Epic Road Trip 2019: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Silhouette of Olivia on Myrtle Beach

We left Pensacola en route to Greensboro, GA a little after 10 am.  I've realized that I get up quite a bit earlier than the kids and usually have to start stirring them around 8 - 8:30 am so we can get on the road within an hour.  The usual night routine after the dishes are cleaned (and sometimes the kids) is to open up my laptop and watch a movie.  I'm slowly acclimating them to more of my favorite movies and I'm sure it will backfire on me when Drew quotes a great line from a movie and gets in trouble at school.  I have explained to them multiple times that swearing is unavoidable, but they should only use it in appropriate settings.  Basically, when they are around their friends.  Not around me, Wendy, or adults in general.  Sorry to all the parents who's kids have learned swear words from my kids.  I'm pretty sure there is nothing they have learned already.  Social educate is a strange and mysterious thing!

1st time eating grits

We ended up driving about 5 1/2 hours outside of Lake Oconee, GA to a KOA.  There was nothing spectacular about this location and it is easily forgettable.  The bathrooms were a long way from our campsite, but the kids enjoyed the pool until they were kicked out about 9:30pm.  I think we finished up the first Hunger Games movie that night.  Drew and I had been listening to the audio book and I told him he couldn't watch the movie until we had finished the book!

We got up fairly early and headed toward Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A quick stop at a diner for the kids' first experience eating grits.  I ordered them with cheese to give them a some taste and was glad for my choice.  Grits are not as slimy as mucous, but definitely slimier than creamed wheat.  I really don't know what else I can say about grits.  They're pretty tasteless as well as just not pretty.

We arrived at Myrtle Beach State Park in the late afternoon to a really nice camp site complete with water and electric hook up.  The electric hookup was key since it was very hot and humid out.  I'm not a big fan of sweating my shirt wet simply by doing mundane tasks to set up camp.  I let the kids head out to the beach so that I could finish up my blogging about Pensacola.  It was very nice to have a little peace and quite in the Aliner with the air conditioning on high.  Ahhhh....

The beach was within walking distance of our campsite, but the best way to get around is by using the kids' scooters.  Heading to the bathroom or the laundromat was much easier when you can scoot your way there.  I may have to pick up a scooter for myself!  Bicycles are great, but the process of putting them together and taking them apart is a pain in the ass vs. simply unfolding the scooter and kicking off to your destination!

I made panini sandwiches for dinner out of the sandwiches that we were supposed to eat for lunch.  They were probably better as paninis than they were as sandwiches, actually.  That evening, Olivia wanted to walk on the beach and Drew elected to hunker down in the Aliner to watch a movie and probably get in to junk food.  It was probably the most amazing beach walk that I have ever experienced. The soft, gray sand under your feet was a perfect compliment to the warm breeze and water along with the rhythmic sounds of the waves crashing in.  I found that I could walk hundreds of yards along the beach with my eyes closed simply by listening to how far away the surf was to me.  The only thing I had to be aware of was humans crossing in front of me as I walked blindly.  Such a complete feeling of relaxation.  Myrtle Beach may not be everyone's favorite beach, but it became a solidified memory for me in favorite experiences.  I understand why Olivia thinks Myrtle Beach is her favorite stop so far on this journey.

The next day was pretty much spent at the beach.  We ate pancakes and eggs for breakfast and I let the kids enjoy the surf while I went into town to get supplies. There are so many touristy things to do in Myrtle Beach, but I will not feel disappointed that we spent the entire time on the beach.  The beach is definitely the destination for that town so there is no reason to do anything else.  At least, that's the explanation I gave to the kids!  All of us got some sort of sunburn some where except for Drew who 'bronzes' instead of burns like his mother.  I put on multiple layers of sunscreen even with an overcast day and still ended up looking like Rudolph.  Olivia's cheeks lit up like Santa, so we could have passed for Christmas decorations.

That night we got a HARD rainstorm come through in the middle of the night.  It was the second night of rain, but this one pounded us.  Even though it woke me up, I was so happy that I was nice and cozy in the Aliner while I thought of all of those campers in tents that would have to dry everything out.  Unfortunately, it was so humid in the morning that NOTHING was going to dry out anytime soon.  The few clothes that I had hung out were still wet even though I had hung them underneath a canopy the night before.  The humidity can be brutal down here!

Something that I noticed about the state park campground is that patrons just don't seem very hospitable.  I took a walk around the campground one evening and could count on one had the number of people who greeted me or simply looked me in the eye.  I don't know if it was simply the crop of campers this time of year or what, but I noticed that people just didn't want to interact when passing you in public.  I came to realize that everyone has a choice to avoid eye contact or make eye contact when someone passes you.  For the most part, people know when someone is approaching them so it's their decision on how they're going to interact.  I know when I'm in a bad mood or not wanting human interaction that I'll look away when someone approaches, but I was surprised at the number of people who chose to look away rather than pose a greeting.  At least it's a lot better than RV parks where everyone just holes up in the camper!

As we were leaving Myrtle Beach we passed 3-4 mini golf courses with the kids making comments after passing each one.  Finally I decided to stop at one and we had a nice 18 hole round before heading out for a KOA in Enfield, North Carolina.  We were fortunate enough for Google to take us on some back country roads through rural South Carolina where we passed multiple fields of tobacco and Baptist churches.  I'm not sure which there are more of around here.

So tonight we're enjoying a relaxing, hot evening in Enfield where we plan on driving up to Annandale, VA to visit multiple aunts, uncles and cousins for a few days outside of Washington, DC.