Huntington Beach State Park

View from room 302 at the Kingfisher Inn

I made breakfast burritos with eggs, cubed ham and cheese for breakfast. We went to the Kingfisher Inn front desk and picked up a pass for state parks. This would give us free admission to any South Carolina state park. We left the condo at 9:30 driving south and arrived at Huntington Beach State Park by 10 am.

We toured the home of Archer and Anna Huntington that was called Atalaya Castle which translates to The Watchtower. The Huntington family built this winter home in hopes that the South Carolina weather would be good for Anna’s tuberculosis. Construction on the home was completed in 1933 and was used for about six months each year until the family abandoned it in 1947. The 30 room house was not overly opulent but provided comfortable living for the Huntington family and their servants. Mrs. Huntington had a sculpture at the house with a large skylight where she produced many of the sculptures that are on display at Brookgreen Gardens.

Natalie & Rex at Huntington Beach State Park

By noon, the temperatures were heating up so we drove back to the Kingfisher Inn for lunch. We had salads and diced chicken that we brought from home. We relaxed at the room for a while then Rex and I walked around the small downtown area and checked out a place for Natalie to buy T-shirts for their grandkids. By 3 pm we drove to the nearby Walmart where Rex and I bought fishing licenses for Wednesday. I persuaded the clerk at the sporting goods desk to tease Rex about his “criminal record” from the traffic stop in Virginia last month.

We returned to Huntington Beach State Park and visited the nature center where the interactive displays illustrated the coastal wildlife. A volunteer at the nature center was very helpful in answering our questions. After leaving the nature center we walked the short Sandpiper Pond Nature Trail until the insects got so bad that we walked back to the car.

Hiking on Sandpiper Pond Nature Trail

We went back to the Kingfisher Inn to change for dinner then drove to Lee’s Inlet Kitchen I had the shrimp creole that was similar to shrimp etouffee and was delicious. Everyone enjoyed our meals that were well prepared and delicious. Natalie and I had margaritas that were mostly ice and not especially good but the rest of the meal was excellent.

We returned to the Kingfisher Inn too late to walk on the beach so the four of us walked out on the pier adjacent to the condo. There are two bars on the pier with cover bands at each. Several people were fishing off the pier but no one appeared to catch anything.

Back at the room, we turned in for the night. Our bunk beds were difficult to get into but one we were in the beds we were comfortable and slept well.

Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen Gardens

Since we had only the cereal that we brought from home, our breakfast at the Kingfisher Inn was cold cereal again. Rex brought oat milk with him which he says tastes better to him. We all got into Dillinger’s Toyota Highlander at 9:30 and drove 30 minutes south to Brookgreen Gardens. This 9100 acre garden is part of the estate of Archer Milton Huntington and his wife Anna Hyatt Huntington. Archer Huntington was the stepson of railroad magnate, Collis P. Huntington and Anna was an accomplished sculptor. Prior to the Huntington family purchasing the property it was used as four rice plantations prior to the Civil War. Anna wanted a place to showcase her sculptures as well as works from other sculptors that she admired. The property includes numerous flower gardens and a zoo featuring animals that are native to the Carolina low country. We saw river otters, foxes, owls and many other native animals. It is believed that Brookgreen Gardens is the first North American sculpture garden. Our admission included a seven day pass so we could return to the park whenever we liked during our stay.

Russell's Seafood Grill

We spent all morning walking through the beautiful gardens including indoor areas with orchids and others with artwork collected by Ann Huntington. The temperatures were in the 90s but there was a nice breeze and a good bit of shade.

Lunch at Russell's Seafood Grill

Around noon, we drove a short distance to Russell’s Seafood Grill where we had excellent seafood meals and ate too much so we didn’t have a lot of energy in the afternoon. We returned to Brookgreen Gardens to revisit some areas that we didn’t have time to see in the morning. Most of our time was spent at the small zoo on the property with many examples of South Carolina wildlife.

Once the afternoon heat got to us, we left for Harrelson’s Seafood Market where Rex remembered that his parents got excellent shrimp. He bought a bunch of fresh local shrimp to have with our salad for dinner. We made a stop at Kroger where we got salad makings and a few breakfast items. After our large lunch, we weren’t very hungry for dinner and made salads with the boiled shrimp.

View from our room at Kingfisher Inn

After dinner, we took a long walk on the beach and enjoyed the cooler evening air. Back at the Kingfisher Inn, we showered and turned in. We were impressed that the shower had plenty of pressure and provided enough hot water for the four of us to shower.

Arriving at the beach

We had a breakfast of cold cereal with Dillingers then helped them do their last minute packing before leaving at 8:30 am. We opted to take two cars since the two families may want to do separate things on some days and may even leave on different days.

Sitting area at the Kingfisher Inn

The drive through the West Virginia Turnpike was uneventful. Our EZ-Pass got us through the three toll booths avoiding the $4.50 per stop and saving time. There was little traffic in western Virginia and eastern North Carolina putting us at the Wendy’s in Ashboro, NC for lunch. We had hoped to stop earlier but all of the restaurants in the High Point area were 8-10 miles off the interstate and we didn't want to give up that much time.  Because of a miscommunication regarding Interstates 73 and 74 in Ashboro, we were unable to have Rex and Natalie join us for lunch.  Despite having few customers, this Wendy's was very slow.  In addition, the automated soft drink dispenser was out of many drinks.

Rex at the Kingfisher Inn

We arrived at the Kingfisher Inn before 5 pm and took care of the check-in process with Kevin at the front desk. He gave us a lot of information on attractions and dining options for our stay. He told us that he had discount fishing passes for the pier although warned that recent excavation had made fishing poor recently. He also had free passes for Huntington Beach State Park available. We would certainly take him up on the State Park passes. Although the Kingfisher Inn permits only one car per unit, he prepared a free parking pass for Dillingers when they arrive.

Bedroom at the Kingfisher Inn

While watching for Rex and Natalie, I got something from our car. An older couple noticed our Kentucky license plates and inquired where we were from. He said that he was originally from Harlan County, Kentucky but has lived in the DC area as a minister for many years. They, like most people we met in the area, recommended some of the local seafood buffets. As a rule, we don’t usually prefer a buffet since we don’t like to eat enough to make it worthwhile. We usually order from a menu and find that the meals are fresh and to our liking.

Bunks at the Kingfisher Inn

Rex and Natalie arrived about 20 minutes after us so we helped them move their things into room 302 of the Kingfisher Inn. We put them in the bedroom while Mary and I took the bunk room which was about 8 feet deep and 5 feet wide with two bunks and a cloth curtain over the door. The bathroom had been recently renovated with tile floors and a roomy lavatory. The sitting area had a credenza with a television, two chairs and a sofa. The balcony off the living area had a great view of the beach over the pool behind the inn. The kitchen was adequate but dated. The full sized refrigerator was new but the range was older with exposed electric coils. The dishwasher was older but functional. The kitchen had all of the cookware that we expected to need. The Garden City Pier was directly adjacent to the Kingfisher Inn and the downtown area of the town was only a few blocks in size and had very little traffic.

View of the Kingfisher Inn from Garden City Pier

After we got moved in Mary scanned restaurant ratings and decided on Southside Grill which was only a few minutes away. The restaurant owners were Pittsburgh natives with a great sense of humor making us feel right at home. Everyone but me ordered the grilled grouper with mango chutney. I had a seafood sampler platter. Everyone’s meals suited them perfectly and were well prepared and served. We planned to return here later in the week since they were only open from Wednesday through Sunday evenings.

After returning to the Kingfisher Inn, we changed clothes and took a walk on beach. We walked under the pier and continued south along the water’s edge until we were ready to head back. By then, the sun has set and we rinsed at the inn’s outdoor shower before going up to the room and relaxing before bed.

Leaving for Myrtle Beach

We spent the day on Friday mowing and packing for our time at the beach. Unlike most West Virginians, I had never been to Myrtle Beach. However, my friend, Larry has had a timeshare at Garden City, between Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet, that he wasn’t using for his week so he let us rent it from him. Neither of us are really all that into the beach but we enjoy seeing new places and eating seafood so we decided to give it a try. We invited our friends, Rex and Natalie Dillinger to join us since they enjoy the same kinds of things that we enjoy and they have traveled to this area many times and are familiar with the attractions.

Rex had recently been involved in a legal issue involving a traffic ticket in Alleghany County, Virginia. He had passed a police car on I-64 and, in the officer’s opinion, didn’t move far enough into the left lane. He has secured an attorney to challenge the reckless driving charge to an offence with fewer points on his driver's license. In addition, he has had a health scare following a tick bite resulting in a diagnosis of ehrlichiosis. He had been very ill until starting a course of antibiotics that will hopefully prevent any chronic health problems. We hoped that the beach trip would be a pleasant diversion from his legal and health issues.

We really didn’t know what to pack since we hadn’t been to the area before and hadn’t really taken a “beach vacation” other than as a stop on one of our visits to Florida. We packed more clothes that we thought we would need despite knowing that our lodging, the Kingfisher Inn, would have a laundry. We packed a good bit of food since we planned to eat breakfast and lunch at the condo. We took water shoes and camp chairs as well as fishing gear to take advantage of whatever the area offered.

We turned the water heater and under-sink water heater off, locked the doors, set light timers, security cameras and the entry alarms. We were on the road by 4 pm. Although the shortest and most direct route for us would be by taking I-75 through Knoxville but we opted to spend Friday night with Dillingers in Milton then we could leave from there taking the West Virginia Turnpike avoiding most large cities. We ate our dinner of cold cut sandwiches along the drive arriving at Dillinger’s before 7 pm. We enjoyed catching up then turning in to bed before 10 pm.