Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 8

21 January 2026

Huntington Beach State Park

Murrells Inlet, SC 

Brookfield Granite

Marc-  We started the day with refilling the Propane tank (rather important since we heat the camper and cook with it).  Then we stopped at a newly opened Aldi's supermarket and were awed by the low prices.  For example eggs as low as $1.95 a dozen, frozen vegetables for .97 cents, a 12 oz. package of Nestles chocolate chips for $3.67, and Campbells soup for $1 a can.  

We spent most of the day exploring more of Brookside Gardens.  The facility has a "zoo" to showcase native species.  The birds and ducks are protected in aviary cages.  Usually you can walk through the enormous cages but today they were closed to prevent the birds from acquiring flu from human visitors.  We could still see some birds and ducks from a distance.  Most of the exhibits are "open" except for a perimeter fence to keep the humans from interacting too closely with the animals.

Red fox sleeping in a tree.

Gray fox (his or her bushy tail to the right).

Injured bald eagle in protective cage.

Roseate Spoonbill.

Barn owls.

Red Wolf.

River otters playing.  ( The exhibit is on the eastern shore of the Waccamaw River and connected with the tides.  The river otter exhibit is both outside in the tributary and inside a connected display tank.  The otters come and go.)

River otter.

Brookgreen Gardens also has various exhibition halls for works of art.  We visited the Low Country Hall where there was the 18th Annual African American Fiber Art Traveling Exhibition called "In Praise of the Ancestors"

Quilted dress (the medium is paper).

Several Brookgreen Garden trailside sculptures.

African-american cowboy.

Boy with panther.

Daydreams.

Gardener.

We should have started the day here.

Poppies in bloom here.

Back to the beach behind our campground.

Sue - The little birdhouse quilt is coming along.  I have needed to use the "reverse sewing tool" (seam ripper) a lot today, so I have not made the progress I hoped for.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 7

20 January 2026

Huntington Beach State Park

Murrells Inlet, SC

Beautiful Huntington Beach

Marc-  Today started off rather cool but just above freezing and it warmed to about 50 degrees with full sunshine.  We are looking forward to 60's in the coming days.

Sue brought her sewing machine and is working on some projects.  She had to go back to the local quilt shop again today for something she forgot.  Yesterday it was a rotary cutter and today it was a Tucker Trimmer (a ruler).

Birdhouse quilt in the making.  It's only 15" x 15", so lots of little pieces.  Stay tuned for progress.

I decided to go hiking around the park covering about 6 miles of trails / beaches.  I also met "birders" and saw some interesting birds as well.  They are fascinating creatures.

Hardwoods.

Softwoods.

Common gallanol in freshwater marsh.

Great egret.

A hooded merganser swimming towards a great blue heron fishing.

White pelicans.

Not sure what kind of ducks these are.

(click on box to view full screen)

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 6

19 January 2026

Huntington Beach State Park

Murrells Inlet, SC

Great white egret along the causeway this morning.

Marc-  We started the day going off to breakfast with Vermont friends Craig and Donna Lewis who live here during the winter months.  The Blue Sky restaurant was a fantastic place to share a meal and catch up.

We went to a quilt shop, Accent Sewing, in Murrell's Inlet that we'd been to two years ago.  It's small but very welcoming and nice.  It's a Bernina dealer and had a lot of machines on display.  One of the ladies was setting up the long arm quilting machine, and an embroidery class was going.  It's hard to believe what the embroidery machines can do.  You set up the computer, push a button, and it makes gorgeous things.  I even found a source for a part I need for my old Brother machine I use to repair sails and make cushions as well as boat covers.

This is a long arm quilting machine at work.

A rather fishy quilt.

The highlight of the day was visiting Brookgreen Gardens nearly across from where we are staying.  A new pavilion has been added since we last visited and new life size sculptures.  The grounds do not disappoint the visitor with many live oak trees and other flowering trees. 

Entrance to the new Brookgreen Garden Pavilion.

The Purdy Center.

Cast Aluminum Bears.

Cast Aluminum wild boars.

Model of Brookgreen Gardens inside.

Modern business woman in Bronze.

Perseus riding on the winged horse Pegasus form Greek mythology.

(Granite)

Cast aluminum sculpture of a hungry pelican.

The original inhabitants.

Camelia flowers bloom here in January.

Flowering apricot tree.

Bronze cougars.

Boy and dolphin in granite.

                  As they sun began to set interesting shadows were cast upon the many sculptures. 

We ended the day enjoying a poem from Rudyard Kipling.