Myrtle Beach...The Adventure Begins

Monday, August 1st, was our first full day of fun. Myrtle Beach is part of the Grand Strand. The Grand Strand is about 60 miles from the border with North Carolina going south along the Ocean. In that 60 miles are 14 unique communities, 6 distinct beaches and 2 state parks. Harbor Lights was located along the Intercoastal Waterway and about in the very middle of the Grand Strand. We were not on the ocean front. And that was truly okay with us. We had easy access to Hwy. 501 running west to east into the middle of the Grand Strand and Hwy. 17 running north to south along the Grand Strand. It was very easy to get anywhere we wanted along the Grand Strand. The maps below are actually two ends of the same map. You can tell by the green circle around Harbor Lights, we were in a great spot. 

We determined we should begin our Myrtle Beach adventure by putting our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. We drove east on Hwy 501 to the beach. Then took a left and drove north till we found a spot for public parking. We walked down to the beach and enjoyed a nice stroll on the beach. Even though Claude and I rolled up our britches, we still got wet. When we finished our hour of beach fun, we went back to the car. There was a pump at the end of the parking lot to rinse the sand off your body or hair before you got back in your car. Cordell and Kris got there before us. There were two buttons to press to get the water. Kris pressed one to rinse her hands and feet and found out it was the one to shower under. Fortunately, they were able to explain this to Claude and me and we only got our hands and feet wet. It was fun to be in and near the ocean.

All four of us have the same eating pattern when home. A light breakfast and an early big dinner. A treat enjoyed in the evening. Something about a vacation makes that a bit different. We decided we needed a light lunch. We had big dinner reservations. So, we drove north and found the Old South BBQ Company. It was a fun little place to have a light meal. Please carefully read their sign out front. 

As we left, there was a quarter on the ground. Cordell reached down to get it. It was glued to the ground. We determined they had a camera hidden somewhere to take pictures of you bent over trying to get that quarter. We called it the 'gotcha quarter'. 

Back to Harbor Lights we went. Everyone took a nap except me. I typically do not nap. Instead, I played my games and started my cross-stitch. 

Our dinner reservation was at 4:30pm at Medieval Times Dinner Theater. I got everyone up by 4pm. This theater was just down the block from Harbor Lights. It would be a meal without utensils. Poor Kris. This time there were no plastic gloves. The program was a medieval tournament with four knights. The knights were each a different color. The knight we cheered for was the yellow knight. We dined while the show went on, queen, knights and royal court. Alas, our knight did not win. But, with a name like the 'yellow' knight, one should kind of expect that. It was a fun evening. 

We returned to Harbor Lights. There had been a little rain, so the humidity was not as bad. We all sat on our screened in porch and watched the lighting and storm in the distance. This was the only night it was comfortable to sit for a long period of time outside.

Tuesday, August 2nd, we had a Dolphin Watch Cruise with Express Watersports from 11am-12:30pm.  It was at Murrell's Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean. The office where we parked and met for our ocean adventure had this picture on their check-out counter. It is an aerial view of Murrell Inlet. The dock area where we would walk to board our boat is in the lower left corner of the picture. You can see that the Inlet meanders a bit before it hits the ocean. This left us lots of views of the salt water marshes. I'm not sure why, but I love these marshes. I was happy to see this aerial view of the area. 

Claude and I opted to wear our long sleeved shirts and long pants we will wear when we visit the Amazon later in the year. We wanted to give them a trial run. They worked great. 

When it was time for our dolphin cruise, we walked across the street and down to the dock area to board our boat.

Claude really looks for shade on an adventure like this. We boarded the boat and headed right to the front under the covering. We would stay there for the entire trip. Too many encounters with skin cancer between us to not do it that way. Cordell and Kris joined us for a bit. When the boat got into the water, past the salt marshes pointed toward the ocean, they went to stand at the back of the boat in the sun. They both had hats. 

As you leave the dock area, you pass Goat Island. I'll post the story on our menu from lunch that day with an explanation about Goat Island. 

The salt marsh 'no wake' zone. This makes this area a little slower pace and relaxing. Lots of water fowl to see. We also saw a white building with a mound of something in front. I guessed right when I told Claude it was an oyster shell factory of some kind. Oysters are critical to keeping the water healthy in the low country area. The people recycle their oyster shells. The mound was a huge mound of oyster shells being returned to the water. They will eventually have new oysters growing in them over the years. These will take toxins out of the water and provide fresh water and air for the communities in this area. We also saw a man very relaxed and fishing in the salt water marsh. I do love these areas along the shores. 

Out into the Atlantic we went in search of dolphins and possibly a shark. We saw lots and lots of dolphins. I didn't not get a single picture of a dolphin, though we saw many. They are fast little critters. I would find, after I returned home, that I got a bit of a video clip with my regular camera of the dolphins. It was fun to bounce along the waves of the ocean. The breeze is always refreshing when you do that. 

While in the ocean, I looked out to Kris and Cordell. Cordell was not good. He has Parkinson's. I was very concerned. I pointed this out to Claude. In a bit we saw Kris getting his meds out for him. He takes very strong meds at regular times during the day. He dropped one of his pills as he was taking it and they couldn't find it. About that time, the little girl sitting on her mother's lap next to Claude and I proceeded to hurl her cookies. A lot of action as we returned to the dock. Cordell was in a very bad way when we got back. Fortunately, there was a restaurant right at this point on the dock we had all pre-determined we would eat our meal-of-the-day at after our cruise. 

We left the boat and headed to Drunken Jack's where we would enjoy a good lunch in the air-conditioning. When we sat at the table, they didn't have any silverware on the table. It would have been our third meal with our hands and a bad omen for Kris. Fortunately, they quickly brought us silverware!

Cordell struggled to get back to a place where he had more control of his bodily movements. Parkinson's is awful in that regard. Kris thought he might have a UTI. Claude and I were concerned he had a heat stroke from being out in that sun on the water for so long. We were all just guessing. Cordell began to have hallucinations. Very concerning. We finished our lunch and walked across the street to our car. Time to head back to Harbor Lights. 

We stayed in till dinner time. Claude and I drove to Circle K for gas and to pick up Subway for dinner. The Subway in the gas station was closed. After filling car with gas, we drove to another Subway to pick up dinner. It was fun to learn some of the back roads. When we returned, we all enjoyed our sandwiches and a short evening before Kris and Cordell headed to bed. He needed rest. 

I spent the evening watching old movies with Claude and working on my embroidery project.

Myrtle Beach Fun...Getting There

Saturday, July 30th, was my birthday. Poor Claude, he kept trying to find me a gift for my birthday. As we have aged, this had gotten to be more difficult most of the time. We are at a place in life where we have very few needs. What we want to do and enjoy, we pretty much do as we have that desire or need. Our house is smaller and full. We neither are anxious to add anything to its walls or furnishings. I honestly told Claude I really wanted to have a day in the car with him driving to our vacation destination. When evening came, I wanted to pick a restaurant in the town where we stayed for my birthday dinner. We did just that and it was a wonderful birthday. 

This first day of travel we would drive to an Econolodge in Lugoff, SC. The total drive time to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is a little over 9 hours with no stops. Our condo in Myrtle Beach was for a Sunday check-in. We needed to pick up Cordell and Kris Sunday at 1:30pm. So, we decided to drive the first seven hours and get a room for that first night. That would allow us to sleep in a bit on Sunday.

With that in mind, we left before 9am to get our biscuit breakfast. We were only a few blocks from our home when I realized I forgot my tumbler. It was full of ice water on the counter in our kitchen. Claude returned home to get it. We had our biscuits and were on the road by 9:15. 

I started a crochet project on the drive down. It will be a scarf for winter. It was a new pattern. Very simple and easy to stop and then pick back up at any moment. I sent this picture to my friend, Laura, to show her what I was working on. She assured me I was probably the only person she knew who would crochet a winter project when it is over 90 degrees outside! 

We entered Tennessee at 11am. I have come to see my cellphone as the Magic 8 Ball. Therefore, I shall call it my Magic 8 Phone. It knows all the answers! We had a gas stop in Tennessee at the Pilot station. Gas was $3.75/gallon. Better than Kentucky. We entered North Carolina at 1:15pm and South Carolina at 2:35pm.

Along this drive, Claude tried Rosemary cashews. We both agreed they were okay, however, we probably wouldn't buy them again.

We checked into the Econolodge in Lugoff and I found San Jose's Mexican Restaurant for my birthday dinner spot. Good meal. We followed it with dessert at Dairy Queen. Dessert for me was the Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzard. I only get a small. But on top of a Mexican dinner, my tummy was FULL. 

In Lugoff, South Carolina, we found a business named "Rock Ye Tops Marble". They make headstones. Gave me a chuckle. 

We filled up with gasoline at Pilot in Lugoff at $3.50/gallon. This would be out best gas price of the trip. I asked the cashier how you pronounce Lugoff. It looks for all it is worth like it would be Lug-Off. However, not so. It is Lu-Goff. There, now you know!

It was a good birthday.

Sunday, July 31st, we were on the road by 10am. I saw a billboard that amused me: "Ain't no potty like a Buc-ee's potty." Buc-ee's is a gas station like no other. Haven't been in one yet. They have more gas pumps for cars that any other gas station ever. Inside there is supposed to be shopping of all kinds as well as lots of things to eat. Will have to get in one some time.

We arrived at Harbor Lights about 12:15pm. I went to the office and did prep to check-in. Check-in is at 4pm. They would call when our room was ready. We left to find the airport. We picked up Kris and Cordell at Myrtle Beach Airport. Their flight was 10 minutes early. One usually gets in a little earlier flying west to east as you get a nice tail wind that helps the pilot speed the flight along. We were very happy when their luggage and our luggage fit in my car!! We hadn't given that a ton of thought. We tried to pack light. Weren't sure if they would think of that. My car is the middle-sized Buick, the Envision. We got their two suitcases (one large and one small), our suitcase (large) and our two back packs in the trunk. Yeah us!! Now, we couldn't buy big souvenirs as there was no room.

We drove back to Harbor Lights Resort to try and get a key to the room. The room was just about ready so the clerk gave me four keys and told me just to go on in. We did. 

I went up to the room to be sure we could enter. The room was on the second floor. I found the maintenance man trying to close the sofa bed. It would not close. I assured him I would bring up re-enforcements. I went back down and got the rest of our group and we brought up our luggage. Claude and I would take the A bedroom and Cordell and Kris would have the B room in Unit 1723. 

We put our luggage in our respective bedrooms. Then the guys went into the living room to help the poor maintenance man who was struggling and sweating trying to get that bed back together. Between the three of them, they managed to at least get the sofa bed closed. I assure the maintenance man we didn't need to use the sofa bed. He could put it on his maintenance list and deal with it when we checked out. He was grateful. 

However, as Kris and Cordell put their luggage in their room, they realized the carpet was wet. The air conditioning unit over their door was dripping. The maintenance man went in to look at it. He called another maintenance man to join him. They took the unit down, cleaned it out and put a new tube in it. Then we asked for a fan to help dry out that carpet. He brought a big fan and we set it to work to dry out the carpet. Whew! Now we were set for our week at Harbor Lights as it would be our home-away-from-home.

I stepped out on our screened in balcony and took this picture. Harbor Lights set on a waterway. Nice relaxing view. 

It was now time to determine where to have our meal of the day. Seafood seemed the best bet since we were at the ocean. Kris found Tasty Crab House and we pointed the car in that direction. Turned out to be a fantastic choice. They served what we would call a steamer pot with shrimp. Claude, Cordell and Kris ordered that for each of them. I ordered fried shrimp. They brought out a bucket full of the supplies we would need for dinner. Paper plates for them, plastic gloves for them, hand wipes for after eating. LOTS of napkins. It was a fun meal and we all enjoyed what we ordered.

Cordell would tell me later that Kris has a problem with putting fingers in your mouth. Having plastic gloves was a help for her. The next day would prove a challenge in that regard.

After dinner, we found a Walmart grocery store to pick up a few things for our kitchen. We would eat our meal of the day out of the condo each day. We wanted breakfast things and snack things. Walmart was an Absolute Zoo. I have never seen that many people in a Walmart at one time, not even at Christmas. I assured the others that, if we were going to get Covid on the trip, it would be in that Walmart store! 

In the evening, I picked up my crochet project and worked a little more on scarf. 

Preparing to Leave...

Monday, July 25th, was the first day of a week of getting ready for our trip. We purchased five days at Harbor Lights in Myrtle Beach. Claude's brother, Cordell, and his wife, Kris, would fly out to join us. I would have Monday through Friday to get things ready for company when we returned. Sunday, I compared my calendar to my to do list and made a little to do list for each day of the week. This gave me hope of doing all I wanted to do.

On Monday, I received a text message from a dear friend, Velvett. She was letting me know and asking for prayers for herself, her daughter and son-in-law and granddaughter. Velvett lives with this daughter. They all came down with Covid. I replied asking if Claude and I could prepare some soup and bread that they could each heat a cup as they felt ready to eat. She agreed. Claude and I quickly thawed some stew meat and made a nice pot of vegetable beef stew. We would leave this on their front porch with rolls at 5:30 that evening. 

Claude and I read Esther is the Old Testament this day. Such a good story. My big chore was cleaning all three bathrooms in our home. I did laundry and the ironing this day as well. Lots of other little things, but these were the biggys. 

The Marx family received their 'new to them' car. With Hayden getting his driver's license and also planning on taking classes at University of Louisville, he will need a car to get him there and back. Michael found a great deal on a car at a dealership in Lexington. He and Andie checked it out Sunday afternoon. The dealership delivered it to them Monday evening. A very happy family. They are really moving along with the kids growing up. 

Tuesday, July 26th, I had a Primary presidency meeting at 10am. It was a very rainy day. I returned home and dusted the house really well. You know, one of those dusting where you actually use a cloth and spray that polished the furniture. 

I did come home from our presidency meeting with a need to get things together to create a program for the Primary children in sacrament meeting in October. I spent all afternoon creating a big grid with a columned page containing our Come, Follow Me lessons through the year, scriptures that might be good to use, songs that fit with the reading block and key words and phrases from the primary children's talks throughout the year. Nice grid and it should really help us to be ready to prepare a program. 

 

Received a text message from Neffie, my sister. Her hubby, Mike, tested positive for Covid. Ugh. She was supposed to see the radiologist/oncologist Thursday. Now that is moved to August 4th. The good thing is it gives her a little more time to heal from her lumpectomy. In the "when it rains, it pours" category, they came home to a tree in their yard that had fallen over. It was leaning against the little house on their property and the shed that covers their camper. Fortunately, their son was there and he helped cut up that tree and clear the area. 

Wednesday, July 27th, Tuesday was to have been sweep, mop, vacuum, etc. That was moved to Wednesday because things filled the day on Tuesday. One must learn to roll with the waves sometimes. However, when we got up, Claude's computer was not recognizing the Internet in our home. Claude asked me if I was on the Internet. I was finishing up my grid for Primary and was, indeed, using the Internet. His laptop was on the Internet on Tuesday. But it would not connect at all on Wednesday. I worked with him a bit so we had two brains trying to understand the problem. Bottom line, the Internet was good on my laptop, our phones and my Kindle. It was not our Internet. It had to be a problem with his laptop. It is an old one. It is a Toshiba and they are not supported in any way any more. 

In the morning, Claude called to see if he could get some tech help to see if he should drive to the Geek Squad in Lexington. The sweet girl tried several things, some of which we had already tried. We ended up taking the laptop to Lexington to Best Buy so the Geek Squad could see what they could do. 

Upon arrival, we were amused that the appointment the tech on the telephone set up for Claude was his first name spelled incorrectly. With his Thor experience being Four last week. I found this amusing. 

He tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the software to make the Internet work. The laptop recognized the Wifi possibilities there but we still weren't sure it would work when we got home. Claude has a new calling at church that will be computer intensive. We decided we should look at new computers for him. When we left Best Buy, we had purchased him a laptop like mine but with more USB ports and left it with the Geek Squad to take his files off the old laptop and put them and the software needed on his new laptop.

We returned home and I decided to go out and scrub down all the white chairs in our backyard. This was on my to do list for Wednesday. With all the rain we were getting, my hope was I would get them scrubbed and we would get another rain shower and that would rinse them off really well. Guess what? That is exactly how it worked. I came inside after scrubbing down two rocking chairs, two Adirondack chairs, an end table and one bench totally exhausted and sweaty. I also told my husband I did not understand why all outside chores for me require me to be bent over all the time. I am getting way to old to be folded in have and facing the ground when I work for long periods of time. Geez!!

The old laptop did not acknowledge our AT&T Wifi when we got it home. It was a good thing we went ahead and purchased Claude a new laptop.

They didn't finish with Claude's new laptop until almost 5pm. We decided to go Thursday morning to pick it up. We opted to bake a frozen pizza for lunch and call it a day. 

Thursday, July 28th, we got up and read. Then we drove to Lexington to pick up Claude's laptop. This time I took my information about a crochet project I wanted to have for our trip. I found a very simple scarf for winter. I wanted to try this new stitch with really soft, nice yarn. So, while Claude got his laptop, I walked down to Michael's and found me some yarn. I also found a cross-stitch kit that looked fun with a beach theme. That theme fits working on it at Myrtle Beach. And, I found a Christmas present for Bailey. Good shopping trip for me. 

We returned home and I set to work with the sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen cabinets with Scott's Liquid Gold and wiping out the refrigerator and microwave. Whew! Good days work for this Old Girl. 

Friday, July 29th, our final day of preparation for our trip began with my piano finally being tuned. It has been on my to do list forever. Finally got it scheduled and Ben Griffith came from Frankfort this morning and tuned it. It still sounds good after all these years. When one thinks that we bought this piano in California when Andie was born. She is now 49 years old. It was moved from the apartment in California to our base house in California. Then we moved it across the country to Maryland where it resided for 20 years. Next we moved it to Sadieville where they rolled it down the hill to the basement. Last year we moved it to Georgetown. The man who came to Sadieville to tune my piano passed away several years ago. It has not been tuned since he passed away. Happy to get it back in tune.

Claude's new laptop would not play sound through his internal speakers yesterday. He realized this last night when he plugged in his external speakers to be sure they worked. Ironically, they did but the laptop's internal speakers did not. Again, we couldn't find anything in settings to correct this. This morning, Claude packed up his laptop and headed back into Lexington to Best Buy and the Geek Squad reinstalled his updates and now the internal speakers work fine. 

This day was an easy day in that we didn't have to rush to do anything. I did final laundry and ironing. We packed after that was finished. Put a hold on our mail. Watered plants. Did my nails. Those little things that one does just before a trip. We went out to dinner so the kitchen would stay clean. 

When we got in the car, we had a warning indicator that the driver side back tire was at 24 lbs. It should be at 35 lbs. Since Papa's, passing, I really don't drive a lot. This week, I drove to my presidency meeting at the church in the rain. When it was over, I drove home and parked my car. Last week, I drove to get my mammogram at the hospital. Then I drove home. That was it. I really hadn't been much of anywhere. After dinner, we got ice cream and grocery shopped for a few things. When we came out of the grocery store, Claude checked the tire and found a screw in the tire. Ugh. We drove right to the place that we bought the tires from. They quickly fixed the tire and we are now ready to go. So happy this happened before we were on the road and then traveling for a week.

Then we had a quiet evening watching television before heading for a 'final sleep' as Raelyn says, before we hit the road on Saturday morning. We did get an eMail about a trip to New Zealand with two days in Fiji. While caring for Mimi and then Papa, Claude and I always said, when that was finished, we would book a trip to Australia and New Zealand. I really wanted to see where they filmed the Hobbits and Lord of the Rings. This eMail was like a nudge saying, "Remember, you wanted to do this." Claude and I looked at it and talked about it. Then I booked the trip. This will be a 2023 trip for us. 

Andie did let us know that Hayden had Covid. Ugh!! So far he has a low grade fever and a cough. He missed his last day of band camp.