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.
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