Myrtle Beach

In the book October Sky, Elsie Hickam dreams of living along the carefree sands of Myrtle Beach. Ever since Curtis read that book, he's dreamed of going to Myrtle Beach too. Now that we are living just four short hours away from this coastal city, we had to make a trip! Curtis took Friday off and we began driving that morning. We arrived at the hotel around noon, and since Sebastian had no interest in taking a nap that day, walked over to the beach for an afternoon in the blazing sun. 

The water was warm and salty; the sand was hot and coarse. Curtis and Sebastian splashed in the waves while Livia and I took refuge in the shade of our stroller. I never went to the beach with my family growing up. I think the closest we got to a day building sand castles was on the shores of Lake Erie. But as I sat on the sand, watching my boys gaze in wonder for miles and miles of deep, surging water, I can understand the peace we feel in the luxury of the beach. And what a luxury. The water, the sand, the earth—all created for us by our Father.

That night, we took a walk out to Broadway at the Beach, a lake lined with shops, restaurants, and attractions. Curtis and I were out for the exercise and people watching. We tried looking for a spot for dessert, but since we are frugal (not cheap), we decided we would enjoy a less-expensive pint of ice cream from the local Piggly Wiggly just as well as, if not more than, the three tablespoons of Ben and Jerry's we were eyeing. And we found this gem. Blue Bell is the taste of my vanilla, the taste of my childhood. And we ended our day on a high note . . .

. . . only to wake up to thunder! (Apropos of the title of our blog, but not to our dreams of the beach!) We began frantically Googling "rainy day in Myrtle Beach" and nearly dropped $40 to go to the aquarium (which looks really cool), when we looked outside and saw a dry sky.

It wasn't sunny, but we weren't complaining! We came to the beach to play on the beach! And play we did . . .

Sebastian and Dad

Sebastian and Mom

We are a Chaco-loving family.

Leopard-print toes are ready for some sand.

Sebastian and Bucket

Livia and Cleanliness

Hale family and the Beach

We walked around in the afternoon to give Sebastian and Livia a chance to nap. We found a lovely, inexpensive fish market to grab a bite to eat. After ordering crab cakes (They were out.) and hushpuppies (They were out?!!), we were pretty bummed . . . Until we got our fish and shrimp! It was freshly prepared with the perfect blend of crisp and zest. I told the local one-man show that they could be out of fish and we would still come back. We give him our stamp of approval.

We then drove a few miles north to a place called Barefoot Landing. We read online that you can come here and see tigers for free. Since Sebastian loves all things cat, we had to give it a go. We were expecting to find a savannah of wild animals and photo ops, but found a small empty cage and some employees sweeping the floor. It turns out the safari is located south of Myrtle Beach and costs at least $280! Um, we ain't got that kinda cash. But we are glad we stuck around. They do bring the tigers up to the TIGERS Preservation Station for a few hours each day to raise awareness for their cause, and we were just a few minutes early. When they brought the tigers and monkey out, Sebastian lost all control. This chimpanzee, let me tell you, was climbing and jumping around—just like you would expect a monkey to act—but for some reason, he almost didn't look real! He would beat on the glass and taunt the baby tigers behind it. Sebastian would just yell and shout, "Ooo ooo ahh ahh!" Boy knows what's going on. We went around to another enclosed area, where they featured three beautiful fully grown tigers. Sebastian just ran up and down the glass to get a good look at them. The spectators were almost as absorbed in Sebastian's energy more than the tigers'. Sadly, we don't have any pictures of this boy, but you can see videos of the animals on their YouTube channel.

Sebastian and Livia

As always, these trips are too short, and we may never see Myrtle Beach again, but we tried to squeeze the best experience with the time we had, and I think we were successful.