Year 2 Begins

Our campsite sign. My brother Scott made this for us years ago and recently gave it a touch up.  

We're on the road again; starting our second year Living the Full-time Dream.  We left the Adirondack's on October 31st and headed to a Harvest Host site in PA.  Harvest Hosts is a membership club that provides members with a list of breweries, farms, vineyards, museums, golf courses, etc. that offer a free overnight spot to park.  It's a great way to discover and patronize a variety of small businesses and have a unique place to stay for a night - an all around Win-Win!  We had a spacious parking lot on the edge of a field all to ourselves. 

Our spot in Kutztown, PA

View from the camper door

We arrived in Frederick, MD on the 1st and stayed with my brother and sister-in-law for the weekend and had our usual grand time and great adventures.  We cherish our visits with them and love that they bookend our trip; beginning and end.

Scott, Karen, Carol and Kelly at Surelocked In Wild Wild Quest Escape Room

We stayed at another Harvest Host location, a vineyard in NC.

We arrived at Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina on Nov. 5th and are here for a week.  We stayed here for a few days last year and loved it!  Our friends John and Gina live nearby and we enjoyed catching up with them and manging on John's homemade meat sauce and pasta this week.  John gave us free passes to Brookgreen Gardens.  We had been considering visiting but having the tickets sealed the deal.  It was 72 degrees on Thursday, making it a perfect day to visit and enjoy the gardens.

Our site - backside view

Before I describe Brookgreen Gardens, I want to share a little bit of the history of the area.  Huntington Beach State Park is named in honor of Archer and Anna Huntington who donated the land that houses Brookgreen Gardens, which includes the campground property which is leased to the state for public use.  Archer Huntington was the son of Collis Huntington who, among other things, built the first transcontinental railroad.  Archer was a poet, philanthropist and conservationist.  His wife Anna was an artist and sculptor.  Brookgreen Gardens was built with three goals: to collect, exhibit and preserve American figurative sculpture, (including Anna's), as well as to collect, exhibit and preserve southeastern plants and animals.  The result is the largest public outdoor sculpture garden in the US, containing over 2000 pieces located within magnificent botanical gardens showcasing both native SC plants as well as other exotic species.  Additionally on the property there is a  Lowcountry Zoo of native animals that live in the woods, swamps and waters of the area.  We never made it to visit the zoo.  This is a small sampling of the magnificent sculpture we saw.

Young Diana by Anna Hyatt Huntington in Bronze - 1924

Brown Bears by Anna Hyatt Huntington in Bronze - 1935 

Don Quixote by Anna Hyatt Huntington in Aluminum - 1947

The Visionaries by Anna Hyatt Huntington - 1955

Amphitrite by Wheeler Williams in Lead - 1939

 Child of Peace by Edward Fenno Hoffman III in Bronze - 1962

Peacocks by Dan Ostermiller in Bronze - 2004

Dionysus by Edward Francis McCartan in Gilt Bronze - 1923

As we visited in November, the gardens were not full of flowers as they would be other times of the year.  However, we still saw some stunning flora and fauna.

Inside the courtyard of Atalaya

The Huntington's came to South Carolina from NYC in 1930 because Anna was curing from tuberculosis.  They purchased land that had previously been 4 rice plantations.  After the Civil War, these plantations were unable to continue to grow rice with out slaves and the property was being sold for use as a hunting camp.  The Huntington's built a unique winter home - Atalaya which is located on the Huntington Beach State Park property.  The home is built along the perimeter of a large inner courtyard. The home feature large indoor and outdoor sculpture studios as well as barns and pens for the many animals that Anna used as inspiration for her sculpture. 

Kelly and Carol inside the courtyard of Atalaya

Covered walkway in the center of the courtyard of Atalaya

Huntington Beach State Park is a 5 star campground!  There is ample green space.  The sites are well spaced.  The bathrooms are clean and the showers are hot! :-) There are a walkways to the beach, making the surf and sand a brief walk away.  We have enjoyed riding our bikes and exploring the park.  There are various marsh walks, nature viewing spots and a causeway which provide opportunities to view all kinds of water fowl. 

It's great to be on new adventures.  Some of you asked if I was on hiatus this summer, as I didn't post for months.  It was great to be back in the Adirondacks, and close to family.  My parents needed a good deal of our time and attention this summer and fortunately we were there to help.  Blogging took a back seat to other responsibilities.  However, I'm back and glad to have you here reading along.  Please leave a comment and let me know you're here.  👋