Ahhhh...wintering again in South Carolina. When we were at Myrtle Beach State Park last year for two weeks we learned that they had a "snowbird special" where you could actually stay for FOUR weeks during the off season, AND it was half price! Well given that we loved loved loved our time in this state park campground, we were totally all over that deal! Oh my goodness was it perfection! Aside for the fact that it was a little sad to be there without our pup (who we had to say goodbye to in November), we turned that sadness into productiveness and became walk-aholics (or Forrest Gumps if you will). So when people ask us what we "saw" in Myrtle Beach, the answer is pretty much - the State Park! Fellow campers would give us helpful hints about interesting museums or great restaurants or nearby historical places "not to miss"... Yeah, um, we pretty much only left the Park to go to the grocery store, or to the Post Office to pick up our mail! Oh, and I did go out to Starbucks to use their WiFi a couple of times (to upload pics for my previous blog post). Oh, and I DID go shopping at one of the outlets one day for about an hour or so. Other than that? Yeah, we walked! We walked on the beach, we walked on the boardwalk, we walked on the trails in the woods, we walked around the roads in the campground, we even walked to the grocery store a couple of times. Most days it was a combination of all of the above (minus the grocery store). Some days we were in t-shirts and a couple of days we had to whip out the winter coats to deal with the chilly winds. But the fresh air and the ocean air still felt good - and so we walked! And how much did we walk, you ask? Well, the bare minimum was 10,000 steps, but the usual was pretty much 14,000-20,000 steps a day for the month that we were there! The only non "double digit day" was a rainy day where I only managed to get 5,000 in between raindrops. So, anywhere between 5-10 miles a day is a safe assessment of our Gumping, or Gumpiness or Forresting!!!
There were a lot of other brilliant campers at Myrtle Beach who also took advantage of the snowbird special and we met some really nice people. It's always fun when you get to chat with people over extended periods of time. We also met some awesome dogs who really spoke to my heart. There was Tommy - who I had briefly met last year (and had been smitten with). I remember thinking of him as the adorable "Disney Dog"...He was red with bright white feet and chest and the most amazing black eyeliner and long black hairs that hung off his ears like earrings - he TOTALLY could be a star of a Disney film - both in personality and looks...and I swear I could make millions off this brainstorm if I knew the right people! I always had to stop by his campsite and chat with his fun folks, Gail and Bill (from Ohio), whenever I walked by. One of my highlights was getting to babysit Tommy when his parents drove to Fort Sumpter for the day. I got to take him for a bunch of walks and hang out with him at his trailer while reading my book. We had a blast together and I wore him out! I also kidnapped him on the rainy day when I was getting my exercise in between raindrops - he was only too happy to accompany me!
In the trailer behind us was a lovely young couple also from Ohio (surprisingly enough, not too far from where Tommy and his parents lived), who had two adorable corgis. Winnie and Leroy (said corgis) were a total hoot! I often met up with them on my walks in the trails and it was always a highlight of my day to bump into them because they (and I) became all sorts of excited and we had some great lovefests! And there was a couple near us from Quebec Canada who had 2 gorgeous Samoyeds. They actually worked as sled dogs and they were amazing specimens! Lucy was the "lead dog" and her bigger brother was part of the team. Dad walked them on type of gentle leader (a kind of leash that goes around the nose and almost looks like a muzzle). As I was loving on his pups he explained that if he were to put the leash on their backs - they would take off because they would think they were working!! Ok, enough about the dogs (although I could go on and on and if I had taken pics of all the doggy buddies I made I probably would...).
I loved the sights and sounds at Myrtle Beach. The sound of my feet on the boardwalk. The sounds of the crashing waves - whether they be up close or in the distance. The different birds singing in the wooded paths. The pelicans flying in formation low to the ground and dive-bombing in the water when something tasty appeared to their amazing vision. Watching the dolphins swim joyfully in the ocean. The jelly fish that scattered the beach some mornings. Getting a good look at a Great Egret (at least that's what I THINK it was - you can be the judge when you see the picture down below). Aside from the quiet beauty of nature, there were also lots of manmade sounds of airplane and helicopter noises, as the airport and military base are nearby. But that was kind of fun to look up and check out the different planes. I almost always saluted the military plans - not that they were looking down, but just in case!
Oh, I just realized that we DID in fact leave the Myrtle Beach area once for a vvverrryyy important visit! We drove to Southport, NC to meet up with one of our dear friends (from back in "The HOOD"). Our beloved neighbor Ellie was there with her sister and we couldn't NOT get a visit in! We had an amazing seafood dinner with wonderful company - unfortunately, I didn't take any damn pictures to document the happy outing...
Following our very enjoyable month at Myrtle we headed about 4 hrs south to Hunting Island State Park; another wonderful and, actually even more scenic, state park. For those of you with a good sense of geography, Hunting Island is just north of Hilton Head in SC. The palm trees were everywhere and we were even closer to the ocean than we'd been at Myrtle. This made it very easy to get up to watch the sunrise on the beach (which we did)! The walking options weren't as plentiful here - it was either on the beach; with the tide depending how far you could venture at certain times of the day, or around the campground. The beach was about 4 miles long and we walked down to the very old lighthouse on the days the tide allowed us to do so. Hunting Island has experienced a lot of erosion from Hurricane Irma but is still pretty beautiful. I was struck by the difference in the quality of the sand on the beach (as compared to Myrtle). And there were lots of different types of shells including lots and lots of sand dollars. The sand was much coarser here and there was a lot of nature's debris that would wash up with the tides.
One day there were these pink organ-looking things strewn around and I was a little freaked trying to figure out what they were. Well I got my answer a few days later when I visited the Nature Center and learned that they were "Sea Pork" or tunicates. When I returned to the trailer I immediately looked these babies up on line and learned that they "are considered one of the most evolved of all marine invertebrates. Proud members of the sea squirt family, these amorphous blobs are essentially little water pumps; pumping water in and out of the bodies and extracting nutrients along the way"...!!!! (insert emoji of my brain imploding on learning about THIS little phenomenon!!)... and when you see the pictures down below, you too, will appreciate the amazingness of good ole' Mother Nature!!!
One piece of nature that did NOT earn any of my respect were these little beyond PAINFUL spurs that were on the ground that if you stepped on them while barefoot or if they got in you sandal while walking - the pain was excruciating!!!! These little bastids which I totally un-lovingly donned "those bleepin' covid-looking thingies" (since they reminded me of the photos of the COVID-19 germ that we would see in the early days)...were the bane of my existence. I have included a picture of one of them in my hand while at Hunting Island. And I really cannot do justice to the pain that would sear up through my entire body whenever I landed on one of those suckers. Last year even our poor beloved Penny almost came up lame at Myrtle Beach when walking across a parking lot. I lifted her paw and found that tiny sucker imbedded in her paw pad and I uttered a few choice words towards little miss Mother Nature! I still don't know what they are, but they could totally be used as a secret weapon if you ever need to torture someone!! OK - I'll stop ranting now; but what's the purpose of creating a blog if you can't share the good, the bad and the ugly?...
One thing I will NOT rant about is the wonderful dogs that we have met along the way. At Hunting Island some of the highlights included Eloise the most adorable Pug who was always beyond excited to see me and got to ride around in a cart attached to her parent's bike, and Lily the very sweet and elderly neighbor who was living her best life (as Penny had). Eloise also had a "sister" which was a 21 year old African Grey Parrot named Sydney who could talk up a blue streak when the spirit moved her. I was really sad I didn't get Eloise's folk's contact info because I cried when I had to say goodbye to that adorable love bug and would've loved to have kept in touch with her folks. That is one of the difficult parts of this lifestyle - always having to be moving on and saying good-bye. Some people (and pups) really make an impact on the heart. And it is so nice to get to know people who are also out enjoying our beautiful country. We stay away from political talk or even focusing on any current events because we are enjoying nature and relaxing and experiencing the beauty of the world we live in.
Oh, and a bonus to our Hunting Island stay was that we got to meet up for lunch with a friend from back home who had relocated to Hilton Head. We had a lovely lunch with Patty and got to hear about her new life and reminisce about the good ole' days in Framingham while walking our pups on the aqueduct. At least I learned my lesson from NOT getting a picture with Ellie - I DID get the waitress to take a pic of us with Miss Patty!
In closing, I must say that I really love South Carolina and it's beaches. I'm a New England girl, so the ocean and its beauty and the sounds and smells are literally food for the soul! Since I'm not a big fan of being hot and sweaty, it really is a wonderful happy medium. And being exposed to Hunting Island was a good lesson for us because it reminds us that there is A LOT OF BEAUTY OUT THERE!! Here's to lots more explorations of this beautiful country we call home.,,
EDITOR'S NOTE: top 15 pics are from Myrtle Beach and the bottom pics are from our stay at Hunting Island.
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