Myrtle Beach, Labor Day Weekend, 2021

We left home at 7:20 am on September 3rd for our first camping trip since October 2019. We were both excited and anxious.

We stopped at Clarence's Steak House for breakfast and had eggs and tenerloin for about $20 total. Left and headed for Myrtle Beach. 

We both have realized that as we are getting older, we cannot go as long between stops, if you know what I mean. Our next outing was at Shuler's BBQ and Store on 38 just before getting to 501. Amy purchased some cheesecake and I some pickled asparagus. We made it to Myrtle Beach in time for lunch and stopped at a new place we heard about on Facebook Myrtle Beach Eats, Victoria's Country Cooking. It is a local place that reminded us of the Old 360 Diner in SOBO. We both had Friday's Special, catfish and tea. Cost $17.98 to eat. 

 

Since we could not check in to the KOA just yet, we drove to the Christmas Mouse to look around. I always like to buy ornaments for the kids. I knew that Scarlett likes pink flamingos, so I found her one.

Found a special ornament for all the kids and I purchased the lights Amy has been wanting for quite some time. We left and went on to the KOA to check in, and I was able to save $50 using my points. YAY! 

This time around, we were in Kabin #4. We set up camp in about 30 minutes, and we were ready to go to the beach. 

 

We went to the beach and walked a bit and then stopped at an ice cream parlor on 7th Ave South. I was not going to eat any, but they had sugar-free ice cream, and it was good. 

 

After we came back, we built the fire so that it was ready to light. We waited until about 7:30 to eat and light the fire. I made a steak and shrimp stir-fry with lemonade. After supper, we just enjoyed the campfire and went to bed about 10pm.

 

Saturday, September 4th

We woke about 7am and after getting ready we started the coffee. Amy rose about 8am, and we did our daily reading. 

For breakfast this morning we had keto pancakes, eggs and bacon. We are both still mystified as to why bacon taste better cooked in a pan outside than it does at home?

 

After we read and talked a while, we walked most of the campground roads. By this time it was 11am and Amy was ready to hit the beach. She changed, and I drove her over to the beach and I went to Walmart. I was looking for.a pair of dress shorts and ended up purchasing two pairs.

 

I picked Amy up about 1pm, and we started lunch. We had chicken, broccoli and mixed it in the G.Hughes Cluckin Chicken sauce. It was pretty good, better than a peanut butter sandwich!!

After lunch, we walked some more and gathered some kindling for the evening fire. I then drove Amy back to the beach while I just drove around. About 4pm, I picked her up, and she cleaned up and changed, so we could go play putt-putt. (We both forgot our phones so no pictures!!) 

For supper, we had hot dogs and chili (no buns) with a side of seasoned green beans. I had a muffin with dark melted chocolate on top, it was delicious. We had a nice roaring fire all evening while we played dominoes and 21. I even got in a game of solitaire.  We turned in about 10pm and slept soundly through the night.

 

Sunday, September 5th 

Today we had to rise an hour early so we would not be rushed all morning, check out was at 10am. We made coffee and I started packing a little outside while Amy was getting up. Started breakfast about 7am and we had scambled eggs, sausage, sliced tomato and a keto blueberry muffin.

 

After breakfast, we finished packing up camp. Everything outside the cabin fits in 4 containers. The kitchen and utensils, minus any cast iron, fits in the chuck box. The chairs, fire tools, seat pads and tarp (which we did not use this weekend) fits in an old cabin tent bag. Toolbox has all tools we may need and extra tent stakes. A lunch box is what we use to bring condiments that we do not permanently store in the chuck box. Stuff like olive oil, salt and pepper, etc. I have a separate page on this blog with all that stuff listed. We took a goodbye picture and headed for church service.

Our church has been putting service on Facebook Live since COVID and we found a shady spot and watched the service on my phone and over the speakers in the truck. Pastor Wood preached from Isaiah 55:6, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:". It was a good message that taught me a couple of things that I need to change. I especially liked the part about how we pray wrong! We should be seeking God before we ever kneel to pray, but we usually do it backwards.

After service, we walked on Broadway on the Beach and ate lunch at the Grumpy Monk Restaurant. Amy had a burger and I had the Honey Pecan Chicken and man was it good.

 

We left there and headed home, but made one stop on the way. There is a place called McArthurs Farms outside Bennetsville that we like to stop. They were getting ready for the pumpkins that were coming and the fall corn maze. I purchased some Mustard Relish and we headed on home. 

This trip we took a little different route, we went through Martinsville instead of going through Greensboro. This route lets us skip Greensboro and the road is much better than 29 but it adds 20 minutes to our time. We like the trade-off.

Halloween Myrtle Beack KOA Weekend Sunday, October 27th

We woke this morning a little before 7am and I went to get a shower. Amy woke after I got back and we started breakfast. We had wraps with eggs, mushrooms, cheese and ham. We finished packing up the truck and went to Big Lots and shopped before church. We both picked up a few holiday decorations.

 We attended services as Friendship Baptist Church, which is where we normally go when in Myrtle Beach. They do not have a Pastor at this time and there was a missionary filling in who is from Hati. He preached a message on Blind Bartimeus and he did a great job. 

We left church and went to River City Cafe to eat lunch. We split a bacon cheeseburger, french fries and chicken nuggets. The chicken nuggets were made from chicken breast and they were really good.

After lunch we drove to Tanger Outlets on 501 went to Carolina Pottery. I found a couple of hats that were cool for the holidays and then we headed home.

We arrived home and put up all the camp gear and ate supper from Dellanos.

Halloween Myrtle Beack KOA Weekend Saturday, October 26th

We slept in rather late on Saturday, did not get up until 8:30am. I got up and showered then got the coffee brewing before getting Amy up. We had eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and an apple for breakfat.

Amy and I rode our bikes around the campground after breakfast and looked at the different site decorations. There were several really good ones that went all out for Halloween. I think the Peanuts site was our favorite though.

By this time Amy was ready to go to the beach and sit out for awhile. We had just left the KOA parking lot when Amy realized she had forgotten her sunscreen. I had to turn around and go back because we did not want a repeat of last year. 

While she was on the beach i went for a bike ride. I rode up to the Bowery and back again. I stopped several times to look at the ocean and feel the breeze upon my face. 

When I got back I read the Star Tribune and then used it to start the fire. I had a lot of cooking to do and wanted to get a good bed of coals going. 

First thing I wanted to try was cornbread. We had purchased a small  packet that only needed to have water added. I was going to use my 2 pan set and cook the bread. It did OK but it had been so long since I cooked with coals I forgot something very important. I did not put coals on the top of the pan. It did cook okay though it was a little doughy.

Next I had to get the cobbler on and going. We  used the small pot for this and I remembered to put the coals on the top this time. It turned out very well and we shared with a couple across the way.

All this time Amy was enjoying herself on the beach and she returned about 3:30, just in time to eat about 4pm.

After we had eaten, it was time for the kids to walk around in their costumes and collect candy. We gave out 450 pieces of candy and the kids had a good time. Bob Bones and I enjoyed watching the kids and they got a kick out of him and me.

We went back to camp and cleaned up and sat around the fire for a while longer. It was starting to get dark and we drove down to the Boardwalk and spent a little time together.  After that we drove up the strip and then down to the Christmas mouse. On the way back we stopped for gas at the Walmart on 17. 

We packed up most everything after getting back. The decorations, chairs, food and etc. that would not be needed the next morning. They are calling for rain and we did not want to pack up so much stuff in the rain. Tomorrow we head home after church services.

Halloween Myrtle Beack KOA Weekend Friday, October 25th

We left home at 7:10 am on Friday morning to head out for a short weekend trip. We had packed up most things the night before with only 2 suitcases and a cooler to pack before leavning. We drove to Ridgeway and ate breakfast at Clarences Steakhouse. I had the tenderloin and eggs and Amy had bacon and eggs. The tenderloin was really good and I had enough left over to make two biscuits that we had for lunch. Our next stop was Rockingham for a short bathroom break and another cup of coffee. Just past Bennetsville is MacArthur Farms and that was our second stop. We purchased some fresh apples, potatos and a pumpkin to have for the weekend. We left the farm and headed to Schulers BBQ and Trading Post. Here we found some Muscadine Grape Juice, which is difficult to find, and purcahsed 3 bottles. I also purchased some Charleston Chews and BBQ for supper. We arrived at the campground around 2pm, after we  had picked up groceries at WalMart.

 Here is what our campsite looked liked before we unpacked and decorated for the weekend. 

And now here is an after look. We hung ghosts up around the porch with orange lights. We put Bob Bones in his chair with our sign welcoming all to the campsite. 

After we set up camp, we headed to the beach to take a walk and pick up a few shells.

 The weather was really nice and if it had not be so late (5pm) Amy would have gotten into the water. We walked about 2 miles and according to Fitbit, we burned off over 500 calories. We were both hungry when we got back to camp, so I started supper. We had BBQ from Schulers, French Fries from fresh white potatoes and smores.

We both just sat around the campfire and talked, read Facebook and watched the kids around camp trying to scare each other.  We later carved our pumpkin and lit him up.

We both turned in about 10am.

Myrtle Beach September 13-15, 2019

Friday, Sept. 13, 2019

Left home at 2pm and arrived at cabin 9 around 6:45. We ran into traffic in Greensboro and Conway. After we started setting up we discovered that we left the cook stove at home. We went to Walmart and purchased a new one. Simple stew and rolls for supper and a small fire after the storm. 

We had a good nights sleep and awoke around 7am. There is no hot water here at the Kampground so we had to take cold showers.

 

Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019

We both slept late this morning and woke around 7am. We discovered that there was no hot water in the bathhouse and I had to take a cold shower. It woke me up but not something I care to repeat. When I arrived back at the cabin, Amy was up and ready for coffee. We finished off some coffee and left for the beach. We walked for about an hour along the shore. The waves were really rolling and I believe they were the largest white caps I have seen here. There were broken shells along the shoreline that have been washed up from the hurricane last week and the one currently churning in the Atlantic. We came on back to camp and started breakfast. We had beef sausage, eggs and fruit. I took Amy back to the beach after breakfast, so she could sit out in the sun. I came back to camp and read the newspaper, gathered some firewood and the just walked the campground.  Amy called and I picked her up at 1pm and then took her to a different bathhouse so she could get a hot shower. We at lunch which consisted of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, pringles and cookie. Amy called her cousin, Susan Farmer, and we spent the afternoon with her and her husband at their beach house. When we left there we went to Bass Pro Shop where I was looking for a natural sharpening stone for my chuck box, but they did not have any. We came back to camp by a different route. We used 31 and that was nice because we missed all the traffic on 17. We started supper when we got back and it was a good one. Beef and shrimp with sweet potato cubes tossed in butter and cinnamon with green peas and roll. We got the campfire started and we had s'mores for dessert and they were good. We got into bed on time this night, 10pm.

 

 

Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019

We both slept well last night. I was up a little after 5 but laid in bed until the alarm went off at 6am. Amy is still asleep and I will let her rest while I enjoy the peace and quiet of a sleeping campground. I got Amy up around 7:30 and we had coffee, eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast, we broke camp and made ready to leave for home. We left around 10 am and headed for Tanger on 501, Amy wanted to see the Carolina Pottery store. We left for home about 12 pm and only stopped twice. Got home in time for the special service for licensing Justin to preach the gospel.