Night one in Myrtle Beach was very successful. The weather is so nice here we didn't even need a fan to sleep during the night. We woke up around 7:45a.m. I walked The Bug (Savannah) & then J' & I walked around Wal-mart looking for a few new items for "van-eating" that don't deal with boiling water or huge clean-up. We found some packets of premade Tuna for easy-to-make sammy's, some bars; yogurt, granola, protein & the like (stuff that won't melt in the heat), and some premade chicken salad with crackers. When we left Wal-mart, we drove over to the Ross parking lot just next door to eat breakfast. We were stopping in Ross anyway to look for swim suits so it was the perfect plan. I think they even opened early for us because they saw us sitting there eating haha. Turns out they weren't good for anything other than their bathrooms ~ Ugly suits, for my taste, and way too much for what I was looking for...yep, a ganga! We figured it was time to get our "party" started, so we pointed Joon to the Grand Strand. The Wal-mart we stayed at was only about 3 miles away, so we arrived in no time! We found a great spot right off Main Street, in the shade. It was metered parking which worked out great for us. It was only about 10 a.m. so it was awesome outside. We put the shades up in the front, pulled them down in the back, watered up The Bug, turned her fan on and off we went to the Boardwalk. We parked at Ripley's Believe it or Not, right on the main corner, so from there we took a left onto the main street to take in all of the sights. We were there before a lot of the stores opened for the day so we soaked up some sun and walked down to Pier 14.
We walked in to use the restroom and ended up paying the $1.00 fee per person to walk all the way to the end of the pier. It was cool to walk out there and see the beach, the boardwalk and everything going on from that point of view. We stayed out there for about 40 minutes. They have little wooden benches that sit up high so you can see over the railing- probably more for the fishermen than anyone, but it was still nice to hang out here for a bit.
While sitting there, I noticed something floating in the water, I said to J', "Look, a hamburger!" We both stared at it for a minute and he finally said, "That's a jellyfish...maybe the jellyfish ate a hamburger!" haha We must have watched that poor jellyfish trying to get back out to sea for a good 6-7 minutes. I don't think it ever made any progress, poor Jelly Felly!
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Jelly Hamburguesa??[/caption]After the pier we made our way into some shops, especially an oldie shop called the Gay Dolphin that J' & his sister used to frequent as kids. Now, let me tell you~ if you are a knick knack whore, this place has your name written ALL over it!! There is crap, er...items for purchase everywhere, even on the ceiling, no joke man. Believe me if you can think of it, it's there. You may have to search the FOUR cluttered, filled to the brim floors for it, but I'm sure you will find it...or maybe you won't but it will be an advneture trying. I'm sure you're bound to walk out with something! If we had a place to put it I would have bought myself a dragon, I Loooooooove me some dragons!!! And they had a ton of them, but we don't have the room and I'm sure J' loved that fact, haha.
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So tacky, yet so pretty[/caption]Back on the "Strand", more pictures were taken, bathing suits were looked at, a sticker was bought (that we now cannot find), and LOTS more walking was done. Since my hormones woke up craving pizza, we stopped for a slice @ NY Pizza and a large COLD coke. It hit the spot for sure and used up our limit of "EOM" (Eat out meals) for the day, but it was worth it and my craving was satisfied. Walking back to Joon, I ducked in one more store to find a Ganga on a suit and I finally found one~ hooray! Now I have an 'out of shape suit' until my butt can fit into the one I usually wear, woo hoo! Time to go discover some other parts of Myrtle Beach...
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I actually think this sign would be under water if there was a Tsunami but at least they tell you how to get away from it, duh![/caption][caption id="attachment_1583" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Look Mom! Black-eyed Susans... I remembered![/caption]We visited a campground J' used to vacation at as a youngin'. He showed me things that were new and things that haven't changed, we walked into the arcade he spent many a summer day in and I even saw the spot where he won a break dancing contest...that's my guy!!
We walked the beach and I found my very first shark's tooth, which I lost very shortly after due to a hole in my pocket, rats!
We even took a "tour" of their bath house, if you know what I mean! haha After some good reminiscing, we found a beautiful dog park with an amazingly clean lake and a few acres of land for Nana to run, fetch and swim. She actually learned how to fetch her very first ball in water. At first, she swam out to it and tried to force it back with her face and neck, then she tired & turned back...mommy fetched that ball (thank god the water was so clean!) She learned she had to open her mouth, get the ball, then swim back. She proceeded to come back, drop the ball in sand and from there her girliness came out. She pawed at the ball trying to get a "clean" spot (it was covered in sand) and every time she put her mouth around it to pick it up, she would just drop it & sneeze, as if the ball had hot sauce on it or something. She did this about 6 or 7 times until she gave up and mommy washed it off so she could have it again. She isn't spoiled at all, haha. She's just the cutest thing ever!! We ran her crazy for a good hour or so until she decided she had had enough, to the point of digging a hole and putting the ball in it to hide it. She's no dummy!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrkhlq_06-not-a-sand-kinda-gal_animals
From here, we found the closest mall, parked, took care of some things; work, phone calls, etc. & got a tip of something to do from Liza, so we thought we'd give it a shot. Within 15 minutes we were fully engulfed in Broadway at the Beach. There were people everywhere, music coming from all areas, shopping, restaurants, bars, cafes, boats whizzing across the lake in the middle of it all, hungry fish, screaming kids, tired parents, dancing in the streets, nostalgia rides from the pavilion, the smells of popcorn, ice cream and cotton candy...talk about sensory overload!
It certainly was a fun way to realize we are doing something completely different with our lives now. I've never been more at Peace.
PEACE
