Up Close LLC Information

Explore Up Close, LLC, is a family-created travel company, specializing in exploration of the historic, cultural, and natural world. Founded by Chumley Cope in 2004, the company has always been an extension of a family impulse to explore an unknown road or trail (occasionally trespassing), and to hear an authentic story from a stranger. New roads remain alluring to this day; and "strangers" pass into memory as friends, characters, and purveyors of fascinating and enlightening stories. Now, twelve years later, most EUC trips still follow a characteristic style -- whether it's exploring chateaux country by bicycle, Civil War battlefields by bus, or horse-and-Bourbon countryside by van: an in-depth view that goes beneath the surface, a celebration of the sharing of human stories, and an emphasis on the camaraderie of the travelers (and the friends we meet along the way). Explore Up Close is about authentic sense of place and the natural, cultural, and historic factors that make any place unique. Our style of travel is characterized by backroads (and back streets) exploration, audiences with local experts, occasional private site visits, and an interest in the local. EUC specialties include themed travel for affinity groups, educational travel for schools and colleges, exploration of the southeastern U.S., and small group touring on the backroads of Europe. As we branch out from these core areas of experience, we increasingly plan exploration travel in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and other parts of North America. Founder Chumley Cope lives with his family in the South Carolina Upstate.