04 July 2009

Hunting Island, SC


Have you ever been to Hunting Island in South Carolina? We just discovered it a few weeks ago.
The park is one of the most popular in the state so it may be busy on weekends. We went in the middle of the week and it was not bad. Entry to the park was $4.00 for adults and another $2.00 each to climb the light house (yes, their is a light house you can climb).
Let me tell you about a few things that make this island special.
The beach, yes, I love the beach. I love hunting for seashells and getting my feet wet. I love the
feel of sand between my toes. I am not much for
laying around on the beach, I sunburn much too
quickly for that. If given ample amounts of time
I have been known to build sand castles. I have played on the beach in California, Texas, the United Kingdom, Morocco, Mississippi and several different beaches in South Carolina. I have never found one I did not like. This one however, is easily a favorite.
If you have read this blog before, then you probably know that another thing I love is; walking in the woods with my Sweetheart. Hunting Island has woodland trails too. The first
photo features the trail we took.
The beach itself has two different areas, one is a typical sandy spot with plenty of sun bathers, sea shells etc. The other, is left to nature. The rangers do not remove natural refuse. Don't get me wrong, I did not see any garbage so they do keep it clean. What is left is an atmospheric wonderland full of things to look at. Moody and quiet. There were a few other people poking around, but not many, it felt like we had the area to ourselves.
The third photo shows a piece of driftwood that is covered with small sea creature shells. There are
several different variations of these in all sizes.
The next two show some of the fantastic formations of wood. I don't know if they are driftwood or if they grew there at some point.








Next we have some of the local residents. A little on the crabby side, but hey, cute anyway. Either there are two different kinds or some are marked differently. They can be very camera shy. I took 8 or 10 shots of this guy to get the one good one you see here. He would not hold still!





I got up close to this one in order to take a photo of the shells. The patterns all vary just a little. They reminded me of old Native American pottery. These two guys were hiding on the log. I wonder if they are going out for Sushi?










Close up. Isn't he cute? This guy is about 1.5 inches across (that is about 3.8 cm).










Did I tell you there is a light house? It is a lovely old thing. It was built in 1873. The web site says it is the only one in the state you can climb to the top in.
We did. (Have I mentioned that I am a little afraid of heights) My Sweet Hubby provided the inspiration and somehow managed to get me up these stairs to the top. I took a photo from the bottom looking up, but couldn't take one looking back down the stairs I did well just to get up there.
I took several lovely photos from the top. It was a hot day (high 90's Fahrenheit, about 32 C)
but the breeze was just right.
The last photo is my Sweet Hubby looking down from the walkway around the top of the lighthouse.
We spent an afternoon and are planning to go back. You can rent cabins to stay on the island, maybe we will give them a try.
What do you think? Would you like to explore the island?
See you soon.
Kat

4 comments:

  1. It looks a wonderful place, Kat. I have never been inside a lighthouse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. it looks a delicious place to explore.... i shall dream on. love the shells. i am such a collector of things

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh that spiral staircase photo is beautiful!!! I love lighthouses and used to write stories when I a kid about a girl who grew up in one...

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  4. Hi, Kat, took your suggestion in my Guestbook and stopped by for a visit. How lucky for you that you got to climb to the top of a lighthouse! I keep hoping I'll find one that lets me do that one of these days; I think the closest one is out on Cape Cod so I guess I'll have to hit the road and head out there one of these days.

    I also read the post above about your brother who sounds like he was the perfect big brother. I so "got" what you meant about sitting and waiting and it seeming like forever. Not having cell phones and not knowing when someone would arrive seems like such a long time ago!

    I'm sorry for the loss of your brother and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this cancer was a result of Agent Orange. My Dad served in Danang, Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 and he died in February of 2003 from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which they determined was a direct result of Agent Orange. He retired as a MSgt in the United States Air Force just as you did and I couldn't have been prouder of him. He went way too soon just like your beloved brother did.

    ReplyDelete

So, what do you think? Did you like it? I love hearing from you.

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