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.
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