Myrtle Beach Message Board

Saturday, Oct 1

Saturday morning we packed our bags and moved from the Windsurfer to a condo at The Ashworth. Initially, we had reserved this week at the condo, then decided to add on a week. Unfortunately the condo wasn't available before or after our scheduled week.

We found a Krispy Kreme with the "HOT" sign on and stopped in for a dozen and some coffee. We arrived at the condo around 11:30. After unloading and starting a very necessary load of clothes, we received a couple of text messages from Brett (of Brett & Katie) to see if we were interested in meeting him some place to watch the Ohio State game. Well, of course we were! He came up North and we met him at Buffalo Wild Wings around 3:30. We ordered food, visited and enjoyed the game...despite the loss.

After the game, we came back to the condo, made a pot of coffee and enjoyed the view from the balcony. Week 2 begins....

Sunday, Oct. 2nd

We went to church with Leo, Charlotte, Brett & Katie and the girls this morning. It was a wonderful service at Christ United Methodist Church, located across the street from Medival Times. If you are looking for a church to visit while you are on vacation, this would be a great place. Contemporary service is at 11:15. After services we all went to McAlisters Deli on Pine Island Road. I am not a sweet tea drinker normally, but this place has the BEST sweet tea!

We had a great time getting caught up and the food as usual was great. After saying our good-byes, we left there and made a quick run down to Hudson's to make an exchange on something we bought a few days ago and then headed back to NMB. We did stop at "Everything Under the Sun" flea market. It only took about 10 minutes to walk through and is really not worth the stop. Maybe it's off season for them also? There is a Harbour Freight next door and we stopped in to buy a hack saw. Actually, Mike needed that to finish my re-designed golf club so I can look like a pro when hunting for shark teeth

Last stop, Kroger to pick up a few supplies, then back to the condo. Spending the evening finishing up laundry, watched the last of the NASCAR race, and getting caught up on this trip report.

It's wonderful to have an internet connection!!

As for the weather...it cooled off a lot but is supposed to warm back up. Had to wear a sweatshirt for a short walk on the beach this evening. We wondered if you could see the SkyWheel all the way up here and you can! We are just about a block from Ocean Drive/Main Street in NMB.

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"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Myrtle Beach Resort
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Compass Cove
2010 - Coral Beach
2011 - The Ashworth & Windsurfer
2012 - The Ashworth

Sounds like you and Mike are off to a wonderful start for your second week!

"We found a Krispy Kreme with the "HOT" sign..."
LOL! Bet your car just turned right in and stopped under the sign... all by itself!

It is supposed to start warming up. We debated bringing the orchids in from the porch, but it is supposed to be 71 today, and mid-70s the rest of the week. Hope so!

How do you like the Ashworth?

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I'm enjoying your reports! Sounds like a lovely trip! Keep the warm weather down there...I think I'm heading that way the 14th

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Patrish - we really like The Ashworth. It's a very clean and they keep the grounds in perfect condition. We are renting from someone I know at work. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo, complete with washer/dryer.

_________________
"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Myrtle Beach Resort
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Compass Cove
2010 - Coral Beach
2011 - The Ashworth & Windsurfer
2012 - The Ashworth

Monday, October 3

A whole lot of nothing going on around here today. I walked the beach this morning and then lounged around the pools briefly. Mike only worked half a day today, so we took the umbrella and chairs down to the beach for awhile. The beach up here is really nice. Maybe it's just me, but the sand even feels softer up here..is that even possible? I tried out my new sand sifter...only found two teeth, but heard some people up near the pier had buckets of teeth

Around 4:00 we decided it was time to get cleaned up and go out for dinner. We had a Restaurant.com certificate for Duffy Street on Sea Mountain Highway. Very good! Here's our review: http://tinyurl.com/5tvzx7d

After dinner we drove on up to the Cherry Grove Pier, then back to the condo.

Weather today was perfect on the beach. No humidity to speak off, slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Just gorgeous!

_________________
"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Myrtle Beach Resort
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Compass Cove
2010 - Coral Beach
2011 - The Ashworth & Windsurfer
2012 - The Ashworth

Jan, enjoying your trip report. Glad to hear that the Ashworth is working out well for you. You are correct, it was a gorgeous day on the beach. We were on Surfside Beach most of the day. This is the first year we have spent so much time on the beach. The sand is pretty soft in Surfside also!!
Judy

Tuesday, Oct 4th

Another beautiful day on the horizon. Walked the beach around 8:00 - completing my 10,000 steps for the day, then lounged around for awhile after returning. We decided to go out to Barefoot Landing around 11:30, stopping at Starbucks on the way. Browsed around there for quite awhile.

I had a buy one/get 1 free coupon that expires today for Ruby Tuesday - for an entree up to $15. We took off for the Myrtle Beach Mall since that location was closer. Before dinner, Mike wanted to go into Bass Pro, so I reluctantly followed him in the door. After what seemed like a very long time, we walked over to Ruby Tuesday. We both ordered the Chef's Sirloin and were very pleased with our meals.

Stopped by Kroger on the way back to pick up some pop (or soda) and then back to the condo. Might take a beach walk a little later....

GORGEOUS day today!

_________________
"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Myrtle Beach Resort
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Compass Cove
2010 - Coral Beach
2011 - The Ashworth & Windsurfer
2012 - The Ashworth

Jan, sounds like you all are having a GREAT time...10,000 steps is wonderful...it is so much easier to walk them at the beach! Good for you!

JoAnn

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Enjoying your trip report! Sounds like you're having a good time. Hope the weather has been good for you. Can't wait to hear more!

Vicki & Kay

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Pier View - 1985 - 2005
Lighthouse Motel - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Windsurfer Hotel - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Wednesday, Oct 5th

We met Judy, aka beachlady, and her husband Chris at Harry's Breakfast Pancakes on North Kings Highway, for, well, breakfast of course! This was our first time at Harry's, but if you have been reading Judy's report, you know that she and Chris eat there almost every morning. It was great meeting up with them again. New friends to visit in Myrtle Beach all because of this crazy little message board! Who would have thought?

After saying our good-bye's and making plans to visit this time next year, we parted ways. Mike and I drove out to Tanger's Outlet on 501. After spending too much time and $$ there, we came back to the condo for awhile, trying to decide where to go for a burger. That sounded good to both of us. This actually became the "Great Hamburger Adventure" - you'll see what I mean....

I suggested going to Hamburger Heaven in Cherry Grove, so off we went. Well, no cars in the lot. It was 4:50 and they open at 5:00. We thought we would kill some time and stop in at Boulineau's - (we needed pretzels for the dips we bought at Le Gourmet Chef earlier today.) If you haven't been inside Boulineau's, be prepared. It's HUGE! We went upstairs, browsing at all the gifty type stuff, then I found the spiral staircase to the lighthouse. No one was around, but I didn't want to get arrested, so I found an employee to ask if we could go up top. Of course that was no problem, but she did say the door at the top was locked and we wouldn't be able to go outside. I tracked Mike down and dragged him along with me just in case. It's a nice view up there, although the windows could use a good washing.

I needed to mail something so we stopped in the Boulineau's Ace Hardware/Post Office. Who are the Boulineau's anyway??? We looked around briefly. I don't know much about sea fishing, but I took a picture of a fishing lure that was longer than I am tall....about 5'0". What exactly would you be fishing for with that thing? The lure was $219.99.

Back to the burger....we drove back by Hamburger Heaven and only 1 car in the lot. We passed on by and got on 17. We had a gift card for Red Lobster/Lone Star and thought Lone Star probably has a good char-grilled burger, so I plugged that into the GPS and guess what - there is one 6 miles from our current location on 17. So we're driving along and Broom Hilda, or whatever her GPS name is, says, "you have reached your destination on the left" - really sister? I think you need a little fine tuning my dear! The only way we could tell it was a Lone Star is on the building where the name Lone Star USED to be! It was closed! So much for my bright idea. Now it's Mike's turn. We talk about going to Land Shark, then we saw Cheeseburger in Paradise. Finally, we decided to just keep on going and hit Land Shark. The parking meters are FREE now! We parked across from the garage and walked from there. We had a great seat on the outside deck with a view of the ocean and the SkyWheel. The burgers were wonderful and we are very happy campers this evening. All that for a burger

Tomorrow we plan to drive up to Callahans and then have lunch with a guy Mike knows from work. He's a sales rep. He played football at Florida State then played for a short time in the NFL with the Saints and a couple other teams.

The end of vacation is within sight...

_________________
"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Myrtle Beach Resort
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Compass Cove
2010 - Coral Beach
2011 - The Ashworth & Windsurfer
2012 - The Ashworth

>...New friends to visit in Myrtle Beach all because of this crazy little message board! Who would have thought?

It always amazes me how so many people meet here on the message board and form lasting friendships. How cool is that?

Boulineau's is huge. Wally and I wandered around in there for the longest time! Who are the Boulineau's? Frank and Louise Boulineau opened a grocery store in 1948 in the small community of Cherry Grove Beach, which at the time had fewer than 100 houses. See more information here:
http://www.boulineaus.com/aboutus.cfm

I'm loving your trip report, Jan! It's hard to believe it's coming to an end! The weather today was beautiful!

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Thursday, Oct 6

We have surely been blessed with beautiful weather this week! I walked the beach around 8:00 while Mike did a little work. We drove up to Sunset Beach to meet Mark - as mentioned in yesterdays report. He took us to The Boundary House in Calabash for lunch. Very nice place, sort of reminds me of California Dreaming or Carolina Roadhouse. We talked, of course, about college football, with some business discussion mixed in. After lunch he took us up through Sunset Beach proper and gave us a little history on the area.

On our way back we stopped at Callahan's. Mike got a t-shirt. I just can't make up my mind...too many choices for me in there, and I made all my purchases at Tanger's.

We got back to the condo around 3:00 and Mike set me up on the beach while he finished a few work items. People were starting to leave around 4:00, but we stayed out till almost 6:30. We walked a bit, and a gentleman stopped to talk with us. He saw we were hunting shark teeth. This guy had only been out about an hour and he had a bunch of them, including several really large teeth. He gave us some tips and we talked quite awhile.

We packed it up and headed in for the evening to get started on packing and doing laundry. We want to spend most of the day on the beach tomorrow. It's been a wonderful two weeks in paradise.

_________________
"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Myrtle Beach Resort
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Compass Cove
2010 - Coral Beach
2011 - The Ashworth & Windsurfer
2012 - The Ashworth

Glad to see that you have enjoyed your trip. Not a very hard thing to do in MB. Hate to see you have to leave. Hard to leave paradise.

Read your report every day. Doesn't seem like it's been two weeks already. Can't imagne how fast the time flew by being there.

Boulineau's is probably the main reason we always shoot for Cherry Grove most trips. Unlike Krogers and WalMart. At Bounlineau's you can't help but know you're at the beach.
Boogie boards, fishing tackle, bread and steaks pretty much in the same aisle.
One block off the beach. During the summer half the people in there are barefoot and wearing bathing suits.
Staying within walking distance you can find anything you could possibly need for week's vacation in that one block and never move the car.

Semi remember the changes since the mid sixties. I know I remember old pictures they had hanging high on the wall at the dining end. Think they disappeared when they added second floor. Would love to know where they went.

Pics of Cherry Grove with maybe half dozen houses on the beach. Little more than a dirt road where Ocean Blvd is now. Small fishing boats beached in the sand waiting for next high tide. Doesn't look like that now.

Thanks for a great report - these "late season" reports are such a treat !

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"If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, go home and examine your conscience." - Woodrow Wilson