Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 8

Huntington Beach State Park,

Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina

Wednesday February 7, 2024 

Sand waves created by wind alone.

Sea waves created by wind.

Marc-  We had a beautiful sunny day.  The temp was in the 30s this morning, and it went to 55.  But with the wind still gusting up to 25 knots out of the North, we have been wearing our down jackets.  We have not had our awning out with this wind, so picked up a "dog spiral stake" at the local Ace Hardware that basically screws 16 inches into the ground to become a solid anchor point (unfortunately I left two of these at home).  We had lunch with our friends John and Peggy Brewster who came to visit.  The Bistro 217 in Pawley's Island was great.  We returned to the Park and enjoyed ice cream with Peggy & John at the new ice cream shop here.  Then we went for a walk and looked around for shorebirds.  They are very easy to find here.

Brown Pelican

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

Sue's success at WORDLE today.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 7 (none on Day 6)

Huntington Beach State Park

Murrell's Inlet 

South Carolina

Salt Marsh

Marc-  Yesterday we visited with friends John and Peggy Brewster in North Myrtle Beach.  We had a fantastic dinner by the water at Umbertos Restaurant in Barefoot Landing: an extensive area of shops, restaurants and theaters on the Intracoastal Waterway.  They have plenty of dock space for day use and plenty of car parking.  Sue ordered the pork chops and ended up with enough food for two people for two meals.  

Today we got together for lunch with Craig and Donna Lewis, boating friends from Vermont who have moved here. It is nice to have locals who know where to eat.  We all enjoyed the best meatloaf in Socastee.   We also did some hiking on the well maintained forest trail to the Northern end of the Park and returned by the beach and caught the sunset on the salt marsh side of the Park.

An unusual live oak tree called "The Octopus Tree".

Crossing the marsh from the forest to the beach.

A pelican soaring above the waves looking for dinner.

Seagull

Piping Plover

One of thousands of seashells.

Square waves (20 knot wind blowing off the beach).

A surfer going home after trying out the square waves.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 5

 Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina

Sue's photo of a Great Blue Heron flying right beside her on the sidewalk.

Marc-  We decided to go for a hike this morning hoping to see some birds. This park is really "for" the birds so they were easy to find.  A Beach walk was out of the question with Northeast wind blowing 25-30 knots.  We headed inland.

Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to
birding we go.

Cardinal

Not sure what these birds are but the all left the tree at once and had yellow bellies.

Great Blue Heron about to take flight.

Swans sleeping on an island.

Anhinga

Great Blue Heron

Baby Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Great Blue Heron in flight.

Sue in the bird chair.

A welcome new addition to the Park. Very good ice cream.

We have been watching jeopardy almost every night on this trip.

In our spare time we went grocery shopping!

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 4

 Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina

Snow birds.

Another kind of snowbird.

Marc-  Our first stop this morning was a truck stop for fuel.  We did well paying $ 3.52 per gallon for diesel.  Sue did the first two hour driving stint on the notorious Route 95.   I did the middle two hours of driving on rural North Carolina highways.  Sue finished the trip doing that last two hours to Myrtle Beach and Huntington Beach.  Check in was easy and the Rangers were welcoming.  We landed campsite #95 in a great location for beach access as well as hiking trails.  After an early dinner we headed out to the beach.  Sunset was at 5:50.

Huntington Beach sunset.

Piping plovers on the beach.

These two seem to find plenty to eat.

This is the first campground visited on our way South with significant number campers: tents and RV's.

Nice beach, eh?

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 3

2 February 2024

Kings Dominion Campground 

Richmond, VA

Sunset at Kings Dominion

It almost feels like Vermont here in Virginia.

Marc-  Today we traveled from Western to Eastern Virginia and crossed Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Our first stop was a long return visit to Patchwork Plus.  Sue will detail that visit.  The road trip was uneventful and we arrived at our campground at 3:30.  We walked around the campground and to the gate to Kings Dominion Amusement Park.  The Park was closed.  The campsites are in a pine forest and quite nice.  Sue and I played jumbo checkers outside. 

Now this would be nice for CODA.

Our first sign of Spring

Sue- If you ever get near Dayton, VA, you need to go to Patchwork Plus.  It says it is the largest quilt store in VA, and Better Homes & Gardens calls it one of the top 10 quilt shops in the US.  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's glorious inside.  We spent a lot of money in there.  Coda will get her wish for a new quilt (the one Marc is posing with).  And we bought the materials to make the birdhouse quilt in the photo above (it is just 15 x 15).  

Looks like there are several quilt shops in the Myrtle Beach area, our next stop.  We'll be there for a week, we can check them all out!

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 2

 1 February 2024

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Beautiful farms here in Virginia just like Vermont except for

 the green grass and the 55 degree temperature.

Amish here.

Marc- We left Pennsylvania this morning passing several ski areas including one called "Jack Frost".  There was no snow once we passed over the Pocono mountains.  By the time we entered Maryland there was green grass along the highways.  We passed through a corner of West Virginia and then ended the day in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  Temperatures expected to be in the 40's tonight.  It is nice to be able to have running water again.

Sue- We did not have running water last night because it was cold, so we left the trailer winterized.   

We saw more trucks in PA than we've ever seen before.  Truck after truck after truck.  Sometimes we saw only trucks, no cars.  So many big trucks.  Were they all taking Hershey chocolate out into the world?  

We have not seen a VT license plate since we left VT.

The Harrisonburg, VA area is a lot like VT:  cows, red barns, the same kinds of silos, and mountains.  These are the Blue Ridge Mountains.  

Now about quilt stores.  There are 2 incredible ones here.  Patchwork Plus is the largest quilt store in VA.  It's in Dayton, the town next to Harrisonburg.  It closed soon after we got there so we'll go back tomorrow.  It was huge, very inspirational, quilts hanging everywhere with patterns, the fabric to make them, and kits to make them.  Lots and lots of kits.  Big quilts, little quilts, mini quilts, baby quilts, nautical quilts, you name it, they had it.  Super nice people.  They get an A+++  Lots of personality at this store.

Sew Classic in Harrisonburg has beautiful fabrics, lots of quilts hanging up, lots of inspiration, a lady longarming someone's quilt top, friendly people - the whole package.  I found the small rotary cutting board I wanted and 2 sweet patterns for small-ish wall hangings.   They get an A+. Lots of personality.

The gas prices are improving.  We thought this was great, but then in the same town we found diesel for $3.52 and bought that.

A whole new meaning to a hanging quilt.

Southern Camping Trip 2024

31 January 2024  

Vergennes, Vermont

Marc-  Today begins our winter land voyage with our camper Elsie.   Those Southern campsites among the palm trees are calling.  Our first day will bring us to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

We did have a last minute snag due to ice accumulation inside the camper that prevented the slide out from working.  It has been rather cold here in Vermont lately with daily high temperatures only in the 20's.  In fact we could not load the camper without first opening the slide out.  When we tried to activate the slide out a weld promptly failed on the piston drive bracket.  It took 24 hours of  interior temperature of 80 degrees to melt the ice.  I also had to design and build a new steel support bracket. Mission accomplished.  I am really looking forward to warm temperatures.

The highway journey was uneventful through Vermont, New York and a slice of New Jersey.  No snow on any of the roads.  We entered Pennsylvania at the Delaware Water Gap National Park and traveled some 20 miles on park roads.  The park is impressive even in winter passing multiple waterfalls while descending the Delaware River valley.  Unfortunately all of the Park campgrounds are closed in winter.  We found a nice campsite at the Delaware Water Gap KOA near the Southern border of the Park.  We visited Stroudsburg and found many open shops, pubs and restaurants.  Best of all we ended the day with some blue sky.

Sue- We went to a Price Chopper (large grocery store) in East Stroudsburg near the campground.  It's a 24-hour store, something we have not run into before.  We went to Sew & Vac, a quilt store in town.  It was massive, full of sewing machines, sergers and long arm quilt machines all set up for demonstration.  There were pretty fabrics, too, but I wanted 2 small things and they didn't have them - a gold aurifil thread that our home shop in Middlebury had (and I forgot to bring with me) and I wanted a small rotary cutting board and they didn't have that, either.  It had very few quilts hanging up, and just lacked inspiration.  To me the vibe was "no personality."

Finally some blue sky!