RV & Camping
Atalaya Castle (Murrells Inlet, SC)
Hallway through the center courtyards, the water tower is in the middle
During our stay at Huntington Beach South Carolina State Park our family visited the Atalaya Castle. There is a small fee to tour the house, if you want you can purchase an audio tour for an additional fee. We choose to do the tour on our own.
Atalaya has a neat history! It was built by Acher and Anna Huntington during the Great Depression. Archer was their philanthropist from New York City and Anna was an artist. They built the house in South Carolina as a place to stay during the winter after Anna was diagnosed with tuberculosis. They designed the house after Spanish and Moorish architecture. The house has 30 room with a center courtyard full of native plants and a water tower. The Huntington’s insisted that the house be built by people from local community to help boost the economy in that area during the Great Depression. The house was once on 9,000 acres of land.
If you are in the area and have some extra time we recommend stopping by for a visit.
One side of the inner courtyard
Touring the castle
Anna was a sculpture and she designed these wrought iron pieces to cover the windows. They are both decorative and serve as protection from hurricanes.
Entry doorway
Vine growing up through the window
In the kitchen….
My crew!
Outside of Atalaya Castle
Marshes & Campground at Huntington Beach (Murrells Inlet, SC)
Peaceful
We had nice walks along the boardwalks near the marshes at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. The boardwalks went out over the marshes where you could see a variety of wildlife and enjoy the beautiful weather. There was at one point a nature center, but it was currently being rebuilt when we were there. It will be another great addition to the park once it is complete. There were not a lot of bugs in the evenings when we went for walks which was really nice. It was a good place to visit, explore, and spend time together with the family.
The Huntington Beach campgrounds were nice. We had electricity and water hookups at our campsite. There was only one trash dumpster in the whole campground and it is near the visitor center / gift store so depending on where your site is located you may have a good hike to get rid of your trash. The bathrooms only had 2 showers and there were not a lot of bathhouses on the campground. We went after school started so it was not the busiest season but there were still lines to get into the showers most days. Overall it was a great park and we enjoyed it. The biggest improvement would be in the bathhouses, they could have been a little cleaner and larger.
Sunsets were beautiful
We stayed at campsite 111. It was gravel and level
Nice walk at dusk through the marshlands
Awesome boardwalk that takes you through a good bit of the marshes
Sun is going down
The clouds looked pretty neat
Enjoying the last few rays
Sunset reflecting off the clouds
Quiet day at the marshes
Last rays of the sun going over the horizon
Huntington Beach State Park Chairs
Love this sign!
Beach Fun at Huntington Beach State Park (Murrells Inlet, SC)
Enjoying the rain on the beach!
We had a wonderful time on the beach at Huntington Beach State Park. It was a mix of sun and rain! The rain didn’t stop us from heading to the beach for some fun in the sand and water. We stayed at the Huntington Beach Campgrounds, it was a nice walk to the beach. Access to the beach wasn’t too far from our campground and it was pretty quiet. Only a few families were on the beach near us. If you walk further down the beach it got a little bit more crowded especially on the nicer days. Thankful for an opportunity to get away together and enjoy some time at the beach.
Digging in the sand and watching the little critters
On the run
Fun on the beach
Birds, Sand and the Atlantic Ocean
Sand art
My crew
All smiles
On the move
Atlantic Ocean
Dusk walk on the beach
Sun is going down and the rain clouds are moving in now.
Enjoyed our time at Huntington Beach
TrackRock Stable (Blairsville, GA)
We specifically picked Trackrock Campground as one of the places to stay so we could go to their stables. Our girls love horses. When we booked our campsite we also booked a 2 hour trail ride. They have about 65 horses on the ranch, 45 are owned by Trackrock and the other 20 are ones that people are boarding at their location.
The horses each had their own individual personalities. The trail was a little tight and steep in some places (bushes would brush up against you) and my horse, Tango, enjoyed bouncing from tree to tree. They had a lot of different trails you could ride on depending on the weather and wildlife in the area. There were bear tracks on one section of the trail and our horses were a little skittish in that area so we took another path.
We had 9 guests and 2 guides on our trail ride. We walked, trotted, and cantered with our horses. The trail went through the woods, meadows, streams and more. It was a hot day, but the majority of the ride was in the shade. At one point it started raining, however, it didn’t last very long so we didn’t get too wet. The horses were well trained yet had a lot of spunk. Thankful for the opportunity to go for our ride at Trackrock Stables. The kids LOVED it!
Karlie riding Chef
Jake on Carlos and Brina on Felipe
Enjoying the trail ride!
Our crew in one of the meadows.
Are we having fun yet!?
Trackrock Stables
TrackRock Campground (Blairsville, GA)
Our family recently had a weekend trip to the TrackRock Campgrounds in Blairsville, Georgia. We left on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday. The campground was very nice and well maintained. We arrived after the office closed but they had our name posted with our campsite on the bulletin board.
There was a mix of retired couples and families as well as RVs and tents at the campgrounds. The campsites had enough space and trees around them to give everyone some privacy. We stayed in campsite #10 which had full hookups (water, electricity and sewer) and as a bonus wild blueberries! They were not quite ripe yet, but there were other berries around the property and a blueberry bucket in the office so they are pretty common.
They have a lake you can fish or swim in, a couple playgrounds, hiking trails, and more. TrackRock has their own stables were you can either board your own horse or go for a ride on one of theirs. They have a variety of horse trails.
Lake with the mountains in the background.
Barn with old farm equipment around it.
My favorite peeps!
Trackrock Campgrounds, Cabins & Stables
