I enjoyed the lengthy drive to Myrtle Beach, and I was rather excited to finally meet Ned, or should I say, Nancy, Donna’s friend that she had put me in touch with. A quick trip to the Tanger Outlets saw a few things crossed off my ‘to do’ list, and I met up with Ned, who is incredibly warm and fun and wearing the most fabulous hat I have seen in a VERY long time – very Audrey Hepburn – and we went to Murrells Inlet for lunch. It is meant to be the hot spot for seafood, and judging by all the seafood restaurants lining the waterway, I would say it is indeed! I had an appetizer plate which was certainly more than enough, and we got to know each other over lunch, and then after a tour of the city, Nancy took me to the beach – something I haven’t been to in well over 12 months – and we plonked on the sand and people watched whilst chatting away happily. I don’t think we had a single awkward pause in the conversation, which was really refreshing. After a couple of hours of people watching we made a move to get back to her truck, and went on another tour so I could see the lay of the land. She was a very good tour guide, and pointed out things that others may not have thought of – such as a historic railway station, and historic school for ‘colored children’. She took me to dinner, and wowee it was flash. I had the most beautiful shrimp dish with wild rice and vege, and it was just lovely. It was a bit sad saying goodnight because I’d only just met her damnit! But it was 11pm, and I knew I was getting up early to drive to Charleston, so I eventually dragged my carcass out of her truck and headed up to my hotel room… to discover that the balcony door wouldn’t close properly, and had a chain lock on it. AKA a rape lock. That is ALWAYS what I think of when I see those things, and then the second thing I think of is “fat lot of good it’s going to do when psycho kicks the door down..” (I’ve clearly seen far too many movies). So naturally I start freaking out, despite the fact that I’m EIGHT STORIES HIGH.. and ended up huddled underneath my sheets like a big baby, just praying I’d fall asleep and wake up alive and without some weirdo sitting on the foot of my bed watching me sleep.
Myrtle Beach is very much a tourist trap. The main strip, Ocean Boulevard, looks like it is straight out of Jersey Shore the MTV show. It's rather garish with bright lights and colours and t-shirts with all kinds of slogans including ones made infamous by the TV show itself; I asked Nancy about this and she seems to recall the crew came to Myrtle Beach to film something or another. It is what the Gold Coast would be if we were American. So very beachy, very tourist, very OTT. Nowhere near as OTT as Vegas or Pigeon Forge though!! And once you step back from the beachfront there's real charm in the houses in the hind dunes and other mall areas. I will say the sand there is much, much grittier than the sand in Australia, and whilst initially I was like "eh? this isn't soft.." I realised I actually prefer it like that because it means it's much, much easier to brush off!! Y'all know how much I just looove sand, right?
Myrtle Beach is where I overheard the woman behind me ordering her breakfast that included a pancake combo meal plus four rashers of bacon and two eggs and french fries, and then swap out her sausage for more bacon again. God. I'm really doing my absolute best to eat at least one meal plus my snacks 'in house'.. usually I have my breakfast in my hotel room as long as there's a fridge in my room - I've chosen hotels where I could that have fridges, unfortunately I was without one at Myrtle Beach, so no milk to go on my All Bran. Trust me, All Bran is the best choice available for breakfast cereals here, because EVERYTHING has High Fructose Corn Syrup (AKA the health/weight devil) in it. So it's a constant game of going to a grocers and finding things like low sodium ham or sliced chicken or turkey breast and pairing that up with my low fat Triskets for a snack or a lunch while I'm on the go. Doing my damnedest not to return the size of well.. your average American.
I will say at this point, that Nancy isn't your average American, and has a smokin' body. I didn't want to go from that paragraph above, to the one below, without pointing this out, lest anyone think I'm subtly hinting she's fat. She's not. She's phat. Hehee!
Thank you Nancy, you made Myrtle Beach for me, you really did. If you come to Brissie, you’ve got yourself a host. Promise!
Chat soon,
M x
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