Huntington Beach State Park and Atalaya

Last Wednesday, we took a break from the beach and headed South to Huntington Beach State Park. The winter home of the Huntington's, Atalaya, rests comfortably along the coast. The house, or "winter castle", was fun to tour, but the "castle" well, it wasn't like the castle we envisioned. After walking the site, we took a hike along the banks of the tribuatries leading to the Atlantic. It was hot, really hot! But, everyone completed the hike and almost cheered when we recognized our car again :). Good thing Mom thought to pack water and snacks--much needed!

You can read more about Atalaya by visiting this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atalaya_Castle

I'm happy that we took time out of our vacation to visit this location. We learned more about the Huntington's than we thought possible. And, I still think it's amazing that Mr. Huntington drafted the plans for his winter home in his head, not on paper. But, the neatest aspect of the construction was that Mr. Huntington insisted on hiring local laborers when he could have easily provided his own team. I just enjoyed reading about this couple who I had never heard of prior to our trip to SC...