Kermit said:
I live about 1.5 hours from Columbia, but I've never stopped there. I've just driven through it on my way to other places.
Columbia is along the line that divides the flat, coastal part of the state from the hilly, foothill to the mountains part. (Is that called an escarpment or something like that?) When you're driving on the Interstate, the switch from regular trees to palm trees and swamp land trees is dramatic.
For really high hills and mountains, you'd need to go a bit further north. There are some nice mountains for hiking and looking at waterfalls in the northwestern part of the state, and when you cross the North Carolina state line, you're really in the mountains.
That terrain switch is called the piedmont (foot of the mountain). Columbia is flat and hot. I don't know what there is to do there, it is a college town for USC, they have a nice zoo. I lived in Greenville, which is about 100 miles northwest of Columbia. A little cooler (not a whole lot) in the summer,
a view of the North Carolina Mountains ( about a 30 minute drive to get to them) very hilly terrain throughout the city/surrounding areas. There is one mountain in Greenville, we used to live on it-Paris Mountain. I loved it, we had wonderful views, just beautiful. Greenville has a very cosmopolitan feel to it (lots of Europeans come to work for Michelin headquarters and other European companies-BMW has a plant there, too.) , but the Southern charm is still there. They have a great downtown/Main Street with shops and bars/restaurants with sidewalk dining. They have a great cultural draw, too. Broadway shows and concerts come to the beautiful Peace Center for the Performing Arts. They have pumpped a lot of money into renovating the Downtown area, and it shows. Most recently, they tore down a bridge that ran over and covered the view of a beautiful waterfall on the Reedy River. Every year they have a fund raiser where you donate five dollars to sponser a little yellow rubber ducky with your number on it and they dump about 40,000 of the little guys into the river at the top of the falls, then it's "off to the races"!! They go everywhere!!The winner gets some kind of huge prize, but I gotta tell you, seeing all those silly little ducks swimming hither and yon is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. There is always a street festival going on, it seems, with regular free concerts during the summer on Thursdays and Fridays. The Fridays ones are usually jazz. There are several clubs that feature live concert style music, and one in particular comes to mind for blues-The Handelbar. Greeville is close enough to Charlotte or Columbia, if someone comes there that you want to hear. The (sort of ) new BiLo center is a huge arena that showcases large concerts (Cher, Dixie Chicks, Alan Jackson, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, etc.) professional sports-hockey is becoming big here. And also the circus, rodeos, and the redneck event of the year-the Monster Truck Jam....no flames, we go every year!! There is so much to do in Greenville...I loved living there. I would NOT want to live in Columbia..
There are several very large man made lakes within an hour of Greenville, too. Greenville is about 2-1/2 hours from Atlanta, if you ever need that "big city" fix.
You can wear shorts in February in Greenville, too.
I need him to be happy
, and can't say SSB has loved... some nice areas, some nice things... no question. As with any city, can find the good parts... my friend... 
