Myrtle Beach Days 1

And having fun in the waves! Well, it was a little too cold for that. But after a steady diet of 30 degree weeks in Chicago, the mid-50's felt pretty reinvigorating. I guess in my last post, I was releasing a lot of frustration and concern. But it's somewhat misleading, my trip included a lot of fun moments.

Woke up at 4 AM, running on four hours of sleep after working till about midnight. We took a 6:15 flight to Raleigh that landed around 10:00 EST. As I stepped into the Raleigh/Durham terminal for the first time since 2003, I was struck by the renovations and modernizations. New walkways, new monitors at the gates, and new restaurants (including the great Carolina Ale House and 42nd St. Oyster Bar). Mom was flabbergasted by the changes too. It had been eight years since she had been there too.

We took our mid-size Toyota (sadly, it was bright red) and began the 3.5 hour drive to Myrtle Beach. After getting off 95 around Lumberton, NC, we took side roads for about 1.5 hours. Myrtle Beach is just not the easiest town to access by car. As we entered South Carolina, I fussed around with the radio. There was one station that played beach music and oldies. And a lot of traditional blues too. This was the type of music that no station in Chicago even dreams of playing, except maybe one of those obscure AM stations. And the country stations were playing some good 80's and 90's tunes, back from when country music was actually distinctive from other genres. But enough ranting.

So we took Rt 17, which is basically the only main road in the town although it splits into business 17 and bypass 17 in the actual town of Myrtle Beach, with the bypass route traveling closer to the coast. As Surfside Beach (the first town south of Myrtle Beach) ends, the two roads merge again. We took the bypass road to Barefoot Landing, a nice outdoor shopping center. In the back of the shopping center stands Greg Norman's Australian Grille. I have visited there to take some pictures before, but this was my first time eating there. We got a table by the pond and started off with crispy Asian seafood spring rolls. They come with a homemade sweet and sour sauce and a green ginger, soy and, scallion sauce. I’m not a big SnS fan, but the green sauce was good. Nice appetizer. Mom got ahi tuna with mushroom risotto and green beans. The cool part was the plate is in the shape of a shark fin. I had a fried grouper sandwich with cheese, onions, and a remoulade sauce and some fries. The grouper was very fresh and the sandwich was quite large and complex with so many different flavors. Walked out of there pretty stuffed.

After some driving around town, we drove to Surfside Beach and checked into the Holliday Inn. With only one black duffel bag for me, I finished unpacking in ten minutes. After being up for so long, Mom took a nap. Meanwhile, I walked around the area, which was mostly beach houses and a trailer park. We had an ocean view and were right above the pool and hot tub, but it was certainly not warm enough to hit the waves. I noticed there were eight or nine 20-something’s in the hot tub drinking beer and other cocktails. I have no issue with that, but in the lobby I saw more kids coming in with more liquor. I had a feeling there were more to come. And little did I know…

Then I did the one thing I really wanted to do. We drove 20 minutes south to Pawley's Island, where I did mission work back in 1998. As we turned onto Baskervill Road, I gazed out the window, eager to see what, if anything, had changed. The little Holy Cross Episcopal church building was still there when we came into the complex. The free clinic where we stayed at, ate in, and worked on looked the same as well. I recognized the white clinic sign hanging from the roof out front, the house color was the same powder blue. But as I looked past the clinic, I remembered what had been there and thought I was in the wrong place. That space used to be an empty dirt field and we had pulled out the old batting cage which had been embedded into the earth. Of course, we lost the bumper off our van trying to pull it out. Well, now they have built a new church four or five times the size of the original with a full parking lot and palm trees lining the entranceway. I was absolutely stunned how much that place has grown. I walked around the campus thinking about people on that trip. Mrs. Riebock, Parker, Whitney, Spata, Quinn, and a lot of others. I’m not really in contact with any of them anymore and I wonder if they think about that trip too.

We continued five minutes down the road to the hammock shops, which is what Pawley’s Island is best known for. In the main shop, I tried a sample of vanilla pecan fudge. Definitely the best fudge I have ever had. It’s funny, take out the chocolate and fudge can be pretty darn tasty. Found a sports shop and picked up two Jets wall hangings. Great, unexpected acquisition.

We headed back to the north side, took about 45 minutes. Looking for a quick bite, we went to Dirty Don's oyster bar. Happy hour was in session and we were charged 35 cents for oysters, wings, shrimp, clams, and mussels and six came to an order. Throw in three Coors Light’s for me and a few wines for Mom. I paid that bill and with tip, it was only $36.00, which I thought was a steal.

Then, we drove 10 minutes north to the Carolina Opry. This is the beauty of Mom being a tour guide. Free tickets to shows! We watched Good Vibrations, which was music and entertainment from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. We got our seats and I was sandwiched right next to a 300-pound woman. I had to lean forward because my lungs couldn’t get any air. So as soon as the show started, we retreated back five rows. The show was pretty enjoyable. The funniest moment would have been Cheech’s mustache falling off.

I did watch may have been the gayest performance in entertainment history. Four male tap dancers wearing tight black pants and orange t-shirts with tigers on the front. They river-danced to Eye of the Tiger. Talented, but painful. At the end of the 90-minute show, Gary Baker played the national anthem ala Hendrix. Midway through, I screamed “BEAT CANADA!”

We drove home through the business route. Mom got a speeding ticket. The road was curving and as we were moving, we saw these huge lights go out (they were from a mini-golf course) and weren’t quite sure where we were. The jack-off cop gives mom a ticket. The rest of the night was not exactly pleasant between us. We came back to the hotel and a group of maybe 50 or 60 senior citizens were coming off a bus for a tour, just like what Mom would be leading. I remembered the kids that had been in and I knew this was not going to be a pleasant exchange. After waiting 10 minutes for an elevator, we went to our room. I knew to leave Mom alone, so I went downstairs and continued writing. Meanwhile, more kids were checking in and a lot were carrying clothing in plastic bags. With no parents I had a gut feeling that it was not for a wedding. So I found out from a girl that they were from Virginia and it was for a fraternity formal. I think I saw at least 120 kids total and most of them had beer in hand.

The night sounded like full blown-insanity. All of them were hammered, some rooms got damaged, and a lot of them were throwing each other against walls. Finally, I got some shut-eye though I don't think that began until around 1 AM. In the morning, the manager evicted at least two-thirds of them from the hotel.