Meanwhile, in Columbia....

You can't argue with a hurricane.

 So you get OUT OF IT'S WAY. 

While you are in Columbia, or Charlotte, or perhaps Greenville....or other safe destinations--you await news of the hurricane's location, projected arrival time, and strength. You watch the Weather Channel and see the newspeople out in the mad wind, almost being blown down as signs, awnings, and piers are swept away. The palm trees bend and the big trees break.  Perhaps you see your own neighborhood, flooded. You see awful devastation once it's made it's way through and the eye has passed. You can't go home just yet because the highway lanes have not been reversed back. You have to wait for that. Then you wait to see if the roads are open since many close. If they are flooded or big trees lay across them, there is not much you can do but just wait for it to subside. Then you see which areas/neighborhoods are okay to enter and if they are not, such as with live wires down, or bridges closed or broken, you have to wait. Then there is the issue of power. You may think you are in a hurry to get home, but when you get there if you have no power what do you do? No electricity, the refrigerator is off, no radio/tv, fans to blow breezes, no hot water, lights at night, no way to cook. You can't go to a restaurant because they are all CLOSED. Stores---also closed. Gas stations---closed. If the bridge going to your city, town, area is closed, you can't get in anyway. 

So you really just have to wait and go back when they tell you it is safe. It can be frustrating, the waiting. But we all try to be patient and wait our turn. Many can work from anywhere now, on their laptops, this is what Mr. Front Porch was able to do. When he took breaks or called it a day, we tried to keep ourselves amused and busy and try not to think of  the hurricane or the damage it left behind. Make the best of a bad situation.

So we walked alot. We walked the city. And the parks. And the historic district. We walked by rivers and we walked by lakes. The dogs thought we were on a big adventure for sure!

(below, colorful rocking chairs!)

Isn't that chair pretty??!

Our state's Capital:

Window shopping:

Alley peeking:

And people watching:

This bluegrass trio was fun to listen to!

While walking around I noticed that trees and posts were covered in knitting and crochet. It was pretty and I didn't know why it was there. You can find out by clicking here below:

What are "yarn bombs?" Find out here:

Below: LOL Look at Tammie's eyes! ha ha

Here, a photographer works with his subject:

Another Columbia park:

This one had an old schoolhouse:

.......and pretty pink flowers.

Another day........another park----

The sun was sending sunbeams down through the woods.

The trails here were super wide and well paved and the river sparkled.

It was quite lovely!

Ending this post with pictures of "hurricane kitties" in hotel windows...

These people brought their kitty some kind of bed that had suction cups on it that attached to the window...and the kitty loved sitting there and watching things and people!

Kitty says "is Hurricane Matthew finished and can we go HOME NOW?"