Huntington Beach State Park March 27 - April 3, 2021

 Our first trailer trip of 2021 was to revisit a place that we had enjoyed immensely back in 2014: Huntington Beach State Park, just south of Myrtle Beach, SC.  The temps were chilly, with a constant cold wind, so we didn't spend a lot of time at the beach.  However, it was better than back in TN, where they got several inches of hail one day. We were delighted that Alan's sister Susan was able to join us for the week.

Not many people on beach because of the cold

The park has lots boardwalks, tidal marshes, and places to look at birds.  We were there too early to see the migrating birds, but we did see those that live there year round.

Tidal marshes

We did a really nice audio tour of Atalaya, the winter home and studio of  renowned sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband Archer, which is on the grounds of the park. The home is built to resemble a Moorish castle.  It is very interesting. It is built around two large interior courtyards, with a long entrance archway.  The inside of the house was very simple, with brick walls and floors.  Archer said that he wanted a house so basic that it could be cleaned with a hose!  It may have been necessary because they kept a live animal menagerie of bears, dogs, monkeys, horses, etc., since Anna always sculpted from life.

  

Long passageway between two courtyards, 
leading up to front door

All the ironwork is original, designed by Anna

One of the two huge courtyards
The house surrounded them.

The major reason we were there was to see Brookgreen Gardens, which is across the road from the state park.  It was created by the Huntingtons as a place to display the sculpture done by Anna and other metal sculptors. It has hundreds of wonderful sculptures in a beautiful setting of gorgeous flowers, fountains, pools, and  gardens.  Anna is best known for her sculpture of Don Quixote, a picture of which is below.

Bears sculpted from life by Anna 
There were bear cages at Atalaya.

Beautiful Camellias all over the gardens

Live oak trees with huge branches touching the ground

Lovely azaleas

Don Quixote
She hunted all over the countryside to find
an emaciated horse, since she used live models.
She said she had to sculpt fast, since she fed it.

Sancho Panza, done by a different sculptor

Modern sculpture: I loved the face on the figure.

We had fun looking at a baby great horned owl that was high up in one of the huge live oak trees of the allee in the middle of the garden:

Because we can't really get good seafood where we live, we had a wonderful time savoring the food at the wonderful restaurants.  Susie even went out and got steamed shrimp the last day, so we could bring some back home. I loved the scallop appetizer at the Hot Fish Club.  I took pic so I could remember ingredients and try to make it myself.

Hot Fish Club in Murrell's Inlet

River Room in Georgetown
Had lunch there the last full day
Watched the river traffic from our window seat

We had a great time, but I have pretty much decided that we should give up traveling with the trailer in March.  Most days were pleasant, as long as you had a windbreaker for the cold wind. However, we had temps in the 30's several nights and had to keep the heat on in the trailer those nights.  (In past years, we have had torrential rains and tornado warnings when we were out in the trailer in March.)

We came back home to beautiful spring flowers in our yard.

Candytuft

Double spirea with weeping cherry tree in background

tulips and muscari

One of the 100 daffodils we planted last fall
They are absolutely gorgeous--from White Flower Farms

Creeping phlox and muscari on bank above house