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
Travel & Vacation: Main Street Electrical Parade & Fireworks at Disney’s Magic Kingdom (Orlando, FL)
After dark at Magic Kingdom they do a Main Street Electrical Parade and Fireworks every night. You will need to check the schedule for the days you want to go, but it is pretty consistent most weeks. The electric lights parade was awesome. Even though we squeezed in all the rides we could before the parade the kids were still able to get front row seats for the parade (thankfully it was less crowded when we went). The parade was fascinating, the girls loved it.
A little bit after the parade was done we found a spot to sit down and watch the lights, music, and fireworks next to the castle at Magic Kingdom. It was beautiful. We ended up sitting right in front of the castle and had a great view! The kids really enjoyed it. After the fireworks we decided to go do a few more rides which we walked right onto since the majority of people were leaving at that time. It was a great day at Magic Kingdom. We had a few hiccups with a couple rides and shows, but everyone took it in stride and we had an amazing time together.
Fascinating
Bald eagle, flag, and fireworks!
Colorful castle!
Beautiful castle, lots of colors, music and fireworks who could ask for anything more!
Blue castle and fireworks! I lost count of the number of times the castle changed colors and the number of different songs they played during the show.
Red, white, and blue – The castle is dark blue with white stars (a little hard to see in this picture) and the fireworks were a bright red. Gorgeous!!!
Turquoise blue
Pretty pink
The kids loved it
A great ending to a wonderful show
