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Seasonal
Tours
PURPLE MARTIN CRUISE
& JULY/AUGUST 2008
Ø Arrive at the Capital City/Lake Murray Country Visitor’s Center. Enjoy refreshments and tour the Exhibit Hall and museum of the graceful survivor of the Civil War, the Lorick Plantation House (Circa 1840). Ø Board the motorcoach for a trip to downtown Columbia for a tour of the S.C. State Museum, (ranked by Southern Living as one of the top ten in the Southeast). Ø Enjoy lunch and the view! The New Orleans Riverfront Restaurant is a jazzy, French Quarter style atmosphere overlooking the downtown Columbia Skyline and Congaree River. Ø Visit the newly renovated State House. Look for the bronze stars on the building’s western wall. They mark the hits made by General Sherman’s cannonballs during the Civil War. The State House is the seat of South Carolina’s government, housing both the Governor’s Office and the General Assembly. A recent $43 million restoration has restored the building to its historic elegance. Ø Visit the Columbia Museum of Art. The museum has a wide variety of European and American fine and decorative art, including one of the largest collections of Baroque and Renaissance art in the southeast. Ø Check in at the hotel and enjoy a welcome reception. Relax and get ready for evening entertainment with the “Lake Murray Purple Martins as the Stars” of a production that you will not see anywhere else in the nation. Ø Board the motorcoach for a ride to beautiful Lake Murray and the Southern Patriot. The Southern Patriot will hold 100 passengers. Enjoy a catered dinner as you cruise the lake and learn its history from your captain. Then, get ready for the “Lake Murray Purple Martins” to descend on Lunch Island for the night. It is truly one of nature’s natural phenomenons! Words can never describe the sensation you feel as the Martins flock time and time again, over the boat. There are millions of Purple Martins that descend at sundown for the night. (For more information about the Purple Martins email the Purple Martin Conservation Association.)
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Return to the hotel. Day #2Ø 8:30am. Start the day with a complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Ø Board the motorcoach for a trip to Newberry. Once upon a time is the way to describe the sleepy Southern town of Newberry, S.C. Here you will visit Carter and Holmes Orchid Nursery, the third largest in the nation. A guided tour will show you how they propagate new orchids from little spores in test tubes. Ø Enjoy lunch at one of the many fine restaurants in Newberry. Ø Enjoy a matinee performance at the Newberry Opera House. Ø Board the motorcoach to continue your trip.
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MYSTERY
STOPOVER