Things to Do in Ladson

Designed to look like an island retreat, Whirlin’ Waters Adventure Waterpark is more than just a place to beat the heat. It’s a fun-filled playground complete with slides, squirt guns, and a wave pool. The Big Splash Tree House is outfitted with 66 interactive features, including a giant bucket that drenches visitors with more than 1,000 gallons of water. The Tubular Twister sends riders shooting down a trio of 300-foot slides, while the Big Kahuna recreates the ocean’s waves in a 27,000-square foot pool. Little ones can play in gentler areas such as Lily Pad Lagoon and Otter Bay, which has a six-lane racer slide. In between aquatic activities, you can relax in the lazy river or stop by the concession stands for a quick bite.

Since 1982, Perry Green has been putting his PGA membership to good use, hosting private and group golf lessons, camps, and clinics for all ages. His innate golfing expertise, which netted him the 2005 Illinois PGA Senior Masters Championship, is bolstered by a video-analysis system that allows him to examine every aspect of his students' form and point out faults in the arc of their swing or the creases in their chinos.

Home to the state's largest freestanding bouldering island, New Jersey Rock Gym houses 12,000 square feet of vertical terrain to climb as well as 41 top roping stations. Armed with either day passes or membership, guests scamper up the gym's synthetic summits, hoping to ask questions of the learned ceiling light sequestered at the top of the mountain. While gear is included with some membership options, guests can opt to bring their own materials or rent the individual shoes ($5), harnesses ($4), or chalk bags ($2) they need from the pro shop. New Jersey Rock Gym offers a collection of educational course work in the vertical arts, teaching belay technique to beginners or advanced skills to adults. Children can also take advantage of youth climbing programs, mini camps, and birthday parties before retiring to private refreshment chambers to absorb bottles of electrolyte-infused refreshment. The nearby pro shop outfits climbers with name-brand gear for purchase, while a WiFi lounge transmits terabytes of data into nearby electronic devices or unsecured cyborg brains.

It was February 17, 1864. The USS Housatonic floated in Charleston Harbor atop calm, cold waters. Below the surface, a group of Confederate soldiers sweated bullets as they cranked the propellers of the H. L. Hunley, speeding toward the Union's Housatonic on a historic mission: they would become the first submarine crew ever to sink an enemy ship. A 135-pound torpedo struck the Housatonic's stern, detonating a fiery explosion that sank the vessel within minutes. The Hunley then surfaced just long enough for the crew to flash a blue magnesium light, signaling to fellow forces on the shore that the mission succeeded and the submarine would return. And it did—but not until almost 140 years later, when it was raised from the harbor's sandy bottom on August 8, 2000, after author Clive Cussler discovered the wreck intact.

Today, the leaders of the nonprofit H. L. Hunley Submarine seek to conserve, restore, and ultimately exhibit this historic vessel, as well as solve the mystery of how it completed its mission only to vanish moments later. They welcome visitors to see the submarine in its current condition—within a 90,000-gallon conservation tank—and educate guests on the vessel's many details. Guides walk guests through features such as the manual-propulsion system and automatic moon roof, and illuminate exhibits such as a lifesize model from the TNT movie The Hunley.

Celebration Town helps kids to burn energy and exercise imaginations as they leap and bound across a sprawling landscape of bouncy castles and inflatable slides during open-jump sessions. Parents relax while kids engage with other fixtures including skee-ball cabinets, climbing stations, educational computer stations, and illiterate karaoke machines. Youngsters can also explore the limits of their mental and physical strength during structured after-school programs and summer camps.

Diagnosed with a disruptive neurological condition at age 10, studio founder David Kiser discovered Bikram yoga while he was seeking alternative treatments to help alleviate his chronic neck and back pain. After his first Bikram class in 2003, David noticed moderate relief of his symptoms, and after that day, he dedicated himself to continued practice, earning his teacher's certification three years later. David credits his pain relief to the two breathing exercises and 26 standing, seated, and hula-hooping postures of Bikram yoga, which promote healthy organ function by circulating freshly oxygenated blood throughout the entire body. During each class, instructors crank the practice space's temperature up to 105 degrees with 40% humidity to promote physical well-being. In the sultry atmosphere, students’ bodies safely sink into each stretch, flushing toxins out of freshly opened pores. Afterward, onsite showers and locker rooms allow students to recompose themselves while planning a class field trip to the nearest glacier for some postclass relief.