Among the Driftwood at Hunting Island Beach

Hunting Island Beach is covered in driftwood.  We visited the island in August and it was not very crowded since most people were interested in touring the Lighthouse and walking the trails.  Beaufort is part of the South Carolina low country famous for it's southern cooking, marshland, and beaches.

Lagoon Access and Marsh Boardwalk Trails, Hunting Island

The Lagoon Access Trail is 1.4 miles and winds along the lagoon.  It leads you through the maritime forest.  The Marsh Board Walk Trail and Crossover are easy hiking trails that connects the Lagoon Access Trail and the Maritime Forest.

Hunting Island State Park and Lighthouse

Hunting Island is South Carolina's most popular state park.  The island has 5 miles of beach, maritime forest, a saltwater lagoon and thousands of acres of marsh and tidal creeks.  The lighthouse was built in 1859. 

A Scrooge Family Christmas: A Christmas Pageant

 

I have been directing a play for the Children's Express Theatre with a cast of 34 children, youth and adults.  It is a parody based on Charles Dickens' characters from "The Christmas Carol."   Instead of one Scrooge, we have a modern day Scrooge family.  There is the Spirit of Christmas Present; the Spirits of Christmas Future and the Spirit of Christmas Past who explains the real meaning of Christmas.  There will only be one performance but it will be video recorded for You Tube.

Coastal Wetlands of Lake Huron

 

 

I am always posting pictures of Florida marshes and wetlands but the great lakes also have beautiful wetlands.

"Ends of the Earth" Port Austin Harbor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures are posted in sequence of my walk.  I love the aqua waters of Lake Huron against a endless horizon.  Located at the tip of the thumb of Michigan, Port Austin is know for fishing i.e. lake trout, walleye, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, brown trout, salmon and steelhead.  It was a quiet and rainy day with very few people at the pier.  One of the best walks for scenery if you enjoy walking to the "ends of the earth."

There is a band "Lord Huron" that named themselves after Lake Huron.  One of their songs is entitled "Ends of the Earth"

"Oh, there's a river that winds on forever
I'm gonna see where it leads
Oh, there's a mountain that no man has mounted
I'm gonna stand on the peak"

Shaconage "Blue, Like Smoke"

I set my camera to take black and white pictures of the cloudy mountain peaks.  The clouds were so thick you could not see the mountain range or even the steep cliffs.  It was a visual "smoke without fire" effect.  The Cherokees called the Smoky Mountains Shaconage meaning "Blue, Like smoke." 

Wagener County Park - Beware!

Wagener County Park was not very crowded and the view from the shoreline was beautiful but there is a problem with this park, it is a health hazard for anyone camping there and using the beach.  There were children dressed in swimsuits at the campsite and I don't know how it could be enjoyable when you have to watch every step you take.  The beach is not a clean beach; there were animal feces all over the sand. It is not a bathing beach; it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the beach sand contains more fecal bacteria than seawater.  I don't like it when people walk their dogs at the beaches in St. Augustine.  Even if the owners clean up after the dogs, it still contaminates the sand.  I hate to ruin someone's visit to the beach this weekend but be warned.  Multiple scientific tests have detected high levels of fecal bacterial in sand.  Beach authorities routinely monitor beach water for high levels of bacterial but they don't monitor the sand so sun bathers beware! 

Sand and Water

The beach after high tide... geometric shapes of sand and water.

Sea Flowers Lake Huron

 

These are some of the flowers growing wild at Wagener Park and private beach sites on Lake Huron, Michigan.