By 9:45 Monday
morning we were on the road again, this time to Myrtle Beach State Park just 37
miles away from Sunset Beach, North Carolina. Located just a few miles south of
the main downtown area, Myrtle Beach State Park is beautiful and right on the
ocean. Our site is secluded with plenty of room to maneuver. Temps were in the
low 90s when we arrived with humidity just as high. Trees, trees, tree--therefore
no satellite and no cable. Antenna it is.
Myrtle
Beach State Park:
the 312-acre park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corp, under
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Program, designed to provide
employment during the Great Depression and, to help address national needs in
conservation and recreation. The Corp was instrumental in the development of
many of South Carolina’s state parks, and in fact, quite a few buildings built
by the Corp in the 1930s are still in use here. It opened to the public in
1936.
The
campground is located within 300 yards of the beach, and has 6 cabins available
for rent as well as 204 campsites. 66 of the campsites have full hookups
(water, electricity, sewer), and many can accommodate 40’ RVs. For sites
without full hookups there is a dump station in the park. All sites are
convenient to bath house, restrooms and laundromat facilities, and all sites
have complimentary WiFi access. The park also has 1 mile of undeveloped beach
(with a life guard!), a fishing pier, 3 playgrounds, and 7 picnic shelters.
Top right is the Ranger station. Bottom left is our site, and the right is a view of one of the road in the campground. |
By
Wednesday we decided to investigate the park a bit. It was already 80° at 7
a.m., so we were hoping it would at least feel cooler at the beach. The beach
is within walking distance from our site, and a nice walk through the park.
Beautiful! The beach is home to hundreds of loggerhead turtles so we were on
the lookout for signs they were ashore overnight. We were there during low tide
so the beach was wide, hard packed but offered very few shells. And no, we didn’t
see any signs of turtles. There were quite a few folks on the beach already at 9:30
(we decided to walk the beach before breakfast). The heat index was 109°; the
ambient shade temp was 86°. I spoke with the lifeguard, Martin, for a few
minutes. He’s from the Czech Republic, on a work visa here for 2 months before
going home and back to university, where he’s majoring in history.
After
breakfast we hit the first of the places we wanted to visit: "Wheels of
Yesteryear." But first, a quick stop at Tanger Outlets for a bit of shopping.
Wheels
of Yesteryear: Opened
in September 2009, this car museum showcases over 50 vintage American muscle
cars owned by Paul and Carol Cummings (no relation) of North Carolina. They own
over 100 vintage automobiles and trucks that have been restored over the past
45 years to preserve the original spirit of the vehicle, keeping all VIN
numbers matching when possible. The museum closes for 2 weeks every year,
usually in January, to rotate and change the inventory to better showcase their
spectacular collection of American-made cars. By the fall of 2017 an addition
will be added to the museum so all cars will be able to be shown at one time. (There is one car that doesn’t belong to the
Cummings: it’s the Joe Dirt movie car, which is on loan.)
Top: 1951 Ford Club Coupe. Middle: 1955 Chevy Bel Air. Bottom: 1958 Chevy Impala |
Top: 1966 Ford Mustang. Middle: 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Bottom: Shots of museum. |
That
was it for the day, except we did have peach pie with ice cream at home, for
dessert. YUM!
Thursday
we again stayed at the camper. With the heat index reaching 110°. Dick worked
on installing Windows 10 on his computer, but first had to back up everything.
Took rather longer than he expected.
Brookgreen
Gardens was another item on our sightseeing list, so Friday morning we drove
south about 18 miles. We arrived just before 10:30, just in time to purchase
our tickets, be welcomed and given maps to the gardens, and watch an 18-minute
introductory video. This is a place not to be missed!
The Welcome Center at Brookgreen Gardens |
A fountain occupies the site where the original Brookgreen Plantaion home was located. |
Top left: Call of the Bison, in bronze. Top right: Circle of Life, in bronze. Bottom: The Saint James Triad in bronze. |
Clockwise: Actaeon in gilt bronze; Dionysus in 23K gold; Young Centaur in bronze; Shark Diver in bronze (Note: the sculptor of this piece, Frank Eliscu, also designed the Heisman Trophy). |
Clockwise: one of 2 jaguars in bronze by Anne Huntington, done from memory; Mares of Diomedes in bronze; Narcissus in marble; Time and the Fates of Man in bronze. |
Diana in gilt bronze; Man Carving His Own Destiny in limestone. |
We
also ran across many, many “Eastern Lubbers,” which essentially are huge, brightly colored grasshoppers.
They are incapable of flying, since their wings are rarely more than half the
length of their abdomen. And, they can only jump short distances. They’re quite
clumsy and move very slowly. It
appears the name “Lubber” is derived from an old English word “lobre” which
means lazy or clumsy. Is it any wonder that the term has come to mean a big,
clumsy, and stupid person, also known as a lout or lummox. Today the term is
used mainly by seafarers, who give the name “landlubbers” to novices of the
sea.
Halfway
through our visit to the gardens we had lunch at the Pavilion Restaurant, onsite,
where we dined on a tri-salad plate (chicken, tuna, and fresh fruit), and their
signature sandwich: turkey, bacon, avocado, apple, provolone cheese, lettuce, and a
honey-mustard dressing on a lightly toasted and thick-sliced wheat bread. YUM-YUM!
That really hit the spot! We needed a bit of respite from the hot sun anyway,
as temps were in the mid-90s most of the day.
After
lunch we again boarded the park’s shuttle to the onsite zoo. The zoo holds
domestic animals that may have been on the plantations back in the day, as well
as native animals and waterfowl including foxes, alligators, otters, bald
eagles, horned owls, and deer. However, we were more interested in the special
exhibit that was interspersed with the animals, entitled, “Nature Connects: Art
with LEGO® Bricks.” This special exhibit is there March 5 through September 5,
2016, and I’m sure glad we didn’t miss it!
Yellow Corn Spider: 16,492 legos; Pansy and Bee: 29,314 legos |
Clockwise: Grandfather gardening with child: 46,940 legos; wheelbarrow: 29,900 legos; Monarch Butterfly: 37,908 legos; Peacock: 68,827 legos. |
Clockwise: Ant Hill Mosaic (photo op piece): 12,990 legos; Deer Family: 89,442 legos; Dragonfly: 27,788 legos; Galapagos Tortoise with Finch: 23,317 lego. |
Sean
Kenney, the LEGO® artist, is an award-winning and “professional kid” who uses
and has used LEGO® pieces to create contemporary sculpture for high-profile
clients, major corporations, and venues around the world for over 10 years.
Sean’s work has been featured in national and international publications around
the world, as well. (He has 2 kids—wouldn’t it be a kick to have him as a
father?)
We
then caught the shuttle to take a private tour of The Oaks Plantation owned by the Alston family. There
are no buildings left at this site, but recent archeological efforts have
unearthed the foundations of several buildings.
The top 2 photos and bottom left are of the Alson Cemetery grounds. The bottom right shows the areas where slave homes were; there were 18 slave homes found in all. |
We
were pretty zonked by the time we got home, after spending 6 hours in the hot
sun and humidity. We slept well that night!
Saturday
was another day of computer catch-up for Dick, while I worked with the photos
for this blog. (I think Dick took about 500 photos at the park yesterday!)
That
evening we drove to North Myrtle Beach, to the Alabama Theater, for “One – the Show.”
We were entertained for 2 hours, with singing, dancing, acrobatics and comedy.
What a wonderful evening! We had great seats, too: Row 4 in the center section.
Sweet! No photography or recording of any kind was allowed, sorry. Guitars,
saxophones, piano, fiddles and banjos accompanied the singers and dancers to
music from the ‘60s to today, and included show tunes, pop, oldies, blues and
jazz, as well as country, gospel and patriotic. Wonderful stuff!
And, the comedian, “Ricky Mokel,” (real name Grant Turner) was hilarious! We had tears running down our faces! That night he was a “stage hand” that introduced the evening. Click here for a short video from youtube.com. He’s clean, funny, and so easy to listen to! We loved him! For more info on him, check his website: www.rickymokel.com
Sunday
morning we enjoyed a late leisurely breakfast, followed by 18 holes of miniature
golf at Jurassic Golf. Talk about HOT! 93° with a heat index of 110°. Sweat was
running and dripping off our faces by the time we were done. Oh, and Dick shot
a 46 and I shot a 49. We’re blaming it on the heat, although Dick did get a
hole in one
We considered driving to the Sky Wheel for a ride, but the crazy traffic and hot weather we nixed that idea, and went instead to Walmart to pick up a few items and fuel the truck for our departure Monday morning.
We considered driving to the Sky Wheel for a ride, but the crazy traffic and hot weather we nixed that idea, and went instead to Walmart to pick up a few items and fuel the truck for our departure Monday morning.
That’s
it for this week. Next week we’ll be visiting Charleston, South Carolina. Stay
tuned!
Hugs,
RJ
and Gail
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