Myrtle Beach Message Board

I have to agree with Ruann about the balcony. A balcony at the beach is well worth giving up a few square feet of floor space. Gosh.. Im really looking forward to our trip in September.

Mon 18th
Solo walk down to Main Street before setting up camp on the beach. Little wind so broke out the shelter. We bought a Sport-bralla. Looks like an umbrella but has two flaps. Can lay it on it's side and with flaps down it makes a nice half dome tent. Two chairs and a cooler can fit all the way back out of the sun.
Set it up that way today. Anchors that came with it were useless in sand so I brought threaded eye bolts with large fender washers. Buried the washers deep in the sand and shelter wasn't going anywhere.

Set up behind first row of canopies and umbrellas because didn't feel right going in front and blocking their view. Doesn't pay to be considerate anymore. By mid day there were three rows of canopies and umbrellas between us and the water. Summer trips might be on hold for a few years.

Split time between pool and beach all day. Couple short shell search strolls through the crowds. Rows of chairs set up at waters edge. Not a few here and there. Long rows.
Number of holes where surf was rolling and churning up piles of small and crushed shells. People lined up facing beach looking in one inch water for shells. We walked behind them in 6" water and found our best shells rolling in the deeper water. If all those people had just turned around.

Lunch at Ocean Club's tiki bar. Think it's called the Sea Monkey. Didn't see any signs saying other wise so I think it might be open to public. Long list of beers. Not sure about mixed drinks.
Prices seemed high for the sandwiches until we got them. Good sized servings so price really wasn't that.

Boys left for home around two. We played around later than planned and threw a wrench into any dinner plans. Couple of options for eating in but they all required quick run to Boulineau's for at least one more item.
Figured it would be quicker just to eat at Boulineau's at the deli/cafeteria.
Salad bar pretty much cleared out. Deli was closing.
Drove out the street to Hamburger Heaven. Inexpensive and enjoyable meal.

Down to Ocean Drive to check out the amusement park. Not sure where I found them but picked up some business card type coupons off a sales counter somewhere. $3 off any size package of tickets. Went with the 27 ticket package. $24 with the coupon. Yes....I actaully remembered to take it with me for once.
The more exciting rides were three tickets each but smaller kids weren't allowed on them. Even some of the two ticket rides required an adult to ride with them. We paced ourselves and stretched 27 tickets into hour and half time at the park.

Back to condo. No problem getting little ones to sleep.

Tues 19th
Early morning. One eye open. Other closed. Is that sunlight peeking through the curtains or is it still the outside lights? I'm hearing "Margaritaville". Wait....It's my phone....
Nursing home where Mom is at. "Some problems"......"Taking her to hospital for tests"'
Spent morning on phone and running all the scenarios through my head. Finally received word around noon. All is good. Some problems with blood work that meant some changes in meds.
Back to beach mode.........

Beach and pool all day before grilling chicken on outside grill. Grills were busy that night. Three large gas grills set up with so many waiting turns we started sharing. My chicken was pretty lame compared to some of the other meats and fish the others were cooking.

Bocce ball on beach after dinner followed by more pool time before bed.

Wed 20th
Wanted to try Wonderworks. Had heard it could be crowded so considered waiting til Saturday taking advantage of check-in/check-out day.
Since we were going to Myrtle to meet Patrish and Wally Wed evening we decided to do the two birds one shot thing and head to Broadway for the day.

Patrish has given me orders for detailed review of Wonderworks so I'll just make long story short here.

Super hot days or rainy days when people leave beach in search of indoor attractions. Not a good day to try Wonderworks. Not set up to handle crowds.
80-90% of the hands on stations are more for 10-12 years old and up. Smaller kids will spend most of their time either being lifted up so they can see over the double deep row of people around each station or they'll be staring at a lot of backsides.

We left after maybe an hour and half. Planned on lunch then give it another try but never made it back. Half way around the lake we were roasting in the heat. Hard decision but ended up shelling out more money for aquarium. Had to get out of heat for rest of afternoon. Money well spent.

Couple hours watching fish we headed towards Margaritaville. 4:30 and line was already halfway around the building. I love the place but not that much.
Across the walkway is Mexican diner/grill. Can't remember the name. Rio something or another. Not a full tilt Mexican restaurant but still several steps above Taco Bell. Six of us ate for $41 and didn't have to stand in line.

Headed back towards Wonderworks but by the time they hit a couple stores and bought $30 worth of air brush tattoos for the kids it was too late to give it another try. I wasn't exactly heart broke over it.

Meeting Patrish and Wally at 2nd Ave Pier at 8. We headed over early in case there was a problem searching for parking. Two spots in the free lot.
Paid a few bucks to walk the pier. Watched a guy pull in a tangle of old line with a spiked looking sea urchin creature. Several people pitched in to cut away the line and throw it back in.
Small shark was near the pier that several fishermen were trying to catch. It splashed around enough that people could see it but nobody caught it.

Great seeing Patrish and Wally again. For future meet ups you can't go wrong planning them around the pier and free fireworks. Sitting in bar area you could pretty much just turn around in seat and have a good view.
After meet up I drove up Ocean Blvd to show Stan the difference between NMB and MB.
Traffic was at a standstill. Sidewalks so jammed with people some were stepping off and walking in driving lanes causing even more traffic problems.

Traffic problems on Rt 17 heading back. Somebody who probably never gets out of the office decided evening would be a good time to shut down a lane on Rt 17 for some curb/storm drain repair.

Cops and ambulance at Ocean Club when we returned. Domestic disturbance. Talk among other guests was wife had been shopping and bought expensive purse. She left handcuffed to ambulance gurney so it's hard to say who won......

Thurs 21st
Fri 22
Sat 23
Sun 24
A blur of nothing.......Wed at Broadway just about wiped us out physically, mentally and financially. More beach and pool time rest of week.
Very confusing feelings. Felt like we had been there forever and we still had 3 full days and a wake up to go.

Stan and Hayley had made friends at the pool so that kept them occupied and happy. Neither one could swim at beginning of week but by this time their confidence in the water was much better. Bit weak with actual swimming but both were floating and treading in water over their heads.

Caleb pretty much the same way but he has no concept of water depth. By this time he was refusing to wear his wings and would jump in anywhere. 5-6 feet from the steps he was ok. Head down and kicking he would make it. Any farther where he needed to stop for air.......Great submarine immitation..

Drowned my phone one morning. After Tuesday I was afraid to be too far from it.
Was in process of placing things on chair and phone was next on things to unload..... "Pop!!!!! Get in the water!!!!!" .....I did....Adult Attention Deficit maybe....

Did hot dogs for Thurs dinner.
Clean out fridge left over night on Fri.
Saturday we debated where to go out. I mentioned Dick's Last Resort but changed mind. Too late. Kids liked the idea. Most expensive meal of the week and we left half of it on the table.
I understand the rudeness theme of the place and we had some good laughs. The food was terrible.

Finished the week with one last stop at beach shop for nic-nacs.....Just realized I missed my traditional ringing of wind chimes at Boulineau's. Joann says Caleb did it for me. I can only imagine how loud that must have been.

On the road at 7am Sun. morning. In our driveway at 3:30.

You need to write a book one day. Enjoyed reading this. Yes, I understand about the canopies. We have one and always set it behind others and bring our own stakes to keep it secure.. I could sure picture a canopy wrapping around that woman you described One year we watched one family who rented an umbrella and 2 chairs from the lifeguard and 8, yes 8 of them tried to squeeze under that shaded area.. It is very very entertaining just to sit and watch people!!!

We also know the area well where you stay as that area is "our 2nd home" too. great trip it sounds like. Tell Ruann if I'm oceanfront I need a balcony too.

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Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.
Author unknown

I enjoyed reading your account of your beach trip. It is amazing how quickly some kids pick up on swimming. It sounded like all had a great time.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill.