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

Twin Lakes Camping Resort and Yacht Basin Campground- Chocowinity, North Carolina (October 2019)

Our route to this campground included the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. That started me thinking of the time I traveled over the bridges and tunnels with my family when I was a little boy. My family had a 16 foot travel trailer that we pulled all over America.

The toll booth

I remembered that the toll collector left the booth and asked my father to switch off the propane gas tanks on the trailer. Things are different today in that the toll collector only asked for the $24 fee. I was the one who brought up the propane tanks. That was when she said the LP gas tanks need to be switched off, which I did while waiting in line to pay the toll. 

It was windy going over the 17 miles of bridges. We appreciated the aerodynamic design of Airstream trailers as we didn’t feel the wind pushing us around. 

Mixed in among the bridges are two one mile tunnels. We were able to pull Rosie, our Airstream trailer, through both of them.

Entering the tunnel

On the bridge

We were somewhat surprised when we arrived at the campground. Our expectations were low after reading the online reviews. Our first impression was that the campground appeared to be nice. We didn’t see any yachts as in the campground's name, but we did see some fishing and pontoon boats docked near some campers.

Foot bridge to another section of the campground

We were a little leery of our assigned campsite. It had a few muddy areas and we feared it may have some drainage problems during storms. This would come back to haunt us during our departure. 

We visited an estuary and learned about blue crabs while there. It turned out that harvesting crabs was a major industry in this region.

Tribute to a blue crab

We also visited a fossil museum and had fun looking for shark's teeth.

Becky looking for a shark's tooth

Our next excursion was to the Tryon Palace. This was the residence of the royal governor appointed by the King of England prior to the Revolutionary War.

Entrance to the Tryon Palace

Main stairs inside the Tryon Palace

The gardens

View of the palace

We ended the afternoon by having an ice cream at a restaurant about four blocks from the palace. That was a great way to end a day of adventures. 

We found the ice cream store

Dessert?

The remnants of Tropical Depression Nestor passed over our site during our last night in this park. There was several inches of standing water all around Rosie when we woke up the next morning. That made our departure more challenging. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull-thru
• Our site was paved with dirt that turned into mud during the rain storm 
• Our site was not level and we had to use leveling tools to correct a right to left lean
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The restroom and showers near our site were clean 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s antenna. We also saw digital channels Bounce, Charge, CW, Escape, Get, ME-TV, MY-TV and Stadium 
• AT&T placed two bars of 4G service for voice and data over our site 
• The campground did not provide WiFi service

Mount Pleasant / Charleston KOA - Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (October 2019)

The seventh stop on the 2019 WBCCI Southeast Coast Caravan was in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. This was just across the bay from Charleston.

The KOA sign at Mount Pleasant

We arrived about an hour before our scheduled time to enter the campground. We found a Costco about half a mile away from the park, so we stopped there and ate lunch inside Rosie, our Airstream trailer. By the time we finished eating, our campsite was ready.

Airstream trailers in the campground

It was easy to see that this was a well-maintained KOA campground. The park had gone all out and decorated for Halloween.

Decorations at the campground

This campground appeared to go "all out" for Halloween

Many southern cities have their own unique charms and Charleston excels in charm. What better way to see the historical district than from a horse-drawn carriage. Our guide was interesting and he knew many local facts and legends.

Our guide on the horse-drawn carriage ride

A horse-drawn carriage in Charleston

Our carriage ride ended next to the open air market in the historic section of Charleston. It was interesting to watch local craftsmen and women weave sweet grass baskets, something that was famous in that part of South Carolina.

Entrance to the Open Market

Our boat ride to Fort Sumter was interesting. We would have disliked be a soldier there because the fort was very small and the only thing on that island.

Fort Sumter

The fort’s design was similar to Fort Pickens, which is at another campground we enjoy visiting in Florida. The difference was that Fort Pickens was larger and it wasn’t stuck alone on a small island.

Next, we visited Patriots Point and the Aircraft Carrier Yorktown. This ship entered service during World War II until the Vietnam War.

The Aircraft Carrier Yorktown as seen from the ferry boat that took us to Fort Sumter

The Yorktown in the shadow of the bridge 

Flight deck on the Yorktown

Costco was our final stop in the Charleston area. We noticed that a tire on our truck was losing about a pound of pressure a day.  Costco found and patched the problem. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull thru
• Our site was paved with gravel 
• We had to use leveling tools to correct a left-to-right lean
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection
• There was a dump station in the park 
• The bathhouse near our site was clean and well maintained 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS,  FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna 
• We were able to watch TV digital channels Antenna, BUZZR, Decades, Get, Grit, ME-TV and MY-TV
• The campground provided basic cable TV service 
• AT&T placed one bar of service for voice and data over our site 
• The campground provided WiFi service that appeared to be overwhelmed

This campground was along a lake. It seemed that a sign was in front of every body of water in South Carolina warning that alligators may live there.

A hayride at the campground

The bridge connecting Mount Pleasant and Charleston

Selfie at Fort Sumter

Eating crabs in Charleston

Airstream trailers from our WBCCI Caravan in the campground