Castle on the beach

Sunday, April 7

Near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

This morning in the bright spring sunshine sitting out in the quiet parking lot, We looked through the Map Atlas planning future travels. Some of the highlights ahead are Concord, Massachusetts where Thoreau wrote Walden while living near the Hawthornes, Alcotts and Emerson's.

The National Park in Maine, Acadia, is on the list, and we will cross into New Brunswick then drive on to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. We will be in Canada about six weeks coming south through Quebec and Montreal and Niagara Falls. I am looking forward to seeing all these places for the first time.

Ellie's brother and Wesley invited us to their home in Murrell's Inlet south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for a potluck at 12:30 pm. Wesley is a yoga teacher and some of us are going to her class this coming Wednesday.

I had checked out Huntington State Beach in the driving rain coming north from Charleston last Thursday and wanted to bicycle there when the weather was sunny. And what a beautiful day for biking it was!

I biked out over the causeway watching the birders watching the birds and photographing them with long lenses, then bicycled the winding paved road 1.2 m down to the Atlantic coast and rode along the ocean on the hard-packed sand. Circling back into the Park I arrived at Atalaya, the castle/home of Archer Huntington and his sculptor wife, Anna Hyatt, and toured the sprawling remains and visitor center.

Anna designed the wrought iron window coverings.

Layout of the house around the courtyard

The courtyard with palmetto palms.

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These next three photos are from the Internet; they capture the essence of Atalaya.