Just spent the past two weeks at Huntington Beach State Park near Murrells Inlet, SC. Initially only going to spend 6 nights but extended our stay a couple of times since we were enjoying it here so much.
Murrell’s inlet is just south of Myrtle Beach. It’s a smaller town, more laid back and less touristy than Myrtle Beach. It’s also the proclaimed seafood capital of SC....MMMMM!!!
This state park is right on the ocean and it’s got a 3 mile strip of almost virgin looking beach. It’s undeveloped, untainted by high rises or houses of any kind..perfect! Sea turtles lay their eggs here from May - Oct so just missed them, too bad because we’d love to see that.
I think we lucked out finding this place because we met a number of people here, many right from SC that have been coming here multiple times a year for over 20 years. Even some fellow Canadians are long time repeaters. But understandable since there’s so much to see and do here between the bird watching in the salt and fresh water marshes from on the causeway, nature trails, hanging out on the beach, biking and exploring the local towns, eating, shopping etc. Another plus, they actually recycle!!!!!
So tempting to eat out lots when you’re on the coast and in the middle of all this fresh seafood but we only went to a local restaurant “Flo’s” for lunch one day when we were out biking. Gotta “try” to stay on budget :-) I had a fried clam basket and Dave had the fried scallops, both were good but the hushpuppies that came with them were amazing! Normally we can barely choke them down but these were so good we could have made a meal out of just them!
We thought that VA Beach was bike friendly, it’s much the same here and I get the feeling that it’s going to be that way all down the coast. YAY! They’ve got 6 miles of bike path finished so far and they’re working on more so you can bike all the way to Pawsley Island and into Myrtle Beach without riding on the highway. So needless to say we’ve been putting the miles on our bikes. The other bonus here is that when the tide is at it’s lowest, you can bike on the beach. From one end to the other and back (inlets at each end) took us about 2 hours but we did that on one, glorious, sunny and relatively warm day and it felt amazing. Mother nature makes the best bike path ever! Dave even commented that this one sunny day made up for all those dreary rainy days we have been tolerating recently!!!
We did drive down to Myrtle Beach one afternoon and decided right away, it’s somewhere to be avoided in peak season. It’s pretty deserted now but based on the size of the empty public parking lots, the number of hotels, restaurants and surf and beach shops, it must get crazy busy to support them all. For example, the beach shops (ie. Wings, Waves, Wales, Eagles, Pacific) that all sell basically the same shit (trinkits, bathing suits, chairs, umbrellas, clothes, shoes etc) are frigging everywhere! At least 4 stores per block for many, many blocks. No idea how they all survive but the summer tourists must buy a lot of crappy souvenirs and clothes.
Another tidbit, the park land used to be owned by Archer Huntington, (son of transportation magnate, Collis P. Huntington...no clue who he was?) and his wife Anna Hyatt Huntington a noted sculptor. I tell you this because they built their winter home (called Atalaya) here in the 1930’s and it’s still within the park so you can tour it for $1. You’ll see from the pics that it looks more like a fort than a house. And, for not even being 100 years old, we couldn’t believe the shape it was in, no one could live in it now. We had a hard time imagining some rich New Yorkers living there as recently as 1947. They donated it and the land for the park in 1960.
Also met some fellow travelers from BC and QC that, just like us, are also meandering down the east coast to get to the warmer weather over the next few months. Looks like we’ll be running into them from time to time so it’ll be fun to get together, have a few (more likely MANY!) drinks, trade stories and share recommendations and tips about various places to check out. Nice to have some friends on the road!
And oh yeah, we don’t have to worry about where to camp from about mid Feb to the end of March because we’re going back to house sit in Costa Rica for Mike & Andee! Looking forward to seeing them again and soaking up that hot Costa Rica sun! And WOOHOO, it’s not going to be the rainy season when we’re there this time!
Check out the Huntington Beach ALBUM!
Next stop - Charleston, South Carolina area