Lake Culture in South Carolina

We have a big lake near Rock Hill - Lake Wylie. It's a man-made, dammed lake. We were eager to check it out, so the other weekend, Stan and I took a pretty drive through the countryside to the only restaurant that actually sits on Lake Wylie - Papa Doc's Shore Club. We pulled up to a gravel parking lot, and the welcome awning.Canadian Geese and Mallards littered the shore and squaked up a storm in the water. The inlet of water on which the restaurant sits even had a gator in it! Wait. A gator, in north-central South Carolina? Stan and I debated, do they live that far north?The restaurant actually sits on the water, so you navigate a long dock-like entrance to get in - it felt just like being at the beach! It wasn't a super-sunny day, which was actually a good thing as that would have meant it was too hot to sit at the perfect table with the best view! Stan and I felt like we were on a mini-vacation, so yes, that's a Piña Colada! We watched the boats come and go from the dock on the big water side. Apparently, it's a thing to take your boat to Papa Doc's. Makes sense. We did see some folks dragging behind boats on intertubes, and some others on paddle-boards. The benches at Papa Doc's were actually made from old water skis. It was easy to imagine the restaurant at its hight of business. It had an outdoor bar...and an indoor Tiki Bar! But we were happy to be there when it was mid-day with a pretty laid-back crowd, enjoying the water, the boats, the views... Southern Lake Culture. So nice. Oh, and by the way, the gator wasn't real. ;-)