Beach Vacation 2013

The Husband and I have talked endlessly about moving somewhere that we can be closer to the ocean.  We both love the south and the beach but we have been held back for various reasons.  However, we just found out he got a new job through the federal government so it may open some opportunities to transfer here in a couple years (yay!).  Anyway, I was sooooooo beyond ready for vacation this year. I apologize in advance for the 8 trillion pictures I will most likely subject you to in this post! =)

We had a pretty busy week with getting the house ready for my Grandma to come house/dog sit and then Curly had her dance recital on Sunday and then we got up really early Monday June 3rd to head south.

  Our kids haven't been the greatest car riders but we were hoping they would do well.  We flew to Florida last year but in the meantime they had lots more opportunities to "practice" long rides when we would make the 4.5-5hr drives to see The Husband some weekends while he was working out of town.  In all, the 10 hour drive wasn't very bad.  The kids mostly stayed entertained and didn't fight very badly and we had a pretty smooth trip.  We stopped about half way or so to have a picnic lunch because we were trying to not outdo ourselves on "bad" vacation food.  The place we stopped was pretty neat.  It was called Pilot Mountain and when we asked the Ranger where there was a picnic area he told us "about a mile and a half that way" as he pointed up the road.  Well, we found out it was a mile and a half UP the mountain.  The views were sooo pretty from up there!

Taken on the way home but we ate lunch at the very top of that "knob"

Day One: We got to Myrtle Beach at around 4:30 and went straight to the hotel to check in.  We were right on the beach and on the 21st floor so those views were pretty amazing, also! The room turned out to be fairly nice with a small kitchenette, a living area, and a separate bedroom. We didn't have a ton of time that night so we decided to just take a walk on the beach and head back to the hotel and order food from the hotel restaurant to eat in our room. 

 

The view from our balcony

Night One

Day Two (Tuesday): I got up pretty early this morning and went for a short run (2.55 miles) on the exercise path that ran along the beach road.  It was so nice to run and have an ocean view. We went to this little Zoological Center.  They advertise it as a zoo but I wouldn't really consider it that.  There were lots of animals like deer, ostriches, goats, bison, ponies, a camel etc. that you could feed from either bags you buy at the front or from the quarter machines throughout the property.  I have to say that I wasn't impressed with this place.  The kids liked being able to feed the animals but they were in small cages and it just wasn't the conditions I like to see animals in.

After the "Zoo" we went back to the hotel, ate lunch, and went to get lunch and hit the beach.  Rex scares me because he has NO fear of the ocean.  He doesn't care if we are beside him or not, he just bounds out into the water.  Curly barely wants to get her feet wet and she wants me holding her had when she does even that! =)  So, this trip to the ocean for actual swimming was interesting.  The Husband was taking Rex a little further out into the water while he held him and as I was standing at the edge of the water I saw a small shark swim straight toward my boys and curve right around The Husband's legs and keep going.  Now, anyone who knows me knows that sharks are my biggest fear! I have gotten better but my heart used to speed up to just see them on TV so of course I start panicking and calling them back in! It was pretty nerve wracking for me.

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Day 3 (Wednesday): This day we went to the Alligator Adventure place.  Rex is obsessed with all thing prehistoric and lately has focused some of that attention on alligators and crocodiles.  We figured he would get a kick out of this place and we were right.  They also boast the largest crocodile in captivity Utan who is 18ft long and 2000lbs!! It was pretty incredible to see an animal that large with that many teeth. They also have a large group of albino alligators which is also a pretty spectacular sight.  We saw a live show and a feeding while we were there and the kids really enjoyed it.  On this evening, I took another short run.  My dad and sisters were walking down from their hotel so I couldn't take a long run but ended up doing about 2 miles at a faster pace than normal. 

Day 4 (Thursday): We had some rain and bad weather this day because of the tropical storm making its way up the coast.  The Husband also had his phone interview for his new job so we hung around the room for awhile and when it was almost time for his interview the kids and I vacated the room and went to TCBY and some of the beach shops while he interviewed.  Then that evening we went out to dinner and went shell hunting on the beach.  The waves were pretty brutal from that storm and had washed out a huge portion of the beach the night before. It was nice and flat though so when the kids told me they wanted to run, we did.  We would run out pretty far and then back to The Husband.  I would say we got in around a mile all said and done? 

Day 5 (Friday): I got up again this morning and took a short run.  I ended up running about a 5k but it seemed SO much farther because I was running into Tropical Storm winds.  It was so strong that I would come out from behind a building and would get hit by the crosswind and get knocked sideways a little bit.  It was pretty crazy.  When I got back the rain had started pretty well so we decided to go to Wonderworks which is a science type center with lots of hands on things for the kids to do.  The kids call it the "Upside Down House."  They had tons of fun there.  When we were finished we walked around the little "Broadway at the Beach" area it was located in.  It reminded me a bit of Downtown Disney in a way.  Cute with lots of shops and restaurants. It was a little too early for dinner so we went back to the hotel to pack a bit before going to dinner.

Day 6 (Saturday): We got up around 8 or so this last morning, finished packing, and hopped in the car to head home.  A few miles down the road we stopped at a huge store that had a fruit stand, fireworks, random vacation stuff, etc.  The ride home was pretty uneventful and we got home around 9pm.

It was a pretty good vacation overall but I can't say that I will go back to Myrtle Beach.  Florida and Georgia will always have my heart =)