Road Trip-- Day 2

Day 2
We had breakfast at the Holiday Inn at Surfside Beach, which used to be a small community just south of Myrtle Beach, but clearly, now some developers have discovered it as well. Ed wanted to go there for breakfast because he spoke at a conference for small chemical industry people last year and it was held at this Holiday Inn.

It was a brisk and sunny morning, kicking up some foam on the beach!

Again, for me, there's nothing quite so wonderful as the feeling of sand under my feet!

After breakfast we drove down the road to see if we could find our old spring break place "Uncle Max's cabin" (because it really did belong to our kids' "Uncle Max"-- it was a rustic place but we enjoyed it immensely at the time. The area had really been renewed and in the place of the all rustic summer beach cottages were now these beautiful 3-story beach homes available for rental. I rather missed the rustic beach cottages-- guess I'm attracted to rustic!

We drove on to Charleston, which is about 2.5 hours from MB, and stopped at Boone Plantation.  

  This is a worthwhile visit because it's one of the few plantations where the slave cabins are still intact. A historic interpreter, and descendant of the Gullah people, gave a presentation/ lecture on the gullah culture.

It would be nice to gain more indepth knowledge about Gullah. I can defiitely see a weekend marathon of watching the mini-series North South on the horizon since it was filmed on Boone Plantation along with Alex Haley's Queen.

By the time we left Boone Plantation it was time to get down near Charleston and find our lodgings on Patriot's Point. Because Mapquest didn't provide the final directions for how to get there-- something I didn't discover until we were well on the road!), we went straight to the Charleston Visitor's Center to pick up a map and information.

After that we found Patriot's Point and checked in to the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina.  

The room wasn't ready (which seems to be the norm for this place judging by the line at the desk). However, it is situated so very nicely on the Charleston Harbor with a great view!

The resort provides a free shuttle service to downtown Charleston, so we took advantage of that to explore a bit of downtown and have dinner.

Ed was in the mood for barbeque, so we found Nick's Barbeque place on King Street.

It's a cute little place for "casual" dining. I had the pulled pork sandwich and Ed had the ribs with sweet potato souffle and green fried tomatoes.

We then walked down King Street and stopped for a coffee at this cute little coffee shop...

And when I saw this...

...I finally understood why Phillip kept bringing home those coffee grounds for the composting pile.

After dinner and coffee, we enjoyed some city life by walking back to the Rainbow Market area to catch our shuttle going back to the hotel.

Well before 8 AM we jockeyed for a position on the 8 o'clock shuttle back to the hotel and were exhausted. I think we both fell asleep by 9!

Road Trip! Destination Charleston, SC!

Day 1

Road trip! While those words generally instill groans in others... for my family it instills a sense of adventure and anticipation! We always used to take road trips when the kids were little-- to visit family in Kentucky, Michigan, Cape Cod or go to Myrtle Beach.  This time it is different-- Ed and I are on a road trip with our final destination of Charleston, South Carolina.

We left the day after Easter-- and while Easter Sunday was cold, rainy, and so gloomy that I thought winter would never end, day 1 of our road trip began with sunny, blue skies, albeit a nip in the air. Traffic was jammed all the way down, and while we thought it would ease up past Washington, DC, it didn't ease up until past Richmond.

Once we got down to North Carolina I felt as though spring really was springing (but not quite sprung!). The rest area was beautifully landscaped and we could see evidence of a few flower buds just freshly bloomed here and there. Most of all, the temps were warmed and hot a balmy 70 degrees!

Travelling down this road again after so many years reminded me of how nicely the rest areas were landscaped in the true southern tradition...

...always a memorial of some kind to those who fought for our country.

Through the miracle of modern technology I also discovered that one of my colleagues from work, Debbie and her husband were also heading south on I-95 just a couple hours ahead of us going toward Savannah. Small world...

By the time we got to Myrtle Beach it was 76!!! Fabulous! We stayed at the Sheraton with a great view! The rates were affordable and the rooms generous and squeeky clean! It's a new hotel and I highly recommend it. It's only 2 blocks walking to the beach.

The view from our window...

Once we checked in at the Sheraton at the MB Convention Center, we walked off the 10 hours of driving by walking 9 blocks to a seafood place where we had dinner.

It's right on the beach, so we had a great view of the ocean. It was crowded, so just like when we were dating (so many years ago!!!) we sat and enjoyed drinks at the bar. It was worth the wait to get a table at the window, and we watched the sun go down as we ate dinner. As for the food-- the quality is really just ordinary, but the staff was hospitable.

When I finally felt the sand of the beach under my feet, I felt content and relaxed. This is MY place! Love that MB!

Looking forward to Day 2!