Have you visited Twelve Mile Recreation Area, a Clemson City Park on Lake Hartwell? Grab the swimsuits and those inflatable tubes because local mom Liene brought her kids for swimming and found a park full of family-friendly amenities that make it a great spot to spend a summer day. Here’s why you should visit and what to expect!
Are you looking for a fun, yet challenging escape room in Greenville, SC? With unique storylines and challenging puzzles, escape rooms have steadily been growing in popularity over the last decade. We gathered a list of escape rooms throughout the Upstate that are perfect for date nights, birthday parties, teambuilding exercises, and other group events. Time to pause that mystery podcast you’ve been listening to for hours and unlock your inner Sherlock Holmes to solve all the clues before time runs out!
Before heading to the escape room venue, it is highly recommended (and sometimes required) to book your appointment ahead of time.
Many of the escape rooms in the Upstate have an age limit or require a parent to accompany any minor. Some rooms are not recommended for children due to the theme.
Please contact the escape room you wish to attend for additional rules, pricing, booking an appointment, and information about their location.
Escape Rooms in Greenville County
Escape Artists Greenville- Downtown– 209 East Stone Avenue, Greenville | 864.509.9305 Offers 6 private escape rooms of varying levels of difficulty. Requires at least 2 players to complete (some rooms require a minimum of 4 players). Players under 16 must be accompanied by an adult, with some themes being inappropriate for younger players. Read our Kidding Around review of Escape Artists Greenville to see if Bethany beat the clock!
Escape Artists Greenville- Hampton Station– 1320 Hampton Avenue, Bay 11C, Greenville | 864.509.9305 Offers two 60-minute private escape rooms. Escape rooms require a minimum of 2 players, with an 8-player maximum.
Breakout Games– 614 North Main Street, Greenville | 864.326.0190 Offers 8 private escape rooms with varying difficulty levels. Require a minimum of 2 players to play. Open to all ages (under 14 must be accompanied by an adult).
Trapped in the Upstate– 556 Memorial Drive Extension, Suite D, Greer | 864.416.1539 Offers 6 private escape rooms that require at least 2 players. Puzzles take about 60 minutes each. The minimum age to play alone is 13. Children under 10 are welcome, but some puzzles are not appropriate for younger players due to difficulty and theme. Read our Kidding Around review of Trapped in the Upstate for more details.
Servus VR–928 South Main Street, Greenville | 864.509.1077 Offers 11 virtual reality escape games. Games require at least 2 players, with options for 2 player, 3 player, and 4 player games. Games run for 60 minutes.
Spartanburg County Escape Rooms
Escape Room Adventures and Virtual Reality– 1220 John B White Sr Boulevard, Spartanburg | 864.586.5086 Offers 6 escape rooms of varying levels of difficulty. Games require a minimum of 2 players. In addition, several VR escape games are available. Recommended age is 12 and older. Anyone under 18 must have a parent sign a waiver, and under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Escape Room Adventures requires an appointment.
Trapped in the Upstate, Greenville SC
Pickens County Escape Rooms
Seneca Escape Zones– 115- C Eagles Nest Drive, Seneca | 864.557.9663 Offers 3 escape rooms of varying levels of difficulty. A minimum of 2 players is required for each game, and each room holds up to 6 people. Puzzles are designed for ages 10 and up. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Book an escape room before attending the location.
The Escape Quest– 277 Market Street, Seneca | 864.626.5995 Offers 4 escape rooms of varying levels of difficulty. 2 players are required for 2 of the three rooms offered. Recommended party size is 4 – 8 players. Booking ahead is highly recommended, walk-in gameplay is not guaranteed. Each escape room is approximately 60 minutes. Children are allowed as long as accompanied by an adult.
Anderson County Escape Rooms
Electric City Escapes– 4103 Liberty Highway, Anderson | 864.328.9908 Offers 4 escape rooms with varying levels of difficulty. Three rooms are appropriate for all ages. The Mystery Parlor is PG13. The games are 60 minutes long. Booking online is recommended.
Do you have a favorite escape room in Greenville or the Upstate?
Summer is getting close and I know you are wondering “Where can we find my kid’s free lunch near me?”. The upstate has programs in place to provide FREE breakfasts and lunches for kids in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Pickens Counties. So many families rely on the school system to assist with meals for their children. Local school districts are helping kids by eliminating the cost of school lunches and breakfast from parents’ worries.
Things to Know about 2023 Free School Summer Meals for Kids
ALL kids 18 and under in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Greenville Counties qualify for free summer school food service breakfast and lunches, no questions asked. Your child doesn’t need to attend a specific school or financially qualify. T
There are some districts in Spartanburg County that require the student to be enrolled at that school, and we have notated this restriction if the information was provided.
Children will be required to eat their meals on-site. There will not be takeaway meals for 2023 for Greenville County Schools or the School District of Pickens County.
Pickens County will also offer free meals for anyone enrolled in school-age 21 and older with mental or physical disabilities.
Are you looking for indoor things to do in Clemson, SC? Need to keep your kids busy and entertained on rainy or unbearably hot days? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve gathered up ten great indoor places to visit in and around Clemson, SC.
Looking for parks in Easley? My favorite time of year has arrived, and I am so excited! Spring is working hard to break its way into the Southern summer. Recently my kids and I decided to leave the “big city” to check out the suburbs. We set out on a mission to explore some of the Easley parks and were pleasantly surprised with what we discovered!
We’ve also added some information for you about all parks in Easley and Pickens Counties, even if we haven’t had the opportunity to visit them yet.
If you’ve never spent a day exploring Pickens, SC, you should add it to your bucket list. Pickens County is home to some of the most naturally beautiful locations in South Carolina, including Table Rock and Lake Jocassee. You can also find excellent shopping at the Market at the Mill and local antique shops. There is just so much to do in Pickens, SC! We went on a search for fun in this beautiful area of the Upstate and came back with a long list of things to do on a day trip to Pickens, SC any time of year.
Interested in horseback riding in SC? Trail rides at Eden Farms, just outside Greenville, SC, are available on their sprawling 160-acre farm overlooking the mountains. Kristina took her kids and has all the details.
Thanks to Eden Farms for letting us do a trail ride so we could write the review!
I’ll take any chance to get close to the beautiful mountains surrounding Greenville and if it involves horseback riding, even better. This is exactly what Eden Farms in Marietta, SC offers to anyone who wants to enjoy their gentle horses, the sprawling farm, and the shaded trails.
About Eden Farms: SC Equestrian Center
Eden Farms, founded in 2001, is family-owned and operated. They have several pastures, three arenas (one of them is covered), and 160 acres of land with views of Table Rock, Caesars Head, and Paris Mountain. You can even catch a view of downtown Greenville on one of the trails.
They are perhaps most well-known for their horse therapy program, Happy Hooves, a nonprofit Therapeutic Equestrian Center that serves people with special needs of all ages and abilities. Since the nonprofit began in 2003, Eden Farms has served thousands of individuals. Happy Hooves Therapeutic Equestrian Center is the only one of its kind in the Upstate and one of five in the state that is a PATH International (formerly NARHA) Premier Accredited Centers. This basically means they have high standards of training and safety.
I’ve ridden horses before but all in all, I’m still pretty clueless about horses. My kids have only ridden them at events around in a circle. We are all beginners to say the least, which didn’t matter at all when it came time for our trail ride at Eden Farms.
As soon as we got there, Becky, the owner, and her team made us all feel welcome and encouraged. Once I signed all the release forms (which you can do online beforehand to save time), we were off to meet our horses in the spacious barn. By the way, the barn is gorgeous. It is just so pretty and clean! And all the horses we met were very calm and gentle. You could tell they were happy.
When we booked the trail ride, Becky asked our weight and height so she could prepare the correct horses for us. My seven-year-old had a beautiful small horse named Twiggy. My daughter fit on her perfectly. And my oldest daughter at 11-years-old rode Hannah Eve, a gorgeous quarter horse. My horse, Rebekah, was a Belgian. She was huge but very gentle. I immediately could relate to this horse as she loved to eat while we were riding.
Once we got our helmets on and were introduced to our horses, we were taken out to one of the arenas to mount our horses from a wooden stand, which made it really easy. And then we rode around the arena for a few minutes while Becky and our guide instructed us on how to turn, stop, and go on our horses. It was really easy. And then we were off to the trail.
Meandering Through the Forest
My two kids each had their own guide walking alongside them as is the standard at Eden Farms. Kids ages 7-12 can ride but do have a guide with them for safety. I had never seen this before on previous trail rides when I was much younger but it made me feel very safe and secure to have them with my kids even though they were right in front of me. I was pulling up the rear with Rebekah and got to see the joy my kids felt while riding the horses. It was awesome.
The trail we were on was about a mile long and runs through the back of the farm on a dirt path and then up into the nicely shaded woods. But on our way up there, we were treated to beautiful views of Table Rock, Caesars Head, and Paris Mountain. It was just so peaceful. Like I mentioned in the beginning, mountains make me so happy. Seeing them is very calming for me and being able to ride such a sweet and gentle horse while watching my kids enjoy something so thoroughly was very special.
To give the best experience to their guests, Eden Farms only takes out four people at a time on trail rides. Based on my previous trail riding experiences, I had expectations of what it would be like at Eden Farms but it was so much better than what I had imagined. Becky and her team were so attentive and patient and answered all our questions while encouraging us in our handling of the horses. The horses were so well-behaved and gentle. I never felt unsafe or unsteady and really loved the experience. My youngest wanted to know how to trot by the time we were done and now she’s begging me to send her to summer camp there while my other daughter is already planning her birthday party at Eden Farms. It’s definitely a fun and welcoming place.
Booking Your Own Trail Ride
Eden Farms runs trail rides Monday – Saturday by appointment. Over the summer, trail rides go out at 8 am because of the heat. Make it a day trip and head to Table Rock State Park to jump in some waterfalls or hit up a nearby sandy mountain beach. During other seasons, rides are in the morning and early afternoon.
Give Eden Farms a call to schedule a trail ride at 864.898.0043. Kids are welcome and those ages 7-12 will have a guide walking with them on the trail but they will be the ones to control the reins. Kids need to be at least seven years old and riders must be under 225 pounds.
This would make an awesome date activity with your significant other or your kid(s). It’s a fun special occasion activity or just something enjoyable to do with your friends or family visiting as well.
Trail rides are about an hour long and include a safety lesson and helmet. They are $80/person.
Eden Farms 4700 Dacusville Highway, Marietta 864.898.0043
Did you know that you can visit Table Rock Tea Company to learn about tea right in Upstate, SC? This authentic tea farm is only a 45-minute drive from Greenville, SC, grows, processes, and sells tea. We went for a tour to learn about all that’s brewing at Table Rock Tea.
Within the first five minutes of our awesome tour at Table Rock Tea Company, my mind was blown. I can’t tell you what it was exactly that did it because it’s a fun fact that Jennifer, the owner, loves to tell guests, but it’s only the beginning of learning all about how tea is grown and processed right here in the Upstate of South Carolina.
Searching for an indoor space for your kids to play or to host a party in Pickens, SC? Happy Kids Playhouse is just the place! The space is curated for entertaining ages 10 and under, with large inflatable slides, tons of toys, creative play stations, character appearances, and more. Happy Kids Playhouse has everything you need to have a memorable party for your little ones, or even just to enjoy the day with some indoor playtime. So grab your socks and get ready for a day of fun!
Thank you to Happy Kids Playhouse for hosting KAG for a review.
Looking for a mountain home rental in Pickens, SC, or near Greenville, SC for a large group of people? This beautiful home with a big open floor plan, fully stocked kitchen, and screened-in porch sleeps up to 16 people and has incredible views of the mountains. It could be the rental home you’re looking for.
We have all the details on the home itself, plus information on other places to stay near Greenville, SC.
When you book through these links, use the code KAG22 for an additional 10% off the already reduced rental fees by booking directly with StayGVL.
