Myrtle Madness

This past March break was our last time going to Myrtle Beach and hanging out with the parents. They are planning to change their winter plans in the future and we are hoping that wherever they go, we will be able to visit. We planned to visit some of the bigger and exciting venues this time around, what we didn’t plan was how the trip ended…

Travelling South

I can honestly say that I will not miss this drive south. It’s a long tortuous 18 hours with a stop part way to sleep in an overpriced hotel. Probably the only nice part is watching the snow melt and guessing how far south we have to go before it’s completely gone. This year it was Virginia where we saw the last flakes melt away revealing the dirty spring grass below. After a long second day on the road, it was close to 7 pm on Saturday night when we finally pulled into the resort, welcomed by the smell of the warm and salty ocean air.

I’m not usually an early riser, but Sunday morning was my first morning running on the beach at sunrise. I had been working on a couch to 5K program and heading south was no excuse to not run. Plus, there is something magical about running along the beach with the ocean air in your face.

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When we’re in the south, we take advantage of the warm days by planning an afternoon on the beach whenever we can. Unfortunately, we are down south before the weather really warms up, so we have to take advantage of the sun when it’s out. So we headed down onto the beach after lunch where we sat and enjoyed the warm rays of sun and cooled off with a dip in the ocean. My boys both went boogie boarding, while I stayed on the warmer side and just walked in the ocean up to my knees. There is no trouble telling when Canadians are at the beach, we are all boasting our ghostly winter white skin LOL. That evening we took a walk down on the boardwalk to soak in the last bits of the warm air for the day.

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Over the years we have done all the touristy things in Myrtle Beach – sometimes twice – but with the dollar being so low, and Hayden getting older, those attractions are less… attractive! But last year something caught my boys’ eyes – go karting. Unfortunately at the time Hayden was just a tad too short to ride the good karts, and well, I just wasn’t into it.

Since they didn’t get to go last year, go karts have been on Dan and Hayden’s to-do list all year, and it was just about all that Hayden could talk about. So, we made plans, checked the weather and headed for the track. The forecast was calling for a light sprinkle in the morning and sure enough it started to rain as we pulled into the parking lot. The thing with these tracks is that they stay open for the most part…. until the rain becomes too much that the tracks get too wet. Then they close everything down and wait. Unfortunately if the wait is longer than expected, they might shut down the course for the day and there are no refunds! In the end, we decided to put our faith in the weatherman and put our money down.

Fortunately, Mother Nature was in a good mood and we had a great time going on multiple tracks. A word of advice – bring ear protection! Unlike some of the newer karts, these ones were gas powered, not electric, so by mid morning my poor brain had enough from the loud engines and I had to take a break. Luckily we were able to play some mini golf and get away from the loud noises, even if was just for a bit. Dan and Hayden continued to go on more courses multiple times! It was truly a blast, even if I did have to sit out for the last part of our day.

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Another new attraction this time for us was the arcade center Dave and Busters. We love going to the boardwalk arcade, but this was totally different. There were many different games with lots of prizes to be won with the ticket accumulation. I’m sure we could have easily gone to the toy store to buy the helicopter Hayden ended up getting, but where would the fun in that be? We arrived early and spent a few hours playing games and collecting our tickets. When we left the center, we bumped into my parents and decided to walk around Broadway at the Beach together before heading out for supper.

We were happy to see a new attraction, a Simpson’s 4D experience! They had a Kwik-E-Mart all set up with really cool displays inside of slushy machines, Frostillicus, and more. Outside in the line up were all the characters “waiting” in line as well to enter this attraction. We had some fun checking out the line up as Dan pretended to be a Simpson character.

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This is where our trip took a bit of a bad turn. Hayden woke up the next day and was not well. Let’s just say he didn’t make it to the bathroom and there was a lot of cleaning up to do. That meant he was staying home in the condo and resting to get better. However, this did allow Dan and I to get out alone and have a date lunch. We went back to Broadway and ate at the American Ale House. I had the scallop tacos, sweet potato fries and a local craft beer. It was hard to choose a beer since there were 53 options! WOW! Choosing my meal was easy, as when there are scallops as an option I just can’t resist.

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We took it easy for the next few days and headed home, back to the snow and yucky weather. Next year will bring a whole different adventure as my parents are planning something different for their winter months.