Moving to Myrtle Beach

Thursday

Today we leave on the 1PM ferry, we have to checkout by 11:30am.  We have a few things we want to do and see for an hour as we have to get in line for the ferry at 12:30.  Nice and sunny again today and the wind has died down so it should be a good crossing during the 2 hour 15 minute ferry trip.  We have had great visit here and met a lot of nice people, both those that live here and some that are visiting or camping here.  A new person is in the office Karen who grew up near Rochester, not far from our home.  It truly is a small world.  Well time to load up the rest of the car, Bonnie did some earlier.

Before we leave we stopped at a local shop to exchange a sweat shirt and then I wanted to stop at the memorial for the Navy Beach Jumpers.

At the memorial

Then we stopped at the Island Station and picked up sandwiches for lunch.  By then it was 12:30 and we needed to get down to the ferry.  The ferry was right on time and we were soon headed to Cedar Island.

Underway and leaving the Harbor

Lots of power in these engines

Looking back at the Ocracoke Lighthouse

The ferry was not very full and we even had a tour bus

We had one interesting passenger aboard Bixby and his human.  They are traveling the USA by bicycle.

Bixby

 He stayed here the whole trip and seemed as happy as could be.  He did have a lot of visitors.  He has a website and you can keep up with his travels.  Here's the address:

We had some gulls following us to see if we churned up any fish but once we got near the fishing trawlers they all left and followed them.

Thousands of galls around this one boat

Another boat in the fishing fleet

 The crossing took right at two and a quarter hours and soon we were pulling into Cedar Island

Almost Docked

We drove off after the bus and headed West and South.  We went through Beaufort and Moorhead City and soon arrived in Swansboro at the Hampton Inn.  Its a very nice one and we ended up with a lower rate than I expected and they upgraded our room so its very nice.

We got in touch with some friends who live here and made arrangements to go out for supper.  Chris suggested the Ice House and even picked us up at the hotel.

A great place to eat in Swansboro

I had my first ever fish tacos and they were great.  The food was fantastic and the prices good.  Clarence was driving in from his business in Fredericksburg and arrived at the same time as the food. We had a great time catching up and it was like we had seen them only a few days ago and not 13 years ago.

Chris and Clarence still looking Young and Happy as ever.

Chris is still working and it was nice of her to go out with us tonight, she has an early morning tomorrow.  Back at the hotel we relaxed and watched a little TV.  Tomorrow we finish the drive to Myrtle Beach.

Friday

We both had a great nights sleep and were just discussing how the Hampton beds have always been comfortable.  Plus they had a nice variety for breakfast and we always enjoy that.  The hotel is not very full so we almost had the breakfast bar to ourselves.  We have a late checkout so are taking our time this morning with getting ready to go.  We just have a few hours drive today and check in is listed as 4pm but I am hoping we can get in earlier than that and then will go out to eat and get some groceries for at least breakfast.  I just down loaded a free google app called field trip, it is supposed to alert us to historical markers and sites as we drive along so hoping to check that out today.  Perhaps Bonnie will drive today and I can try that out.

We got on the road just before noon and Bonnie did drive.  Its pretty overcast today and eventually it is supposed to rain.  First stop of the day was at Hardee's for lunch, Bonnie loves their chicken and also the biscuits.

Hardees for lunch

Then we continued on toward Myrtle Beach in no hurry as check-in was 4pm.  We did run into a little rain shortly after we stopped at the Welcome Center for South Carolina.  We finally arrived at the Westgate right on the ocean.  We are using one of our timeshare weeks to exchange for a week here.  Checkin was quick and efficient and they brought all our stuff up to the room and showed us where everything is.  We are up on the fifth floor we can lay in bed and see the ocean.

View from next to the Jacuzzi

We have a balcony

It was overcast today hoping to catch some nice sun rises this week.  We ran out to Food Lion and picked up some food for breakfast and lunch.  Bonnie threw in a couple loads of wash and we watched a little TV.  We baked some Stouffers Pizza for supper and relaxed.

Saturday

No great sunrise this morning its very foggy out.  We got up checked email and Bonnie finished the last load of wash.  As soon as it dries we will do a little exploring.

View North

View East low tide

View South

Well we decided we would just take it easy today and we opened the sliding doors and listened to the waves and watched people on the beach.  We needed a do little day.  Bonnie did take a walk on the beach and picked up more shells.

She found most of them close to the condo

 Some people feed the galls and it tends to draw a crowd of birds

Feeding the birds

The tide has been coming in all afternoon and the waves are much closer and louder now, and we are still an hour away from high tide.  Its been a nice relaxing day.  I just noticed the moon has risen.

Almost a full moon

We decided to go out and get some pizza for supper.  I checked the Yelp app and found a place with 5 stars.  CAPRICCIO of SC seemed to fill the bill.  It turned out to be a real Italian place looked like a lot of family worked there.  The food was delicious and lots of it we brought most of the pizza back with us.

Cobb Salad

Their special pizza.

The pizza had sun dried tomatoes, chicken, spinach and cheese wow was it good.  We then made a dry run on the airport more on that tomorrow.

Just as we were parking at the Condo the girls called.  They had hit a deer and were very upset, the police finally came and had to dispatch the deer.  They were not hurt but the car is looking pretty messed up but I am sure it can be fixed.  A friend picked them up and took them home.
What an end to the day.  Hopefully they will get a good nights sleep and can start to sort things out tomorrow.  

Sunday

I was up a little early this morning I ate and quickly got dressed.   About 9 I headed out to the airport, only about 7 minutes away this time of year.  My sister was flying in to spend the rest of the week with us.  The flight was just 6 minutes late and the airport is small so we were back to the condo quickly.

Back at the Condo

We took it easy for a few hours.  I watched the Bills game and the girls chatted and watched the travel channel.  Then we decided to head down the beach and see what Murrels Inlet and Pawleys Island looked like.  Pretty much more of the same, except the building seem to be further off the beach with bridges built over the dunes.  The girls decided to look for shells out on the beach for a while.  I hate walking in the sand so kept an eye on the car and took a couple pictures.

Beach access is limited we had to back out

Path and wooden bridge to beach

One of the private bridges over the dunes

The girls looked for shells

One of the many fishing piers

A couple of the nice beach houses

I did not find one nice flower

Cleaning the girls sandy feet

I got the job of rinsing the sand off the girls feet.  Then we checked Yelp and decided on a place called the Blue Crab / Pawleys Raw Bar.  Lets see we had Bangin Shrimp and Crabmeat for appetizers.  Then we had fresh wahoo fish, shrimp and grits, and crab cake for dinner.  It was all delicious and we were all full when we were done.  The race and football were on the TVs and we got to see Jimmy Johnson win his 6th Championship.  Wow the fog had rolled in when we went out to drive home and seems to have set in for the night.

Back at the condo now and in for the night.  The girls are taking care of their shells and we are settling in with some TV.  We are still having a great time and still have to figure out what we are going to do the next few days.  This place is mostly beach and stores.  Thats about it for this week.

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