Huntington Beach State Park, Murrels Inlet, SC

Our (the cats and me) first major stop was Huntington Beach State Park <http://www.huntingtonbeachstatepark.net/>. I’ve done a lot of walking on the beach (some of it barefooted – even if it is cold) and along the fresh and saltwater marshes. It has been in the 60s during the days and sunny.

Since I’ve been part of Friends of Steele Creek Nature Center and Park, I was really interested in the Nature Center here. I went to the daily “Feeding Frenzy,” which was a 1 ½-hour-long talk and demonstration given by a park ranger – feeding different animals, including horseshoe crabs, alligators, and lots of different fish. We even got to handle the horseshoe crab.  

Nature Center

Park Ranger Talking

Horseshoe Crab, Stingray, and Mollusk (of some sort)

Nature Center From the Marsh

 The land for this park was donated by Archer and Anna Huntington, and their summer home, Atalaya, is here on the grounds <http://www.huntingtonbeachstatepark.net/atalaya.html>. A docent gives free tours on the weekends; but, since I was looking on a Friday, I paid $4 for a "tour on tape" -- and it was well worth it. I learned so much more from the tape that people walking through and reading the signs on the walls didn't learn.

Across the street (US Hwy 17) is Brookgreen Gardens <http://www.brookgreen.org/>, the property of which was also donated by the Huntingtons. There isn't much blooming this time of the year, but that didn’t matter – there are more than 1,700 sculptures done by more than 400 artists, one of whom was Anna Huntington) in the gardens to look at. 

Tomorrow will be my last full day here, and I haven’t decided which park I will go to next. On my to-do list is to find a post office. They had stones and shells for sale in the park gift shop, and I couldn't resist buying some for my uber-talented, jewelry-making grandson, Josh.

 Thanks for reading.

Low Imagination Equals High Disorganization

We (the cats and I) are waiting for Tom Johnson Camping Center to get our minor electrical problem fixed – which requires waiting for a part that will be here Monday (something to do with a converter board). The wait has actually been a good thing because it has given the cats time to explore and me time to put things away. I’ve heard it said that there’s a place for everything and everything has a place, but that doesn’t apply to me. I’ve never been able to find all those places – and that is even more true in the motor home. 

On Friday I walked to the Carson House, but it was unexpectedly closed. <http://www.historiccarsonhouse.com/> So I walked in the other direction and found a Dollar General. Dollar Generals are like 7-11s used to advertise: “If it’s not around the house, it’s just around the corner.”

On Saturday, I walked south, going past a manufacturing place called <Resistoflex>. I asked the person at the guardhouse questions about what they do. He did mention that they used Teflon to line their pipes. (DuPont knew that Teflon was poisonous years ago, even though they’re still fighting about that.) I’m currently reading “Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation” by Dan Fagin <http://www.amazon.com/Toms-River-Story-Science-Salvation/dp/055380653X>, and I imagine that every manufacturing place is still dumping toxic chemicals straight into rivers and streams, including the one that runs by the campground here. That certainly was true for all manufacturing places many years ago and is still true for some places today. People who complain about the EPA and the Clean Water and Air Acts have no idea what it was like years ago. For one example, read about Lake Erie catching fire http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/58#.VtRSsuaEpVc.

A New Adventure

Today is February 17, 2016, and I'm leaving tomorrow morning on my new adventure. I bought a motor home last December, and I 'm now ready to leave. Karen and Bobby will be living in my house while I'm gone. And how long will I be gone? I have no definite answer to that ---- maybe forever.

Since I've been to many national parks, I'm going to visit mostly state parks now. I want to take advantage of whatever any particular park has to offer ---- but I'm not sure about learning to fish.

The cats will be going with me, and I'm a little nervous about that. I've purchased harnesses for them, their shots are up to date, and they had microchips inserted (ouch). Neither one has traveled for any distance, and they've always been in a carrier.

My first major stop will be Huntington Beach State Park (SC) <http://southcarolinaparks.com/huntingtonbeach/introduction.aspx> and Brookgreen Gardens <www.brookgreen.org> .

See you again in a day or so.

Thanks for reading.