them are very interested in the history.

Be amazed at what you don't know about places where you live.

- That's really cool to, you know, you think, yeah, of course we want to try the local fare.

Everybody wants to know where to eat and where do I go to eat, right?

- And the restaurants we say, serve your specialty or what you want to show.

And, and, and what is your signature stuff?

And Aladia's varies.

They have done lots of wonderful pastas and dishes and wonderful desserts.

We had a tour one time where they just did desserts.

- Oh my gosh.

Does this part of the state have a culinary identity?

- Probably barbecue.

- Yeah.

- Yep.

Barbecue and boiled peanuts.

- We do need some boiled peanuts.

- We do.

- What is the deal with the boiled peanuts?

I see them on the, you know, out on the road and I'm like, why is that popular here?

- Boiled peanuts, that's just, you grow up eating them.

- So then, but what's the boiling?

Why, why the boiling?

- Well, that's just the way to eat them.

- That's the way you eat them.

Now, you know, you can, you can have the roasted and you can have the other ways, but the boiled peanuts are the true Southern delicacy.

- What we're really talking about is that ton the beaten path versus off.

- Right.

- You know, I, I'm a big believer in, listen, if you're coming to South Carolina, if you're not having barbecue and peanuts, there's something wrong with you.

There's plenty of places to eat outside of those things.

- Exactly.

- But you need to make sure you do that as well.

But don't do it exclusively.

Right?

- Exactly.

Exactly.

- Because you'll miss out on this.

- Right.

- Yeah.

We're really proud of our area and how it's growing with the restaurants.

I mean, I just, I think people really don't understand how many good restaurants we have.

- Food humanizes a destination.

You can learn so much about a place through its food.

By the way, you know what?

Let me tell you something.

This is the little dirty secret about traveling, but we're going to give it, we're gonna do it right here on the show.

Are you ready?

Okay.

When you travel to new places and you eat at new restaurants, sometimes when you try new things, you're not going to like it.

- Right.

- And that's okay.

- Not everybody's palette is the same.

- This has shrimp in here.

Now my mom growing up, we lived in the middle of Iowa.

She didn't cook seafood.

She hated it.

- Oh, wow.

- It took me 20 years to eat seafood.

Over time to learn you keep trying again, your taste buds change.

So the things you don't think you like, you may like these days.

- You know, that's one of the fun things when people say, "But I don't, I don't eat that."

You gotta taste it.

- If somebody right now watching this, you're like, I never thought, I'm not going, I'm not, I don't know anything about Columbia.

I don't anything about, I'm not going on a vacation.

I thought I might come on vacation just for lunch or dinner here.

- Just for lunch, yes.

- And everything else will work itself out.

Something in the water down here.

I don't know.

I don't know what's going on, but I love it.

With my stomach full of some of the best local culinary delights I could find, it was time to get out on the stunning Lake Murray and witness one of the coolest natural phenomenon I had ever seen.

Here in the summer months, once you're out on the lake, one of the things you absolutely have to do is head over to Bomb Island, also known as Purple Martin Island.

And I think we're going to find out why.

Bomb Island got its name from World War II planes who would use it as target practice on bombing runs.

Nowadays, it's the largest Purple Martin sanctuary in North America, lending itself to a much different kind of aviation.

During the summers, up to 1 million birds come to the island at sunset to roost.

The Purple Martin is the largest swallow in North America, so it is absolutely something to behold.

No one's quite sure why they choose this specific island.

But one thing is for certain: you'll never see anything else quite like it.

Now hundreds of thousands of these birds make a trip here to Lake Murray every year.

And I got to tell you, it's a pretty remarkable sight.

So I have a little suggestion for you.

Charter a pontoon, get a little picnic dinner, and just take it all in at sunset.

Seeing the Purple Martins up close and learning all about them is truly something else.

Now I know why lake Murray is known as the jewel South Carolina.

Of course that's not the only learning you can do in the area.

You know, I believe every vacation should have a hint of edutainment.

That's why I want you to make a stop here.

This is the Lexington County museum and it's well worth a visit.

Why is this museum here?

- Because we want to tell the story of Lexington County and it goes way back.

The Germans settled this area as early as the 1730s.

- No kidding.

- Yeah.

From 1735 to 85, it was called Saxagatha.

- What year was Lexington County established?

- The Lexington district, if you want to call it something like that was 1804.

- Okay.

- The town of Lexington wasn't established until right before the war between the states, 1860.

- 1860.

Okay.

What was life like?

- Well, it was, it was a hard life, but I mean, you know, people, you just kinda adjust to what you got.

And they were a very smart type of people.

And they came up with a lot of different ideas to be able to get along.

- How did they adapt to the climate?

My gosh.

I mean, here we are in the center of the state, it gets a little warm, it gets a little humid in the summer.

- Well, let me tell you one of the secrets on that.

Buildings were built to accommodate as much breeze as they could.

They were all up off the ground.

And the reason was so the air could come up underneath and a lot of the flooring had gaps in the flooring so the air could come up too.

- So there could be a flow.

- It'd have still been hot, but a little more bearable.

People ask me, "Well, why is there four doors attached to this house across here?"

- Right.

- Because of the air flow, you open those doors and sometimes parallel to it were other doors and windows, they're trying to do as much as they can.

- When people come down here with their families, they come out and what can they expect when they come down to the museum?

- They can expect real good history of the county.

- Because if I have my math right, weren't you saying earlier that this museum is actually almost twice as old as the state history museum?

- Yes, sir.

One unique thing about us is we cover three different periods in buildings.

Now not many museums do that.

The early days, it was the colonial period from the early to late 1700s, and then we have buildings that cover federal period, which is 1790s and up to 1820.

- And a third period as well.

- Well, it's the antebellum, which includes the John Fox house.

It goes from the 1820s leading up to the war between the states, so.

- How long have you been here?

- Going on 17 years.

- Is it true when wearing the same hat for almost two decades?

- Yes, sir.

- No way.

- Yes, sir.

- Are you serious?

- Yes, sir.

[Mumbles] - Can I, can I wear the hat for a second?

- Sure you can.

- I took a shower this morning.

- Absolutely.

- This way.

Now we're talking.

I can see why this hat's been with you for 17 years.

Unfortunately, I had to return Mike's cool hat to him, but it was hard to stay too down about it because of my next exciting stop.

This is Steel Hands Brewing Company, a local brewery based out of Cayce, South Carolina, that fuses local flavors with national talent.

What a gorgeous place you get to come to work everyday.

Does it still seem like work or is it more fun than work?

- It's more play than work I would say.

It's craft beer, so it's not too serious.

- I didn't want to say that, but it would seem to me that you are, well, I think the kids call it living your best life.

Are you?

- Well, yes, I would say so.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We have a great time here.

- How did this come about?

- My husband, who's one of the owners, he and his business partner, they travel a lot.

They love to visit breweries.

They love to experience breweries.

He actually, he's an architect, so he has built multiple breweries in town.

So they thought, why not?

Let's do it.

Let's do it the way that we want to do it and bring those experiences back to Columbia and create something new for the city.

- That's really cool.

Can we take a little tour?

- Absolutely, yeah.

- Are there things going on right now?

- There are some fun, exciting things, So you picked a good, so you picked a good day to come.

- This is what I'm talking, that's why I love doing this show.

Where do we go?

I don't know where .

.

.

- Let's go back this way.

Okay.

- We're going this way.

- Come on.

So we offer brew house tours three times a week.

So Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and they get not only a tour, but they get to taste four of our beer brands, normally our core brands.

- Really?

- And then with that, they also get to take home a souvenir pint glass.

Welcome.

This is our brew house.

We run a 30 barrel, fully automated brew house.

So basically that's the largest production brewery in the Midlands.

We've got right here, our brand new 420 barrel fermenters that hold our core brands.

This is our canning line back here.

So you can see all of the beer kind of goes up top, comes down, gets filled, and then gets pushed down.

We can run 53 cans a minute on this machine.

- Wow.

- So these guys get anywhere from 500 to 800 cases out the door a day.

You want to pull a couple off the line?

- Sure.

How many days do we get to try that?

We're going to do it together.

Oh my God.

That is ice cold.

- Yeah.

Isn't that awesome?

Yeah, this is our Time Clock Pilsner.

So this is our latest brand and package.

This is about as fresh as it gets right out of the brine tank, so pretty cool.

- Oh my God.

Look at this.

- But cheers!

- Cheers.

One, nine to go.

- Pretty fresh.

- That's amazing.

- Nice and cold, right?

- That's amazing.

Ice cold.

- You like it?

- Yeah, it's amazing!

I mean, obviously you work with an amazing team.

You hire the right folks who are really passionate about the product and understand, and I would imagine mitigate a lot of the issues that you might come in.

Every now and again, do they not like what they make?

- Honestly, I haven't tried a beer that I haven't loved.

And I say that truthfully.

- That's why I asked.

- Our, our guys back here, they know what they're doing.

Our head brewer, he actually has a degree in biology and a master's in brewing, if you can believe it.

- I believe it.

- So that makes for kind of a magical combination.

We have a lot of great beers.

I'd love for you to try them.

- What?

There's gonna be, now we're gonna do more?

- Yeah!

- Oh my gosh, this interview can't go any better for me.

- We work with a master roaster in town, Loveland Coffee, and they give us all their coffee, their cold brew, basically.

That's what we use in it, and it's got caffeine in it, but it is delicious.

- I say we get going on it.

- Okay.

Wonderful.

Let me go grab you one, okay?

Give me just a second.

- Oh my gosh.

Look at this.

- Yes!

So we pour it in our coffee lager mug, which makes it extra special, but people love it.

- Oh, I love this mug.

- Isn't that fun?

- I don't think I've ever had coffee beer before.

This is a first.

This is a whole new level here.

- It's delicious.

- It's really good.

- It's my go-to for sure.

And men and women both love it.

- This is great.

If the team's passionate about what they're putting in the glass, it shows, you know.

- Oh, absolutely.

- At the end of the day, that's what it's all about.

What I think needs to happen here is I'm going to finish this and I'll probably finish this and yours.

And then maybe I'll just start on the left and work my way down.

- That works great.

You stay as long as you want.

- Thank you Ashley, very much for this.

And with that, it was time for us to take our leave of Lake Murray and all it had to offer.

I know a lot of places claim to have something for everyone, but I sure enjoyed the natural beauty, both on the water and in the greenery.

I love the wildlife and the history too.

So in summary, we got out on the lake, we learned about the birds.

We went to the zoo, we fed the seals.

We fed ourselves delicious food and we learned why so many happy families have been returning to Lake Murray country for generations.

I'm Erik the Travel Guy.

Thank you for exploring beyond your backyard.

It's going to be a good one.

Let's get started.

[Laughs] This is Lake Murray, South Carolina.

I forgot to say my name, I have to say my name.

- [Director] Who is this?

Who's that guy?

- There's an island.

You know what they call it?

Fantasy Island.

No, they don't.

Hey, I've got a culin- [Stutters] - Can you confirm it's a dead fish?

Yes.

He said yes.

Okay.

- For more information on this episode, visit ErikTheTravelGuy.com.

And while you're there, you'll discover other fascinating destinations just beyond your backyard and links to follow me on social media.

That's EriTtheTtravelGuy.com.

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- The Perillo Tours foundation.

For 73 years, w've been bringing travelers to Italy.

It's where our heart is.

Escorted tours and custom vacations.

Italy, the dream destination.

- Hi, I'm Erik the Travel Guy.

- Hi, I'm Erik the Travel Guy.

You know, I've been exploring the world professionally for more than a decade, and you know what I've learned?

It's that fantastic experiences await you in every corner of the globe, but you don't always have to travel that far to uncover them.

So join me each week as we go on and off the beaten path, learn something new and sample delicious culinary.

We're exploring beyond your backyard.

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