Plenty of Sun, Lots of Fun: Perfect Days in Myrtle Beach
Author: Stan Deatherage | Published: May 27th, 2011
As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I travel to this not-so-distant beach destination year round, and each season, there is always a good time for the active traveler, the sand and foam enthusiast.
As I have previously reported, I spend many 4-day weekends away at the beach in the autumn and winter, when the rates are lower and the folks are sparse in company. This last trip, I spent 3 days in Myrtle Beach. In the very late spring of early June, and it was the best of both worlds: Sunny and warm enough to swim, and the heavy summer crowds had not shown up as of yet.
Our stay at the South Beach timeshare anchored this short trip. I booked a week in a comfortable studio, with me and my wife staying 3 days, with my two youngest children filling out the week in our stead. I would have loved to stay, but I do have my work.
The Breezes Beach Club giving their guests access to the Beach, with swimming pool: Above. From atop the South Beach Breezes Club, we look southeast toward the jet ski competition component of the Sun Fun Festival.
On this short trip, we stayed close to our temporary domicile, and partook of the activities that were within walking distance. Our beach respite began June 4, in which we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Myrtle Beach sponsored Sun Fun Festival.
From atop the Breezes club, we take a zoomed in look at the Jet Ski Competition near the Springmaid Pier: Above. The competitors readying their craft for the competition: Below #1, the racing roar of the jet ski - below #2.
Those rowdy riders of the waves: Above and below.
The Sun Fun Festival buffeted the South Beach resort on two sides, both within walking distances, and occasional earshot. On the Beach, just a few hundred paces from the South Beach Breezes Club - the beach access point for the guests of the resort - there the Jet Ski competition segment of the Sun Fun Festival was held. About two miles from the resort up Farrow Parkway, located at the Crabtree Gym and Recreation area just across the parkway from Market Commons (mixed used development), was the ground version of the festival at sea. Here, set up on the expansive green-space next to the manmade lake was the stage for the long list of acts, the concession vendors, and the children’s play stations.
While the children enjoyed their social interaction with those of their own diminutive community, and close by their congregated horde, stood the stage, where the regional and national acts played that Friday night, June 4th, and all evening June 5th. Friday evening, before a sparse crowd upon that green-space, there played upon that stage: The Castaways, a shagging and beach music band; and Too Much Sylvia, mostly a Four Seasons cover band.
The crowd waits for the Uncle Kracker show upon the green-space of the Crabtree Gym Recreation Area: Above. Uncle Kracker: Below.
Saturday’s musical lineup was a bit more serious in elevating the level of talent to that of national act Uncle Kracker from Detroit. Kracker played tunes from Kenny Rogers’s anthem, “The Gambler” to the mischievous Uncle’s own most current “Good to be me.” It was a good show until the rain, which also cut short the fire works which was to punctuate the Sun Fun Festival.
%ENDPAGE%
Since our accommodation was a Studio, we ate out one meal, maybe two meals a day. Every evening, we ate at Gordon Biersch. I probably should inject more diversity in my life, but I wanted to try every item on their happy hour menu, and sample every specialty beer, with their one dollar happy hour discount. It was all delicious; especially the Asian Shrimp and the Middle-Eastern Tapas. - a rousing complement to the beer.
Market Commons is about 2 miles from the South Beach Timeshare Resort, and is a welcome change from the salt and the sand. View along one the streets of the mixed-use development: Above. The scenic Farrow Parkway, connecting Hwy. 17 business with Hwy. 17 bypass is named for Lt. William Glover Farrow. The entire development, along with other residential subdivisions, the Crabtree Gym recreation area, and other new commercial developments in contained within what was the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. This huge tract of land was sold to the City of Myrtle Beach and other developers when the U.S. Department of Defense closed the base in the early 1990's. Market Commons has named all of their streets and common spaces for the U.S. Air Force heroes that have served this great nation. Read the plaque dedicated to Lt. Farrow to understand developers' patriotic motives: Below #1, the building housing Gordon Biersch - below #2.
Before we left Myrtle Beach late that evening, we visited the Burroughs and Chapin Art Museum to witness an expression of Gullah art through quilts made by the natives of the far eastern island of South Carolina. These many quilts hanging throughout the seaside, first floor galleries of the art center exhibited the resourcefulness of the low income people of that region that have traditionally used what was available to construct the perfect apparatus to their families warm at night. The last quilt handed down to me by my great aunt, Hallie Cutler, was used up a few years ago. Man, we loved that quilt. Today it would be considered art.
The Gullah quilts are a colorful representation of resorcefulness. Loretta Bennett completed this denim inspired quilt: Above. Rita Mae Pettway sewed these pastel patterns to achieve this colorful quilt: Below.
Outside of my last meal at the beach at the aforementioned Gordon Biersch, my son, Stanhope, and I did something we haven’t done in a while - throw and catch the football on the beach. It was windy, and I have not thrown in some time, so I really had to put my arm in it to effect the desired spiral and arc. Stanhope can catch about anything within reasonable proximity, so he generally always makes me look reasonably good. And, the long swim in the unseasonably warm ocean was well deserved and therapeutic.
A swim in the pools at South Beach: The Breezes Club above, the Club House Pool - below #1, the Lazy River - below #2, the central pool with tiki bar - below #3.
So that was the nature of this chapter of the Myrtle Beach getaway. Plenty of sun, lots of sun, eating out, drinking beer, fully immersed in the in the water in the many pools of South Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gullah quilts to remind us of a different time, when country folks were resourceful and made stuff, and more overall just another sack of memories for me and my wife. You just got to getaway when you can.
This article is provided courtesy of our sister site: Better Travelers Now.
%ENDPAGE%
As I have previously reported, I spend many 4-day weekends away at the beach in the autumn and winter, when the rates are lower and the folks are sparse in company. This last trip, I spent 3 days in Myrtle Beach. In the very late spring of early June, and it was the best of both worlds: Sunny and warm enough to swim, and the heavy summer crowds had not shown up as of yet.
Our stay at the South Beach timeshare anchored this short trip. I booked a week in a comfortable studio, with me and my wife staying 3 days, with my two youngest children filling out the week in our stead. I would have loved to stay, but I do have my work.
The Breezes Beach Club giving their guests access to the Beach, with swimming pool: Above. From atop the South Beach Breezes Club, we look southeast toward the jet ski competition component of the Sun Fun Festival.
On this short trip, we stayed close to our temporary domicile, and partook of the activities that were within walking distance. Our beach respite began June 4, in which we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Myrtle Beach sponsored Sun Fun Festival.
From atop the Breezes club, we take a zoomed in look at the Jet Ski Competition near the Springmaid Pier: Above. The competitors readying their craft for the competition: Below #1, the racing roar of the jet ski - below #2.
Those rowdy riders of the waves: Above and below.
The Sun Fun Festival buffeted the South Beach resort on two sides, both within walking distances, and occasional earshot. On the Beach, just a few hundred paces from the South Beach Breezes Club - the beach access point for the guests of the resort - there the Jet Ski competition segment of the Sun Fun Festival was held. About two miles from the resort up Farrow Parkway, located at the Crabtree Gym and Recreation area just across the parkway from Market Commons (mixed used development), was the ground version of the festival at sea. Here, set up on the expansive green-space next to the manmade lake was the stage for the long list of acts, the concession vendors, and the children’s play stations.
While the children enjoyed their social interaction with those of their own diminutive community, and close by their congregated horde, stood the stage, where the regional and national acts played that Friday night, June 4th, and all evening June 5th. Friday evening, before a sparse crowd upon that green-space, there played upon that stage: The Castaways, a shagging and beach music band; and Too Much Sylvia, mostly a Four Seasons cover band.
The crowd waits for the Uncle Kracker show upon the green-space of the Crabtree Gym Recreation Area: Above. Uncle Kracker: Below.
Saturday’s musical lineup was a bit more serious in elevating the level of talent to that of national act Uncle Kracker from Detroit. Kracker played tunes from Kenny Rogers’s anthem, “The Gambler” to the mischievous Uncle’s own most current “Good to be me.” It was a good show until the rain, which also cut short the fire works which was to punctuate the Sun Fun Festival.
Market Commons is about 2 miles from the South Beach Timeshare Resort, and is a welcome change from the salt and the sand. View along one the streets of the mixed-use development: Above. The scenic Farrow Parkway, connecting Hwy. 17 business with Hwy. 17 bypass is named for Lt. William Glover Farrow. The entire development, along with other residential subdivisions, the Crabtree Gym recreation area, and other new commercial developments in contained within what was the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. This huge tract of land was sold to the City of Myrtle Beach and other developers when the U.S. Department of Defense closed the base in the early 1990's. Market Commons has named all of their streets and common spaces for the U.S. Air Force heroes that have served this great nation. Read the plaque dedicated to Lt. Farrow to understand developers' patriotic motives: Below #1, the building housing Gordon Biersch - below #2.
Before we left Myrtle Beach late that evening, we visited the Burroughs and Chapin Art Museum to witness an expression of Gullah art through quilts made by the natives of the far eastern island of South Carolina. These many quilts hanging throughout the seaside, first floor galleries of the art center exhibited the resourcefulness of the low income people of that region that have traditionally used what was available to construct the perfect apparatus to their families warm at night. The last quilt handed down to me by my great aunt, Hallie Cutler, was used up a few years ago. Man, we loved that quilt. Today it would be considered art.
The Gullah quilts are a colorful representation of resorcefulness. Loretta Bennett completed this denim inspired quilt: Above. Rita Mae Pettway sewed these pastel patterns to achieve this colorful quilt: Below.
Outside of my last meal at the beach at the aforementioned Gordon Biersch, my son, Stanhope, and I did something we haven’t done in a while - throw and catch the football on the beach. It was windy, and I have not thrown in some time, so I really had to put my arm in it to effect the desired spiral and arc. Stanhope can catch about anything within reasonable proximity, so he generally always makes me look reasonably good. And, the long swim in the unseasonably warm ocean was well deserved and therapeutic.
A swim in the pools at South Beach: The Breezes Club above, the Club House Pool - below #1, the Lazy River - below #2, the central pool with tiki bar - below #3.
So that was the nature of this chapter of the Myrtle Beach getaway. Plenty of sun, lots of sun, eating out, drinking beer, fully immersed in the in the water in the many pools of South Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gullah quilts to remind us of a different time, when country folks were resourceful and made stuff, and more overall just another sack of memories for me and my wife. You just got to getaway when you can.
This article is provided courtesy of our sister site: Better Travelers Now.
*You must be logged in in order to leave a comment!