Atalaya Castle

Nestled in Huntington Beach State Park is the beautiful old home/castle. The land (9,000 acres!) was bought in the 1930's by Archer M. Huntington and his wife Anna to be their winter home. His wife was diagnosed in the late 1920's with TB and he felt winter in SC would be better than in NY. It took 3 yrs to build. He was a Spanish historian and they built a Mediterranean Coastline Moorish Styled home and called it Atalaya, which means Spanish Watchtower. The Watchtower was built to house bats because bats eat mosquitoes --isn't that so interesting?!! She was a sculpture and her works of art can be seen across the street at Brookgreen Gardens. I didn't go there this trip but it is a wonderful MUST SEE place!!  Here are some pics from the castle. If in the area definitely check out the State Park and this home. I did not see this home last time and I'm so glad I was encouraged to see it this visit.

I like to turn things upside down...

When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It's all a matter of perspective.

Harvey Mackay

Photography is art. Art is your perspective, your interpretation....its yours and that's one reason I love photography. Photography and art can mean a lot of different things to different people. I love seeing life in different ways through different vantage points. I enjoy playing with (editing) photos and trying new things. And I admit i am very limited in my understanding of technology so I am sure there is a lot more I could be doing but I enjoy what I do and that's what is important. We should all have something we enjoy to unwind and relax. 

I like to turn things upside down, to watch pictures and situations from another perspective.

Ursus Wehrli

Huntington Beach State Park

While I've always loved nature its only been in the last few years I've really have been intrigued by birds. I think it began as a way to challenge myself. Photographing birds is tough because they're always moving. I still have a lot to learn about birds and photography but I'm loving the process. When we went to the Myrtle Beach area a couple years ago I briefly went to Huntington State Beach Park and loved it so much I returned to spend more time this visit. My only wish is I had room to travel with my better camera and equipment but I think all in all I saw some amazing birds, animals, and scenery and consider myself blessed to have gone (and really thankful I didn't end up alligator food!!). If you're in the area I recommend checking this place out! I hope you enjoy the photos but know some of them aren't as clear/crisp as I would like due to the travel camera I had with me and no tripod.

Apparently (per the other photographers and bird watchers there) this bird is rare and had just arrived the day before. Meet the beautiful Roseate Spoonbill.

Storks are unique birds...at least to me anyway

Other birds seen that day:

Other creatures:

Thankfully the gator was sleeping when I realized he was only a few feet away...I was a safe distance when he woke up...whew!!!!!

At the nature center you can learn and touch many creatures...including the two below.

The beautiful scenery at the park: