Beach Alternatives 7 '19

Today was a beautiful warm sunny day. Normally I would call it 'perfect beach weather'.  Unfortunately, it was just a little too sunny for Bruce's sun-sensitive skin,  but it was also far to pretty to be stuck indoors.  

We decided to seek an acceptable alternative activity by looking for spoonbills in the freshwater lagoons at Huntington Beach State Park.  As luck would have it, we went too late to see any wading birds. They had all ceased their foraging and taken refuge from the sun in the leafy shelter of the nearby maritime forest surrounding the lagoons.  The stop at HBSP did give us a chance to check out the beach conditions from the safety of the handicap boardwalk.  And Yep!. It was too sunny, and he was having too much difficulty walking, for us to venture out onto the sand.

Undeterred, we switched to Plan B: lunch in the shade of the umbrellas of the  Litchfield Cabana Cafe where we could take advantage of their beachfront dining without risk of being fried.  It was the perfect remedy for cabin fever!

SC HBSP 6 '18

What a beautiful day to have a picnic at SC Huntington Beach State Park

2018_ Sisters Vacay: 6 '18

 So much to do and see with so little time to do it in

Friday was spent getting a tour of  Bruce and Cece's home,

 exploring Pawleys Island and Huntington Beach State Park beaches,

and, of course,

Having a beach front lunch at  the Litchfield Inn.

Saturday,  we were all up for a a visit to BrookGreen Garden's  in Murrells Inlet.

The children's garden was a big hit and brought out the play in everyone.

Of course there were lots of photo ops

Brothers

for family groupings

Sisters

Aunt and Niece

Spouses

Jeannie and Bernard Baruch

and individual  shots

Dave and Don Quixote

After several hours of  walking the  beautiful but expansive gardens,

we were all ready for  a cooling drink in the shade of the old kitchen patio

But we couldn't tarry too long 

or we would have missed our river boat tour of the BrookGreen ricefields .

The hour long boat tour  through Brookgreen's tidal creeks was not only informative, but gave us a much needed chance to rest our legs.

And then we were off and running again to see a craft show,

 followed by spending the rest of the day at Pawleys Island Beach

Haunted Castle at HBSP: 10'17

I didn't even need to add glow sticks to get my cloud to light up inside the Haunted Castle

This year we celebrated Halloween with a visit to the Haunted Castle at Huntington Beach State Park.   Historic Attalaya was the perfect setting for a haunted house. The Park rangers and Park Friends put months of work into making the decorations for the interior and exterior  of the building. On the Big Scare side of the tour, eerie lighting and creepy characters  that moved around you recreated almost every scary movie set you've ever watched.  

The Little Scare side was set up more like a series of scenes from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean'; Nothing jumped out at you, and nothing was super frightening.  Even the Littlest ones had fun  going through that side.

Charlestowne Landing SP: 10 '17

We paid a short visit to Charlestowne Landing State Park this morning. The Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site sits on a marshy point, located off of the Ashley River, where a group of English settlers landed in 1670 and established what would become the birthplace of South Carolina. Charles Towne Landing introduces visitors to the earliest colonial history of Charleston colony.

Unfortunately, we were limited on time so we concentrated on seeing all the educational exhibits in their visitor center, where we Interacted with hands-on exhibits and took an audio tour on the self-guided history trail.

There is much more to do and see in the park, including touring the Adventure, Charleston's only 17th-century replica sailing ship, see cannons fired, or taking a peek at otters, bears, bison and more at the Animal Forest natural habitat zoo. The grounds also include 80 acres of gardens, with an elegant live oak alley and the Legare-Waring House.

Unfortunately, today, the time we had was limited, but we'll definitely return.

For more information on Charlestowne Landing go to:

https://southcarolinaparks.com/charles-towne-landing

Irma's arrived in SC 9'17

The first bands from Irma have arrived.

    As predicted she is delivering heavy bands of rains and of strong gusts of wind

But what is more unnerving is the storm surge that she is bringing in right at high tide.

I (CC) was scheduled to start work at noon today in HBSP (... right at high tide),  but to get to work I have to drive across a  causeway between the fresh and saltwater marshes.

By the time I arrived, the tidal surge had raised the level of the saltwater marsh to even with the level of the top of the causeway.  Sure enough, twenty minutes after I settled in at the rangers office,  the Park's ranger on duty burst into the office to say that the tidal surge had spilled over the causeway and was blocking that exit.

She told us to grab our gear and follow her out of the park across the one-lane Carriage Road that was built in the 1930s.  

That evacuation route might be even scarier than getting stuck in the park overnight. 

On one side of that very narrow road is Mullet Pond.

On the other is an equally scary unnamed swap.

Both are filled with some of the largest alligators in SC. 

 It is not an evacuation road you want to make a wrong turn on.

Solar eclipse party at HBSP: 8 '17

The day of the long anticipated solar eclipse has finally arrived.  

Cece is celebrating it at South Carolina's Huntington Beach State Park, 

along with several thousand people who flocked to the park to watch the event. Every parking spot and empty piece of grass was taken, and the beach was packed with people wearing funny looking glasses.

As the sunlight faded and the temperature began to drop,  a strange hush fell over the park.

The ibis and stork flew into the trees to roost,  the forest birds stopped calling, and most importantly all human sounds ceased.  

It didn't get entirely pitch black and night like, but it was dark enough to start the tree frogs croaking for a few seconds. Then as the sun began to emerge from the other side of the eclipse, a roar went out from the beach and the entire park erupted in people clapping and cheering.

It was quite a party! 

Huntington Beach State Park:7"17

South Carolina's Huntington Beach State Park is a beautiful park, and only 8 miles north of our front door. SC's HBSP was one of the main instigators behind out moving to move here. We used to walk the beach at SoCal's HBSP about once a week and thought of it as "OUR BEACH", and we were volunteering two days a week as docent's in Newport Back Bay, so estuaries were important to us. One day we were looking for a new place to vacation and put a ruler down east to west. It started at HBSP West) and landed on HBSP East ... We hadn't known SC's HBSP even existed. (Turns out the same Huntington family owned both lands). Of course, we had to check it out. When we got here, we were astounded at how beautiful and pristine the estuary and the beach is, and how much wildlife it supports. It started us seriously considering South Carolina as a future home.

The three and a half miles of pristine beach is the most popular attraction in HBSP. In the winter you can have it almost to yourself. On Summers days you can expect it to be more crowded.

But there are other draws as well. The jetty at the North end of the park is a popular fishing place.

HBSP's Freshwater Mullet Lagoon is filled with wildlife.

Both Mullet and Mallard Lagoons are home to Alligators which are a protected species in South Carolina; They are very popular with HBSP visitors. Other popular forms of local wildlife include mink and sea turtles.

HPSP is home to dozens of hundreds of bird species) In the freshwater lagoons alone you can see egret, heron, eagles, swallow tail kite, and osprey. It is also on the flight path of dozens of exotic migratory birds like spoonbill, American stork, and ibis. The maritime forest and woodland/water edge have owls, hawks, and dozens of small colourful birds including the painted bunting. Shorebirds abound ( and nest) on the beach and dunes. This place is a bird watcher's paradise.

There are several short hiking trails within HBSP. 

A Board Walk over the salt water marsh leads to Oak Creek.

A shelter on the Oak Creek Board Walk provides another great place for bird watching.

The Sandpiper trail leads through the maritime forest.

A shaded 4-mile bike trail through the front forest of the park connects to a much longer trail that runs the length of the Waccamaw Neck (22 miles).

Atalayas the former winter home of Anna and Archer Huntington. Archer designed the building in the style of a Moorish castle in Spain of the same name. The building is on the National Register of Historic places and can be toured by the public.

A campground supports 133 RV sites, and 6 tent sites,

(Plus primitive camping for up to 100 individuals in non-profit groups.)

The ranger station and gift shop also house the camper registration where CC works.

For more information go to:

http://southcarolinaparks.com/huntingtonbeach/introduction.aspx