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.
I heard the front door open. It was only 8:15 a.m., Thursday, June 19.
"Curtis?" I called out. What on earth is he doing home?
"The power was out today at work. I looked for someone—anyone—but no one was in sight, so I came home."
So we took advantage of the day together! The Relief Society in our ward sent out a list of fun summer activities in the area. Lazy 5 Ranch, a private animal ranch in Mooresville, caught our eye. We toured the park along this 3.5-mile path, feeding animals through your car window. We fed all kinds of animals, including ostriches, emus, zebras, camels, llamas, pot-bellied pigs, antelope, blackbuck, elk, deer, water buffalo, longhorns, giraffes (Curtis had to stand out of the car window to reach them!), and a rhino (Well, we didn't feed the rhino, but he was still pretty neat to see!). I was terrified of being eaten, but Sebastian made friends with many of the llamas.
Trying to hold still for Mr. Ostrich
I started off with Sebastian in the back seat, but you can clearly see that I'm out of my comfort zone. Curtis "let" me drive and risked his own life to let Sebastian get up close and personal with the animals.
Sebastian posing with Mr. Llama
And here's a video so you can see how excited Sebastian really was!
Relaxing after lunch
Livia enjoying the sun
It was definitely a welcome and unexpected surprise to spend the day with Dad. If only he could skip out on work more often . . .
. . . and then Friday came.
"Coming. No power again." I got the text at 7:56 a.m. Within three hours, we were on the road bound for Washington, D.C. I wouldn't consider us the epitome of spontaneity, but whoever you are, Mr. Spontaneous, we gave you a run for your money this weekend.
It takes six hours to drive from Charlotte to Washington, D.C., but with all the stops we needed to make, it took us the rest of the day. My dear friend Emma, whom I taught English in Ukraine with, conveniently lives just outside of D.C. We had a delicious pancake dinner at her home and met her husband, Kevin, and her six-month-old daughter, Evelyn, before we retired to our hotel for the evening.
Emma and I holding our babies (June 20, 2013)
Pretty much the only thing I wanted to see in D.C. was the International Spy Museum. Ever since Curtis and I started watching "Alias" three years ago, I've wanted to be Agent Sydney Bristow. Right now, we are following Annie Walker in the new season of "Covert Affairs." We almost exclusively watch spy/action movies and TV shows. In fact, we shared our first kiss during the steamy scene in The Bourne Identity. And we've decided that, if it weren't for my abominable relationship with running, I would make the perfect spy. It turns out, Sebastian would not.
Can you find Sebastian? (International Spy Museum)
Spies don't generally smile and wave as they covertly navigate the ducts. We could easily have spent all day perusing this museum, but as luck would have it, they don't allow strollers. We got through maybe four of the seven exhibits. I was in the middle of learning about code breaking when Sebastian let us know that he was done.
Thinking Sebastian would love the big elephant and fossils, we decided to try out the National Museum of Natural History. Nope. At least there were ducts at the Spy Museum . . .
Time to move on to something more interesting: airplanes! Sebastian actually loved the National Air and Space Museum. He pulled us to every exhibit that you could go inside: a few cockpits and a vintage airliner. Curtis had a good time too. While the boys enjoyed the planes, Livia and I enjoyed the Time and Navigation exhibit. In case you were going to ask, I think a sextant would make a fascinating birthday gift.
Lovin' the planes! (National Air and Space Museum)
By far, however, Sebastian treasured his time outside, running up and down the Mall, chasing pigeons. And he deserved it after all the driving we did the day before . . . and all the driving we would do the next.
Hooray for independence! (Washington Monument)
Our little world traveler (National Mall)
Chasing the pigeons (National Mall)
In front of the United States Capitol (National Mall)
That evening, we savored authentic D.O.C. Neapolitan pizza at 2Amys and drove through D.C. one last time in the night light. We sure got a kick out of all the cars parked in front of the "No Parking" signs along Embassy Row. Available evening parking hours or abuse of diplomatic immunity?
Curtis and I first met on the East Coast, and being in D.C. allowed us to reminisce on that time. It's hard to decide the best part of the weekend. But perhaps we don't have to decide. We can love it all. We got to do something spontaneous, do something different, do something fun, do something together, and eat pizza (I mean, come on!).
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