17 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 12

 Tomoka State Park

Ormond Beach, Florida

Marc-  I awoke to a Park e-mail indicating that we were checking out today...  oops.  I then met with the Park Ranger who explained that we needed to move to another site for the remainder of our stay.  I also verified our future reservations in his system and found that we were missing a day.  Not a problem since the Park has five available sites for that day but we will need to change sites again.  Sue and I went for a beautiful forest hike before any more changes could be made.  The Park was once an Indigo Plantation while it was a Spanish possession.  The forest has taken back almost all signs of any plantation.

We explored the beaches from Ormond to Ponce de Leon Inlet.  Highlights were a tour of the Rockefeller winter beach home and the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse.  John D. Rockefeller lived here in winters for health reasons and to be near where his friends came to visit.  The giant Ormond Hotel was built by Henry Flagler, Rockefeller's partner in the Standard Oil business.  The Rockefeller residence was directly across the street from the hotel.  

The Rockefeller home was named "The Casements" after its casement style windows.

The home faces the intracoastal waterway with extensive gardens and a large dock. Mr. Rockefeller started each morning off with some reading.

Ormond was also home to automobile speed racing on the beach and is now known as "The Birthplace of Speed."  The racing no longer happens here.

Beach racing looking South to the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse.  One side of the course uses Route A1A.

Ponce de Leon Lighthouse is the tallest light in Florida (170 feet).  The brick walls are 8 feet thick at the bottom and 2 feet thick at the top.  The tower has a 28 foot diameter at the bottom tapering to a 16 foot diameter at the top.  The structure is in excellent repair and is very solid on a massive 12 foot deep brick foundation.  There are 203 cast iron steps to the top gallery.

View of the inlet from the top balcony.

View of the Intracoastal from the top of the lighthouse.  Note the significant sandbars.

A more detailed view of the Ponce de Leon Inlet and its passages.

Sunset back at Tomoka State Park.

16 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 11

Tomoka State Park

Ormond Beach, Florida

Marc-  Today was a 7 hour travel day from SouthCarolina through Georgia to Ormond Beach, Florida.  No issues on the way except not stopping at the lowest cost diesel fuel stop ($ 3.79 per gallon near Charleston).  We made one stop for fuel just before getting on Route 95 and paid $ 4.55 per gallon.  We have a poor internet connection so I keep this brief and load photos later.  We were welcomed to the park at 16:15 and had enough time to go to the Park Store where they seem to have something for everyone.  This park is old Florida with sand roads, secluded campsites and quiet surroundings.  The local vegetation is tropical and lush.

Sue met this Tom Hanks at a rest stop in Savannah.

Chief Tomokie of the native Tomoka tribe.

Park roads through the forest.

Tropical vegetation abounds here.

Sunset at Tomoka State Park Marina.

Just off the Intracoastal Waterway.

15 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 10

 Huntington Beach State Park

Murrells Inlet 

South Carolina

Art on Huntington Beach

Marc-  Huntington Beach set a new cold record for January 15 of 29 degrees overnight yet no water pipes froze or burst.  It is all about the very short duration of the cold temperature just before the sun comes up and quickly (over several hours) warms up the place to 50 degrees.  We greatly appreciate our propane furnace and the heat it provides.  By 09:00 we were having an enjoyable walk on the beach.

We also completed our departure prep for the next leg of our winter journey. This included filling our fuel tank at reasonable prices.  The lowest prices here are $4.03 per gallon for diesel and $ 2.77 per gallon for gasoline.  We rode our bikes on a paved county bike path through the forest and next to a new beachfront subdivision.  Sue and I also went to the movie theatre and saw the new Tom Hanks movie:  "A Man Called Otto."

Bikes ready to go.

On our drive back from the theatre, at 17:56, we saw the SpaceX Launch of a US Space Force device into geostationary Earth Orbit from Kennedy Space Center, Florida some 354 miles South of us.

SpaceX smoke plume and a few birds.

14 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 9

Huntington Beach State Park

Murrells Inlet 

South Carolina

Marc-  We went shopping today on Pawley's Island at the Food Lion supermarket and a really cool candy section at the Mercantile.  A cold front came through early this morning and dropped temperatures to the 30's.  There was even a report of a few snowflakes.  I did not see any snow but the 15 knot wind did have a chilling effect even though the temperature rose to the 40's.  We are in for a repeat performance tonight.  Luckily we have an excellent propane heating system.  

Activities today included going to visit a new marina on the Waccamaw River built in the old private harbor of the 41,000 acre Allston Plantation.  All that remains of the Allston Plantation is the family cemetery.  The Reserve Marina is part of Safe Harbor.  The harbor is well in from the river and well protected.  It is also filled with slips.  There is one slip designated as "public".  We also noticed the USGS Survey sign below at the entrance channel.

Waccamaw River

We also went back to Brookgreen Gardens to walk and to see a movie about Archer and Anna Huntington's lives, their philanthropy, her sculpting and the making of Brookgreen Gardens.

Granite great danes from 1909 by Anna Huntington guarding the driveway gates.

Back to Huntington Beach

The kids were busy today making this shell tree

Modern beach transportation.

Huntington Beach at sunset.

Our shadows.

We have been reading books and doing puzzles.

13 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 8

Huntington Beach State Park 

South Carolina

Japanese Camellia

Marc-  We started off with another long walk on the beach.  I was impressed with the Piping Plovers and did get two good photos.

Feeding Plovers

Flying Plovers

We met up with our friends John and Peggy for lunch at Pawleys Island.  The Rustic Table Cafe was terrific.  We stopped over at Brookgreen Gardens again for a visit mainly in two sculpture studios. It was fascinating to watch a film on the bronze casting process.  The artist creates a sculpture in clay (a positive image). Next a rubber mold is made from the original model ( a negative image) and then molten wax is poured to create a wax casting.  A Silica mold is formed around the wax casting.  Both are heated leaving only the silica mold.  Molten bronze is then poured into the silica mold.  After cooling the silica mold is broken away.  Most large sculptures are cast in sections and welded together.

At the Rustic Table.

Woodpecker Making a Place to Call Home (Bronze).

Brookgreen Gardens live oaks (with Christmas bulbs still hanging)

Peggy and John's cat: "Kitty"

Our campsite's resident Cardinal greeted us once again.

12 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 7

 Huntington Beach State Park 

South Carolina

Marc-  Today we walked at Huntington Beach and Brookgreen Gardens.  We also went to Pawley's Island and Myrtle Beach.  We walked some of the boardwalk at Myrtle Beach - which is a bit "honky tonk" compared to the much nicer areas that surround it - North Myrtle Beach and Murrell's Inlet/Huntington Beach.  

It was a bit cloudy this morning when we went for our beach walk.

Within 30 minutes we were in bright sunshine and 70 degree weather.  The pelicans found good fishing off of Huntington Beach.

We crossed over to Brookgreen Gardens to see some more of the exhibits.  We found this beautiful wooden version of fishing pelicans.

Busy bee on a Japanese Apricot tree

I cannot get enough of flowers in January.

Even glass-blown flowers.

Live oak with Spanish moss.

Mother and daughter bear.

Traveling by turtle.

Apparently someone is a Red Sox fan.

Boy on pony.

Myrtle Beach boardwalk and beach.