Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

October 31, - November 22, 2009

Lakewood Camping Resort

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Warmth and sunshine...that's what it's all about! After a cold, drizzly trip here, we arrived in Myrtle Beach to find temps in the 70's and the sun shining bright. We're here at Lakewood Camping Resort and our site is just over the dune from a beautiful stretch of South Carolina coastline.

So glad the weather started out so nice as week two found us "suffering" from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. We didn't have the same problems as they had north of here in Virginia Beach, but we did have rain that didn't stop and wind gusts that forced us to close the slides for a couple of hours one night!! Like most sites that aren't asphalt or stone, though, we have to contend with muddy puddles when it rains and that doesn't help the light carpet in the coach when Barney has to go in and out no matter what the weather.

We met Susan and Bob here (we're happy to say you'll be seeing a lot of them this winter). We've shared the obligatory "shopping" trips to Broadway on the Beach, Market Common, Barefoot Landing, Tanger Outlets and the Coastal Mall. And, of course, we had to go to River City Cafe on 21st Avenue (you Hopedale-Myrtle Beach guys will remember that place!) for some burgers! We also celebrated Susan's "??" birthday with dinner at her favorite Italian restaurant, Villa Romana.

We spent an absolutely picture-perfect day playing golf at Wicked Stick. The course wasn't in the greatest shape...very, very muddy. It was either from the rain we had last week from Ida or they're watering a lot while overseeding. Either way, it didn't make for good golf.

So, we're waiting to tee off and meet our playing partners, Bud and Jean. Of course, the first question is always "Where are you from?"

Were we surprised when they said Massachusetts. They live and play golf at Bay Pointe Country Club in Wareham. Jean lived in Sandwich for many, many years, so we spent a lot of time comparing notes about Cape Cod. We had a lot of fun and hope we can get together sometime back home!!

Most of our time here at the beach, Ken has found his favorite pasttime is surf fishing. He spends a lot of time down by the water listening to the surf and waiting for a bite. So far we haven't had any fish for dinner or even for "throwing back into the sea", but we're going through a lot of bait!!!

We also took out chairs down to the beach every nice evening to relax and listen to the waves. That coffee cup in front of Ken is not, by the way, filled with coffee!

Got a nice e-mail this week from my cousin, John Storry, from Norway. He has spent a lot of time working on a family tree, covering both the Storrys from the USA as well as Norway. Makes for very interesting reading...never realized my family was so big! And, this blog has now gone international as John will also be keeping up with our travels.

Our last day at Lakewood we played golf at River Oaks Country Club. Because I have spent so much time away from our travel routine, I forgot the camera for our usual picture of the course sign. That should have given us an idea of how things were going to go for the rest of the day. The course was in better condition than Wicked Stick but still very, very wet and as the day went along, the wind picked up and it got colder and colder and our games got worser and worser; but, we had a good time. We really do enjoy playing golf.

Next stop is 40 miles north to one of our favorite resorts, Willow Tree in Longs, South Carolina, where we will spend Thanksgiving with Susan and Bob. More to follow.....