Myrtle Beach Travel Log in Trichotomy

Day 1 (Thur):

Woke up at 7 to get ready. We arranged La Professeure’s colleague to come over and house-/rat-sit while we’re away. So we changed the sheets and arrange the house to get ready for her to come over.

The airport shuttle was late by 1/2 hour - it didn’t come till 8:40 - which was okay because I’d lied about flight departure time - I’d set it 1/2 hour earlier than it actually was, so it all worked out fine.

Checking into La Guardia was very smooth; I think the security line had maybe two people in front of us. So we got a lot of time to kill in LGA so we ate lunch and I listened to the news. We didn’t board the plane till 12:30, and even after that we, spent about an hour on the tarmac waiting to take off because there was such a long line. I think we spent three twice as much time in La Guardia than in the air - flight time was just 1 1/2 hours.

Once we got to Myrtle Beach, we had to call the hotel to get them to send a shuttle to pick us up and La Professuere had the most difficult time getting through to the front desk; I think she ended up calling the golf concierge (person who arranges golf trips) to patch her through. So we spent another hour waiting for the van. But we got to the hotel the exact same time as her parents and her brother and sister-in-law (her mom literally just joined the check-in line). So, if we hadn’t had the delays in the airports we would have had to wait in the hotel anyway.

We got oriented in the hotel - it’s an ocean-front hotel, so we got to walk around on the beach - and got food from the hotel restaurant. It was only passable food, but our view on the 14th floor facing the sea was difficult to beat.

Day 2 (Fri):

I woke up late - by the time I was awake, La Professeure and her family had already gone to the beach and back. I got a hotdog at the poolside grill and watched them go into the outdoor lazy river. During lunch it started to rain so we had to retreat.

After lunch we went to the indoor pool’s lazy river and went on the water slides. It was a lot of fun, though I forgot to bring my goggles and didn’t swim much. It turned out it didn’t rain for the rest of the day, so we could have done some beach activities. Instead, we did a grocery run. We got way too much food.

Day 3 (Sat):

Finally got a chance to swim in the pool (with my goggles), but I was not impressed. There were too many people in the pool, and not a lot of space. I think the hotel pool is for kids to play around rather than for actual swimming. I ate a lot of hot dogs.

In the evening, we went out to the Boardwalk. It was not very impressive, actually, there were a handful of stores selling boardwalk food. Instead, we got sushi and went home. We play games that night.

Day 4 (Sun):

I spent the morning watching football. In the afternoon, we got out to the beach and sat. It was nice for the first 10 minutes, and then it got boring. We went into to the ocean to “swim”, but mostly it was just trying not to get knocked over by the waves. I think maybe I would enjoy it once or twice a year, but I can’t imagine doing it for fun every day. But everybody had a good time, so that was nice.

Afterwards, I jumped into the outdoor pool when it was relatively uncrowded. So at least I got some good swimming time. We went to the only salad bar in town after that. And I got salad and smoothie, because that place is a salad and ice-cream bar.

I suppose a place cannot survive in South Carolina selling salad alone?

Day 5 (Mon):

We went onto a small boat for a “Dolphin cruise”. And it was a small dingy that seated only 15 people or so. Some of them have to ride on the edge of the dingy.

Unfortunately we couldn’t find any dolphin. But it was a fun ride, especially considering that the boat was so small. We stopped to get more grocery on the way back, but I wanted to go to a doctor’s office because my ear was clogged.

With the help of the internet and my work laptop we found a clinic that my insurance covers, and within an hour I was out of there with my ear cleared. There was no wait, and the staff was so friendly. They also made a big deal out of me working for the New Hip Company. It was weird.

When I got back to the hotel, we went to an amusement park by the board walk. It looked quite old, actually, and I only went on a few rides before I got bored. But my mother-in-law was having a great time. You can tell she’s been looking forward to this for a long time, so that was cute (we did try to go to the amusement park the previous morning but it was not open yet). I did have a great time in the log-over-water ride. At that point, also, I was having an overdose of zappoles and elephant ears and funnel cakes.

So, in order to balance it all, we had salad bar again.

Day 6 (Tue):

I was my birthday and everyone made a big deal out of it. I woke up early enough to go out to the ocean in the morning, and a long swim in the ocean. When we came back it was noon, and I had salt water all over me, so we kids went to the indoor lazy river and water slide, and jaccuzi, to wash off the salt. In the afternoon we packed. I also spent time followed the New Hip Company’s news about their restructuring.

That afternoon we pack because La Professeure and I and her parents went to a kid’s show that night (it was her mom’s idea). While we were packing, I got a surprise birthday cake; I was not expecting that. The cake was yummy but we only ate half of it - that means her parents would have to drive the other back home with them.

The kid’s show is located in an area where there are lots of tourist traps which reminds me of the Vegas strip - only it’s family-friendly. The show itself was nice (it’s pirate-themed) and consist of aerial acrobats, gymnasts, animal trainers (there were dogs and sea lions doing tricks), and jugglers, but aimed at an audience a bit younger than me. La Professeure’s mom had a great time though.

Day 7 (Wed):

I woke up at 8 to help the others pack their cars, and eventually checked out and left by 10:45. The airport was very close - the hotel bus got us there in 15 minutes. The security line was almost non-existent, but our flight was delayed so we had to wait until 2:30 to get on the plane. So I ended up spending a lot of time in the terminal - and wrote the majority of this entry. The plane took off around 3, and we landed around 4:30 at La Guardia. We listened to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on the plane. By the time we got our luggage it was 5 and we didn’t want to take the bus in rush hour traffic, so we took a taxi instead. It costed $130 (!!). That’s before tips. Next time we should consider long-term parking.

But, the good news is I got back in one piece. There are many things I’ve been pushing off because of this trip (basically doctors’ appointments for myself, my eyes, my teeth, and my piano), so I should get back on them now.

I do not, however, feel recharged.