Huntington Beach State Park - Murrells Inlet, South Carolina (October 2019)

Huntington Beach State Park has been on our list to visit for a while. We were happy when we saw that the 2019 WBCCI Southeast Coast Caravan planned a stop there.

There were two camping loops in this park. The south loop was a parking lot. The sites were close together and there were few trees for shade. Those sites also had concrete pads and full hook-ups. 

We camped in the north loop. While only a few of these sites had sewer connections, the large sites and shade trees made this our preferred loop.

Rosie's site in the campground

It was easy to hear the sounds of the ocean when outside Rosie, our Airstream trailer. There was a short trail from our loop to the beach.

Path to the beach

Enjoying walking on the beach

Most roads in the park were paved. This made it easy to walk Suzy, our Yorkie. 

We watched a raccoon steal something in a plastic bag under a trailer one evening while on a walk. Suzy was suddenly restless a couple of times while we camped here. We figured she heard some raccoons as they checked out our site. 

We toured Brookgreen Gardens and took the creek boat excursion while camping in Huntington Beach State Park. The gardens featured hundreds of sculptures from American artists. Our guide said that more than 2,000 sculptures were there.

In the gardens

Enjoying the sunny day

Trees in the gardens with Christmas lights hanging from them

One of the sculptures in the gardens

The creek tour was fun and we did see an alligator from the boat.

Waiting to board the boat

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was paved with gravel 
• Our site had 30 amp electrical service. 
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site did not have a sewer connection
• There were several dump stations in the park 
• The bathhouse in our camping loop was clean and functional
• We were able to watch ABC and FOX using Rosie’s TV antenna 
• We were able to watch TV digital channels ME-TV and MY
• AT&T placed one bar of service for voice and data over our site 
• There was WiFi available at several bathhouses 

Sunset over the lake

Sunrise along the Atlantic

Sunset along the lake

Back to the beach

Carolina Beach State Park - Carolina Beach, North Carolina (October 2019)

This is the type of campground we normally love. Most sites are large and wooded. 

If you sense a big “but” is about to surface, you are correct.

Carolina Beach State Park Sign

I wish we had scouted this park before we arrived with Rosie, our Airstream trailer. Some sites are great while others are difficult at best. 

Our site required Becky to back Rosie, our Airstream trailer, uphill and between several trees. To make things more interesting, our site took a turn to the right about 20 feet in. Once we parked Rosie, we knew that it was going to be difficult to hook up when it was time to leave.

Rosie in the campground

Another view of Rosie's site

Several trailers in our caravan had to move to another site because they could not squeeze between the trees on their original assignments. 

Our WBCCI Southeast Coast Caravan had a low country boil while at this campground. Several at our table thought these boils were a Louisiana Cajun thing. Others thought it was more of a South Carolina tradition. We ended up asking the caterer who said this was best described as a southern thing. The Louisiana version substitutes crawfish for shrimp. He added that locals call the boil we had “Frogmore Stew.”  Whatever it was called, it was great.

Cooking the Frogmore Stew

Time to eat!

We also visited the North Carolina Aquarium while there. This is a small but very enjoyable aquarium. It was nice not having to fight crowds to see the exhibits.

A shark at the aquarium

An eagle at the aquarium

Becky resting on a sea turtle statue

A turtle that was going to be released back to the wild in a couple of weeks

This park was billed as one of the few places Venus Flytraps are native. We didn’t see any while on a trail known as a habitat for these plants. It turned out that people love to pick these flowers and it was getting hard to find them.

Some pitcher plants in this park

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was difficult to back in because the site curved and had trees that wedged around Rosie 
• Our site was paved with dirt and gravel 
• Our site did not have any electrical service 
• Our site did not have a water connection 
• Our site did not have a sewer connection 
• A few sites in this campground had electrical and water connections 
• A few sites in this campground had sewer connections 
• There was a dump station in the park 
• The bathhouse in our camping loop was clean and functional. It was also very dated and appeared that it occasionally was underwater when hurricanes hit the Carolina coastline 
• Without electrical power, we could not check on the reception of local TV stations
• AT&T placed one bar of service for unreliable voice and data over our site 
• There was WiFi available at the park office and the marina 
• The gate to the park was locked every night at 9 p.m. If you went out for the evening, you had to make sure you were back before 9 or you were locked out of the campground 
• We wondered if there had recently been trouble in the campground. The ranger patrols through the campground were frequent and thorough 

Path to the beach