A good day Wednesday. We were up and at 'em by 8, and enjoyed the breakfast at the Inn. Melon, strawberries and pineapple, bagels, muffins, and an interesting egg and cheese breakfast casserole that had some other things in it that I couldn't identify (but it was really good). Normal, bad coffee -- but since we bring our single-cup Keurig with us, I'd already had a few good cups.
We had nothing planned, and Linda suggested that we go downtown and walk the boardwalk. On one of the "Welcome to Myrtle Beach" channels there was a comment about parking meter exemptions for people with handicap plates or placards, veteran's plates and others. A quick look at the City of Myrtle Beach's web site revealed this:
"In South Carolina, any vehicle displaying a valid handicapped, Purple Heart, Disabled American Veterans or Medal of Honor license tag, or a valid and official handicapped hang tag, may park for free at any public-operated parking meter. If your vehicle displays one of these, then you do not have to pay a municipal parking meter anywhere in South Carolina."
Anywhere in South Carolina? Did anyone else know that? So Linda's handicap placard has another great use!
We arrived downtown and parked on the side street near the Ripley's attraction, about a half-block from the boardwalk. It was a nice stroll, the weather was comfortable (cloudy, 85 degrees), and it was pretty much the same as any boardwalk: restaurants and the ever-interchangeable shops that sell t-shirts, shorts and junk, and look the same as the store next to it. Still, it was a nice walk along the shore.
We walked back to the car. The same small crowd of people that were there when we parked had been added to; a 30-something woman was looking at our meter (that we never put money into -- see above) like she couldn't believe we had skipped the meter. She never even looked at us, but after we got in the car she began pointing at the meter and pretending to see if it was broken. I just laughed as we pulled out. Bitch.
We drove down to the Main Gate entrance to the Market Commons area. The Main Gate refers to the original entrance to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, which opened in 1940 as a World War II training base and coastal patrol base. It closed in 1993, and has been repurposed for commercial development. The Market Commons area is about 5 square blocks of shops and restaurants, even a theater. Gordon Biersch is here, as well as a Mac Store, even a Victoria's Secret. Much more upscale stuff than the "same old stuff" at the boardwalk.
We didn't stop and shop, just looked around before continuing through to the Highway 17 bypass, right in the middle of the huge construction zone. I know it will be an improvement in the traffic flow when it's done, but it's gonna take a lot more work and a lot more frustrating traffic jams before they're done.
We drove to Broadway at the Beach, and parked at the far end and walked around for a while. The stores are better, more variety, but we just window-shopped. At around eleven-thirty we headed for The Tilted Kilt, a Hooters-style restaurant, for lunch.
Bree was our bartender, a self-proclaimed redneck girl, loud and funny, with a huge Harry Potter homage tattoo on her side that she was happy to show off. The food was good, the beer delicious. We had a good laugh with the staff, and stayed way too long.
After our nap (I did say we stayed too long, didn't I?), we changed and headed to the House of Blues for our Mystery Dinner Theater. We picked up our tickets, and a 7 on the dot we headed upstairs to "the scene of the crime."
"Family-style seating" means that you sit at long tables with the other guests, allowing you to chat and get to know them, which becomes part of the fun. A nice salad, chicken breasts for dinner with spiced mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner, and a cup cake with whipped cream for dessert reminded me of some wedding receptions we've been to.
Our host begins the warm-up when a young man gets up and goes over to her. She hands him the microphone and he goes into what appears to be a proposal to his girlfriend. Just a she says yes and stands to hug him, a shot rings out from the doorway, and she falls dead to the floor in an exaggerated death scene. A detective shows up and the fun begins. Lots of comedy, and three murders -- the shooting, a stabbing and a poisoning -- round out the fun. The clues are laid out, and you're supposed to determine who the killers are. I had about two-thirds of it figured out, but missed who stabbed "Sal Minelli" (yes, that was his name).
The comedy troupe took their bows, then the three people who gave the worst answers were brought up. Their answers were read to much laughter and applause, and they were presented with their booby-prize: a fake nose and glasses they had to wear back to their tables. They were good sports about it (they had to know how bad their answers were).
Then the three winners were called out, and they won a special "clue bag," just a cloth satchel from the House of Blues. It was fun, and we had a great time. The young couple next to us were singled out for applause -- they had just been married on Saturday.
All in all this was a good three days in Myrtle Beach. The Accord still has half of the original tank of gas, and another 250 miles of range. It did finally show a wrench on the dashboard, and it appears our oil is within 15% of its useful life, so we'll be hitting the Honda dealer for service tomorrow.
On Saturday we'll attend the Grateful Dog II benefit at Southern Hops, to benefit the area Humane Societies. They're planning on working hard to make it bigger than last year. We hope to see our Florence friends there.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Myrtle Beach, SC -- July 22-25, 2013
Most of the entries on this blog have to do with our adventures on the motorcycles, but with the summer we've had, it doesn't look like there will be any long rides until the Fall or the Spring.
We had planned to take the bikes to the Outer Banks for a week back in May. But Linda began having pain issues in her arm that were keeping her out of work. The chiropractor helped, but the pain would come back.
I was going to describe our "adventures" in dealing with an overbooked medical profession with incompetent staffing, but let's cut to the chase. Thanks to the amazing work of Dr. Kenneth Kammer, neurosurgeon, Linda had four disks (one of them ruptured -- where the real pain came from) replaced in an 8 hour surgery back on May 20th. She has been home recuperating since then, and our adventures were placed on hold. Other than the Physical Therapy sessions to get her arm and hand strength and dexterity back, she's been out of action. Finally, this week is the first she's allowed out of her cervical collar while in the car, and she goes back to work on the 1st of August. What better time for a "run away from home!"
Looking for something a bit different, we made reservations at the Serendipity Inn, a Bed and Breakfast in Myrtle Beach, on the north side, right off King's Highway.
There are fourteen rooms, all of them designed for 2 people. We managed to get the Southern Comfort Suite, one of only two suites available (although there are listed a few "mini suites"). A separate bedroom with a comfortable king-sized bed, along with a kitchenette and living room area.
The place is run by Phil, and while he's referred to his wife on occasion, we've not seen her yet. The rooms, like the whole place, are worn a bit, but clean. A full refrigerator (minis in the other rooms) is a nice plus.
It's pretty quiet -- haven't seen any kids -- and we've seen license plates from Texas, Ontario (for my Dixie friends, they know where the Brampton plant is), Pennsylvania and more. Parking is tight but workable. A small TV in the living room, and no TV in the bedroom. Good water pressure and your own water heater make for a pretty good shower.
We arrived in Myrtle Beach a bit early for checkin, so we headed out looking for lunch. Someone had told us about Joe's Bar and Grill near Barefoot Landing, so we figured it would be a good place to start -- remember, we try to find different places, staying away from the chain restaurants if we can.
I hadn't put the address in the Navi system, but I kind of knew where it was. We turned on Conway street, and found Hamburger Joe's. OK, not the same name, but things change all the time, right? We went in, and figured out quickly it wasn't the same place. The cheeseburgers were good (fresh ground beef makes the difference), good fries. When we left, as we were getting in the car, I spotted the Joe's Bar and Grill sign down the road. Oh, well. We'll hit that later.
We drove across to Barefoot Landing, a collection of shops and restaurants, and strolled around. We found The Foxworthy Store, but it had more stuff from Duck Dynasty than from Jeff Foxworthy. I guess one redneck is as good as another!
We headed to the Inn around two (check-in at three), and Phil showed us the room, but he wasn't done with it yet, so he gave us the key and we headed out. Down to Ocean Boulevard, then south, through some nice areas, then hotels that not only block your view of the ocean but block your XM satellite signal, and finally to downtown, dominated by t-shirt shops, moped rentals and other stuff. Not the Myrtle Beach of yesterday. We went all the way down to the Main Gate (of the old MB AFB), then headed back north to the room, ready to get in the room and unpack.
When we were heading to Barefoot Landing, we noticed that the House of Blues was having a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater that night. We tried for reservations, but they were booked. We chose Carrabba's Italian Grill instead. They don't take reservations, but we got on the "Next Available" list for 7PM, and in spite of the people waiting outside for a table, we got one in about 4 minutes.
The food was good, but not up to the expectations I had. To be honest, by the time we got back to the hotel, I really couldn't remember what I had, or the flavor. Not disappointing per se, just -- not anything.
Tuesday promised to be fun, and it didn't disappoint. We headed to La Belle Amie, a local winery and vineyard in Little River, north of Myrtle Beach. Actually, the winery itself has been moved inland because of the history of storms in the area, but the grounds are beautiful. Chuck took us for a tour of the vineyards.
They grow muscadine grapes, and the original arbors -- over 100 years old -- are still producing grapes. In front of the arbors they've planted rose bushes. Chuck explained that the roses are susceptible to the same diseases and insects as the hardy vines, and will show damage faster, giving them a heads-up to problems. Kind of like canaries in a mine. They use no pesticides or other chemicals; just fertilizer, sun and rain. With all the rain we've had this summer, the vineyard is full and lush.
We did the wine tasting, enjoying samples of six of their wines (we got to pick the ones we wanted out of about 12 bottles), including a blueberry wine that they carry. Linda liked the fruity Island Mama (white) while I liked the Poor Bastard (red). We each carried a glass out to the beautiful shaded porch and enjoyed the day as we talked about what we liked. Finally we bought a bottle or 8.
During the season on weekends they have various festivals with good music, food and drink, and from the sounds of it huge crowds. We'll have to come back for that, but this time it was all about the quiet and the wine.
Coming back to Myrtle Beach we stopped at Duffy Street Seafood Shack near Tanger Outlet. It was only 1:15, but the place was deserted (Later on, the dinner crowd filled the place). The food was pretty good, just a little weird sitting there in a big empty dining room.
A little shopping, then back to the Inn and some pool time. The water temp was about 90 degrees -- that may seem hot to you hardy northern folk, but it's perfect to drop your body temperature without putting you in shock. We lounged for more than an hour, enjoying the sun and a drink.
We called the House of Blues and got the last two tickets for the Murder Mystery for the following evening (Wednesday), then decided to try out Joe's Bar and Grill for dinner. One word: WOW!
It doesn't look like much on the outside, and the parking lot is small (extra parking across the street). But it's the food that makes this place stand out. Linda chose an 8 ounce South African Lobster Tail while I went for the Lamb Chops. Both of them were excellent -- perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth flavor. She never touched the drawn butter, and I left the mint jelly alone. The food didn't need anything else. The house wines complemented the food, and the evening was wonderful. We shared a dessert (only because the waiter teased us with it even before we were done with our meals), a slice of banana bread with ice cream and a whisky sauce. A perfect finish.
Back to the Inn, a soak in the hot tub, then we crashed, sated and tired.
We haven't decided what we're going to do today, but tonight we have the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater at the House of Blues. That should be an interesting part of our adventure.
We had planned to take the bikes to the Outer Banks for a week back in May. But Linda began having pain issues in her arm that were keeping her out of work. The chiropractor helped, but the pain would come back.
I was going to describe our "adventures" in dealing with an overbooked medical profession with incompetent staffing, but let's cut to the chase. Thanks to the amazing work of Dr. Kenneth Kammer, neurosurgeon, Linda had four disks (one of them ruptured -- where the real pain came from) replaced in an 8 hour surgery back on May 20th. She has been home recuperating since then, and our adventures were placed on hold. Other than the Physical Therapy sessions to get her arm and hand strength and dexterity back, she's been out of action. Finally, this week is the first she's allowed out of her cervical collar while in the car, and she goes back to work on the 1st of August. What better time for a "run away from home!"
Looking for something a bit different, we made reservations at the Serendipity Inn, a Bed and Breakfast in Myrtle Beach, on the north side, right off King's Highway.
There are fourteen rooms, all of them designed for 2 people. We managed to get the Southern Comfort Suite, one of only two suites available (although there are listed a few "mini suites"). A separate bedroom with a comfortable king-sized bed, along with a kitchenette and living room area.
The place is run by Phil, and while he's referred to his wife on occasion, we've not seen her yet. The rooms, like the whole place, are worn a bit, but clean. A full refrigerator (minis in the other rooms) is a nice plus.
It's pretty quiet -- haven't seen any kids -- and we've seen license plates from Texas, Ontario (for my Dixie friends, they know where the Brampton plant is), Pennsylvania and more. Parking is tight but workable. A small TV in the living room, and no TV in the bedroom. Good water pressure and your own water heater make for a pretty good shower.
We arrived in Myrtle Beach a bit early for checkin, so we headed out looking for lunch. Someone had told us about Joe's Bar and Grill near Barefoot Landing, so we figured it would be a good place to start -- remember, we try to find different places, staying away from the chain restaurants if we can.
I hadn't put the address in the Navi system, but I kind of knew where it was. We turned on Conway street, and found Hamburger Joe's. OK, not the same name, but things change all the time, right? We went in, and figured out quickly it wasn't the same place. The cheeseburgers were good (fresh ground beef makes the difference), good fries. When we left, as we were getting in the car, I spotted the Joe's Bar and Grill sign down the road. Oh, well. We'll hit that later.
We drove across to Barefoot Landing, a collection of shops and restaurants, and strolled around. We found The Foxworthy Store, but it had more stuff from Duck Dynasty than from Jeff Foxworthy. I guess one redneck is as good as another!
We headed to the Inn around two (check-in at three), and Phil showed us the room, but he wasn't done with it yet, so he gave us the key and we headed out. Down to Ocean Boulevard, then south, through some nice areas, then hotels that not only block your view of the ocean but block your XM satellite signal, and finally to downtown, dominated by t-shirt shops, moped rentals and other stuff. Not the Myrtle Beach of yesterday. We went all the way down to the Main Gate (of the old MB AFB), then headed back north to the room, ready to get in the room and unpack.
When we were heading to Barefoot Landing, we noticed that the House of Blues was having a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater that night. We tried for reservations, but they were booked. We chose Carrabba's Italian Grill instead. They don't take reservations, but we got on the "Next Available" list for 7PM, and in spite of the people waiting outside for a table, we got one in about 4 minutes.
The food was good, but not up to the expectations I had. To be honest, by the time we got back to the hotel, I really couldn't remember what I had, or the flavor. Not disappointing per se, just -- not anything.
Tuesday promised to be fun, and it didn't disappoint. We headed to La Belle Amie, a local winery and vineyard in Little River, north of Myrtle Beach. Actually, the winery itself has been moved inland because of the history of storms in the area, but the grounds are beautiful. Chuck took us for a tour of the vineyards.
They grow muscadine grapes, and the original arbors -- over 100 years old -- are still producing grapes. In front of the arbors they've planted rose bushes. Chuck explained that the roses are susceptible to the same diseases and insects as the hardy vines, and will show damage faster, giving them a heads-up to problems. Kind of like canaries in a mine. They use no pesticides or other chemicals; just fertilizer, sun and rain. With all the rain we've had this summer, the vineyard is full and lush.
We did the wine tasting, enjoying samples of six of their wines (we got to pick the ones we wanted out of about 12 bottles), including a blueberry wine that they carry. Linda liked the fruity Island Mama (white) while I liked the Poor Bastard (red). We each carried a glass out to the beautiful shaded porch and enjoyed the day as we talked about what we liked. Finally we bought a bottle or 8.
During the season on weekends they have various festivals with good music, food and drink, and from the sounds of it huge crowds. We'll have to come back for that, but this time it was all about the quiet and the wine.
Coming back to Myrtle Beach we stopped at Duffy Street Seafood Shack near Tanger Outlet. It was only 1:15, but the place was deserted (Later on, the dinner crowd filled the place). The food was pretty good, just a little weird sitting there in a big empty dining room.
A little shopping, then back to the Inn and some pool time. The water temp was about 90 degrees -- that may seem hot to you hardy northern folk, but it's perfect to drop your body temperature without putting you in shock. We lounged for more than an hour, enjoying the sun and a drink.
We called the House of Blues and got the last two tickets for the Murder Mystery for the following evening (Wednesday), then decided to try out Joe's Bar and Grill for dinner. One word: WOW!
It doesn't look like much on the outside, and the parking lot is small (extra parking across the street). But it's the food that makes this place stand out. Linda chose an 8 ounce South African Lobster Tail while I went for the Lamb Chops. Both of them were excellent -- perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth flavor. She never touched the drawn butter, and I left the mint jelly alone. The food didn't need anything else. The house wines complemented the food, and the evening was wonderful. We shared a dessert (only because the waiter teased us with it even before we were done with our meals), a slice of banana bread with ice cream and a whisky sauce. A perfect finish.
Back to the Inn, a soak in the hot tub, then we crashed, sated and tired.
We haven't decided what we're going to do today, but tonight we have the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater at the House of Blues. That should be an interesting part of our adventure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)