Thoughts on Vacation - Myrtle Beach, SC

After the many years of hearing about my classmates, friends, and co-workers making the trip to Myrtle Beach, SC for vacation, I finally make the trip myself. It was actually an accident that I made it to the Beach, but I'll accept any accident like that. Stayed in a very nice villa on the beach with my mom and two of her friends, and the only reason why I was able to go was that my dad backed out of the trip. So I decided to give up a week of work to travel the 10 hours to the beach with my mom. I tell you, the decision was difficult.

If it wasn't for the Beach, I was have to say Myrtle Beach is overated. It really is. The streets are lined with almost the same kind of shops, places to eat, and attractions that I could have found near the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. Things that MB has that the Mountains doesn't...

• An over abundance of seafood. Most of the seafood was breaded and fried, not my favorite. I will give a thumbs up to Sea Captains Seafood House. A local seafood place which has good shrimp and clam chowder.
• The Beach itself. I won't walk too far into the ocean, but I can't put into words the feel of waves washing over my feet.
• The Sunrise. The sun comes up over the ocean, and sets among buildings. Yes I woke up early enough to watch the sun rise, and I advise everyone to do that sometime in their life. (I'll provide pictures later.)
• A glimpse of old Myrtle Beach. I love history. Love to see it. Read about it. Whatever. I found driving down Ocean Blvd. and interesting site because I saw many hotels and establishments that spoke of the old days of Myrtle Beach. Much was closed or had NO VACANCY do to the off season, but I wanted to see it anyways.
• The Pavilion. Also closed, but I wanted to see it. Nothing much to look at. A couple of rides and most likely a little more, but I saw it. Now that I've seen it, the greatness is gone.

Similarities between MB and the Smokey Mus.

• The shows. Establishments where people pay a good sum of money to watch people sing to other people's songs, dance, tell jokes, and other whatnot. Mostly older people go. I think I was one of the 10 people under the age of 40 who was at the packed crowd at the Carolina Opry. I think I would have hated the show had they not played a country song by Sara Evan (a current country singer where I believe I was the only person who knew the song by heart - my mom was clueless about it.)
• The outlet stores. Outlet stores are everywhere now. I live close to one infact. So for me to spend money at a store in MB or the Smokey Mts. is crazy.
• Entertainment for kids. For all those parents out there, you'll never be at lost to keep your kids entertained.
• The traffic. For being the off season, the traffic wasn't too bad. Beware of the summer though, I can tell you it's probably horrible. This is for both places.
• Dolly Parton. Yes, I said Dolly Parton. Ms. Parton (is she married) owns an establishment called Dixie Stampede (did I spell that correctly?) They are both in MB and the Mts. It's a dinner and a show where there are no utencils and you watching people ride horses and such. I saw the one in Mts. I didn't need to see it again.

I'm going to stop there. Somethings I just can't explain. It's after midnight and my creativity is all gone. I believe I'm even misspelling everything.