A Road Well Traveled

On the occasion of spending the last few days on the boat while it's still docked in Myrtle Beach at Grande Dunes Marina, I thought I would document for posterity the landmarks I always look for on this trip that I have made at least 25 times in the past year. (Sidenote: this is the BEST route to get to Myrtle Beach from Charlotte!)

I didn't start taking pictures until after I was about 45 minutes underway. The route I take from the house starts on I-485 to Highway 218, or as my Mom calls it, "that damn 218" - which, without fail, always goes through my mind when I'm getting on that road. A lot in the same way whenever I am coming home from a trip I always think about what she always said on our way home from a trip when I was a kid, "well, I hope the house is still standing...". Anyhow, 218 is a curvy road and I guess she always hit it after dark or in the rain.

From 218 turn right on Highway 601 South. Follow 601 into Monroe (go ahead and say it like a native: MUN-row). Take the exit onto Highway 74 East for about 4 miles, then get in the right hand lane AFTER Carolinas Medical Center Union, otherwise you end up in their parking lot.

At this point, I believe you're on 601 again. Take 601 South for about an hour and some change. You will cross into South Carolina on the outskirts of Pageland. While you're there, stop for a $.99 Cold Beer at the Thank Ya Now! Saloon across from the Wal-Mart distribution center. The first of my major landmarks, although I've never actually stopped for a Beer at Thank Ya Now!, I've always wanted to.



In the heart of Pageland you have a choice: take Highway 9 - which, after 50 small towns and equally as many 25 mph zones, you will arrive in N.Myrtle Beach in approximately 4.5 hours. OR you can continue on my route and keep going straight.



Somewhere around here 601 has become Highway 151. Welcome to the south, where roads change names often and without notice. So we'll continue on 151 to our next town, Jefferson. On the right we'll see the Conbraco Plant, which is a shiny factory that manufactures brass foundry components. I didn't know this until just now when I googled it, but the Conbraco plant is a landmark because it sits there like a fortress surrounded by a seemingly out of place cast iron fence. There are always geese or ducks on their grounds enjoying the pond out front, so maybe the fence is there to keep the water fowl from getting hit by cars.



Then you'll drive through a bit of country... notice that it's still pretty hilly. This is what's called the "sand hills" part of the Piedmont of the Carolinas.



Start slowing down, because we're passing through Jefferson next. A notorius speed trap for beach-goers, this one cow town has a "General Store" that I've never, not once, seen more than 2 cars there. Ever. half the time it doesn't even appear to be open.



Another 10 minutes or so and we begin our approach to McBee, SC. Uh, that's MAC (like Mac-caroni and cheese) -BEE ... MAC-BEE for non-natives. You'll know you're getting close when you spot the interesting water tower:


That's Alligator Water. It's the name of their water utility in the area. What's with all the alligators lately??

Now if you didn't learn your lesson in Jefferson, you REALLY need to slow down in McBee. The ominous giant finger pointing directly at you - looming - reminding you to WATCH YOUR SPEED!



We quickly go from 60, to 50, to 35 (right about now, after passing the old house boat on a trailer that has been parked here for AT LEAST 2 years without ever moving...


...Til you get into town, where you then must slow down (you may opt to jump out and run alongside your car at this point) to 25.



There is CLEARLY so much activity in this town that warrants a 25 mph speed limit.



Once we get back up to 55, we soon come upon McLeod Farms. Now these folks definitely did not just fall off the turnip truck. Their marketing department is first rate - and I'm not even kidding. Each growing season they have big, bright, beautiful signs for miles in either direction alerting vacationers of what's in season on the farm, whether it's strawberries, peaches, blackberries or watermelon for sale in their spiffy road side gift shop. I was trying to take a picture of the peach orchards in full bloom, but was having trouble with my camera keeping up with my speed. But I still like the shot I got. The faint rainbow was a bonus!



Next up is Hartsville. We count the hospital as the official half-way mark, and we tend to stop just here for the cheapest gas on the entire route at the "Markette". I suppose they are fancier than your traditional "Market" because you can enjoy a Balogna, Egg and Cheese Biscuit while checking your email on their free Wi-Fi! NICE TOUCH! I'm really not making fun. They always have cheap gas and clean restrooms. They do a good job and I always appreciate it.



Shortly after Hartsville we transition into the greater Darlington area. Home of the world famous Darlington Dirt Track, Drag Strip and Raceway.



Now we're coming up to the most tricky part of our route. We'll take I-95 for only about 6 miles. But this is the confusing part. On this route, we'll go north to go south, or go south to go north. It's counter intuitive, but that's how you remember it. So when you see this sign, will you go towards Fayetteville or Savannah?



If you said Savannah, you'll have to turn around. So we're on 95 NORTH, and we'll get off on Highway 327, towards Florence and Marion. Lots of forks in the road on this trip. Keep right at most forks.



We'll take 327 until we get to 76/301/501 - about 4 miles to the major intersection. Turn left at the light, and continue towards Marion. Pass Francis Marion University. Traffic will speed up significantly when you get to the bridges. Enjoy it, besides 95, this is probably the fastest you'll go.



Then pass "the town in the middle of the road". I have no idea what it's really called, maybe "Midway"?



Moving on, there's a fork in the road at the Beneteau boat factory, makers of some of the finest sailboats and now, powerboats, in the world.



Then of course there's SPARKY'S! Fireworks & Gift Shop. Here you can stop for gas and and ice cream cone, a hermit crab, a Dixie flag, and any number of redneck bumper stickers, t-shirts, belt buckles and beer coozies. I've been inside once - out of pure curiosity. The place stinks like dirty hermit crab cages throughout. I was greatly disappointed.



The last leg of the trip is on 501 through a town called Aynor - which makes me think of "anal" every time I pass through it. Yuckeroo. Then onto Highway 22, which ends up right in Myrtle Beach.



There are a couple of miles where all you see are the charred trees from the April forest fire, but I'm happy to report that the ground cover has already come back in a bright, healthy green.


By the way, that's a bug smear on my windshield, not a random plume of smoke.

Following Highway 17 past restaurant row and our favorite All-U-Can-Eat buffet "The Original Benjamin's" where you're met at the door by an imposing pirate, then seated among hundreds of tourists getting their $25 worth of crab legs and fried seafood. It's actually pretty good food, and their hush puppies are TO DIE FOR.



Then at last we arrive at Grande Dunes and the Marina Inn, down the hill, past Ruth's Chris, and into the parking lot in front of "C Dock". Without fail, it always made my heart pound to arrive at the dock. It's an overwhelming joy. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

The Great Fire of 2009

In late April around the 22nd, a major forest fire broke out in Horry County, South Carolina. It burned 20,000 acres and 76 homes in the vicinity of Myrtle Beach. We watched with great concern as sketchy news reports came out of SC on the Charlotte news, and checked for updates on the Myrtle Beach TV stations' websites because the fire spread so quickly and was at several points VERY close to the marina and our boat.



After the first couple of days we were sure the marina was untouched, but had heard from my Mom that the home of some of her friends who lived in the Barefoot Landing area had burned to the ground. A few days later another friend of hers emailed some pictures that were taken from the bridge at Grande Dunes, which we can see clearly from the vantage point of the boat. I am SO GLAD we didn't see these pictures until well after we were sure the boat was fine. A hurricane is one thing, but a fire at a marina is quite another.

Spring Round Up Part II: May

The month of May started with a CRUNCH. Every time we were outside we heard a bizarre crunching and chewing sound. At first we thought we had been attacked by billions of termites but fortunately termites were not the problem. We observed that the majority of the leaves on the trees around the house and in the yard (all 4 heavily wooded acres)were being eaten alive.



About a week before we started hearing the chewing we watched in wonder off the front porch there were many, many spider web-like silk strings wrapping the porch. Attached to these little silk strings were tiny - I mean TINY - green inch worm looking creatures that were obviously spinning these silks and invading the yard, but they were so tiny we didn't think too much of them, except for the fact that they were everywhere - I even found one in my car.

But back to the chewing...Those tiny little green inch worms quickly matured into larger, fatter, green and brown striped caterpillars, and in about a week's time chewed through the vast majority of the leaves in our trees, leaving the trees looking sadly ragged and tattered.



Here's one of the little buggers:



Like anything that eats, these little creatures also poop. So not only did we have the chewing sound and the tattered leaves, we also had tiny bits of leaves, dead leaves and caterpillar poop EVERYWHERE.



It reminded me of the hundreds of minuscule black dots of spider poop that we've experienced when the boat was stored at a covered dock. But unlike spider poop, when you step in/on caterpillar poop it crunches, whereas spider poop only stains.

Finally after about 2 weeks of this, the bazillions of tiny mouths to feed apparently had their fill and the eerie chewing sounds stopped.

Feeling like a scientist though, inspired me to snap a few more pictures of creatures I found around the house during those weeks. Two of the finest specimens were these:



First, a hearty yet rare (never seen one like this before) flowering weed, which I can only assume is part of the dandelion family based on its leaves - despite the reddish-purplish colored bloom. It was about a foot tall and very spiny.

Next, a freakishly large dragon fly that was almost 5 inches long with a 5 inch wing span.



He stood still long enough for me to thoroughly photograph his interesting physical features. These are the best shots...




A face only a mother could love!



Speaking of Mothers... May 10 was Mother's Day and I spent the night a Mom's and took her for a white-tablecloth dinner at a cute but VERY old-school Myrtle Beach restaurant called Chestnut Hill. The food was pretty good (the salad was delish with their house dressing - a honey-lime concoction), the service was pretty good and we got there in time for the Early-Bird menu, which was a big bonus. We didn't have any pictures of us taken, or of the food, but I did snap a couple of pictures of one of the servers who put on quite a funny a show outside, tossing muffins to a small alligator and his turtle companions to the delight of the tourists and other Mother's Day patrons.





May 10 was also my sister Ele's birthday. She and her little family spent the day in Raleigh and had lunch with my brother-in-law's family, including his 90+ Grandmother. Apparently Ele felt a little cheated out of having the day all to herself, but I think she finally got over it when they were invited to join some friends of theirs on a spur of the moment beach trip, and stayed in a fabulous beach house for a few days.





Happy Belated Birthday!

The next weekend I got to spend time with my Arpa Girls - Mary flew in from Detroit and Amy drove down from DC, so along with Nicole, Tina and Amy's sister Rebecca we dined at Mez and then hopped around the Epicentre for a few more drinks and a lot of laughs!



The only other picture I got from the evening was of the clean up crew at Howl At The Moon - dealing with the aftermath of a too-drunk patron who threw up RIGHT NEXT TO US on the balcony, who then proceeded to clean herself up in the bathroom, changed into a H.A.T.M. t-shirt so she could enjoy the rest of her night. (!!!)



Besides that, the other highlight of that particular bar was the restroom attendant. First, that place does NOT warrant an attendant - it's like having an attendant at TGI Fridays. But as soon as you stepped out of your stall and headed for the sink to wash your hands, she "offered" soap. Then she "offered" a paper towel. Then, and this was the best - she said to EACH PERSON - "Have a blessed night!". I wanted to say to her, "THIS IS A BAR. People are not thinking about having a "blessed night". They want to have a DRUNK night." I restrained myself, but could not bring myself to TIP her. I mean, really. REALLY?!

The next day was Sunday, and I dove head first into the final preparations for hosting the Charlotte Chapter of NACE (National Association of Catering Executives) May Meeting at Ice Sensations. My main objective was to have 10-12 of our best ice photos printed poster-size, then framed and hung in the front offices of the shop. By the skin of my teeth I got them done, and they looked FANTASTIC!!! In addition to the large format prints, I also hung a whole slew of framed 8x10's as well as swept up mountains of dirt and general trash (it IS a warehouse...) and Gary and his guys REALLY came through and cleaned the shop up to a remarkably presentable result!

So on Monday May 18 we had about 60 guests over for a Low Country Shrimp Boil feast - EXPERTLY catered by the AWESOME Chef Gracie Young of Triple Crown Caterers and her very professional team, headed by her event planner Chris (pictured below).



We set up a mini "ice lounge" in the big freezer, replete ice bar and liquor luge with a club chair and a few cocktail tables. Great lighting, great logos, great furry white rug!



The big piece above (with Chris) was used to showcase Chef Gracie's tasty cold soups - a mango & cucumber combination, as well as a curry concoction.



She also served smoked salmon wraps and a mahi mahi appetizer, which we showcased in a large piece with cute little cubby holes for individual servings. No pictures of that, unfortunately, because G & I both had too many of the blue margaritas being served in the ice lounge. : (

For dinner Gracie pulled out all the stops with perfectly seasoned shrimp, kebasa sausage and corn stew served in galvanized tubs family style on adorable picnic tables decked out in blue and white checked cloths, each with a special ice centerpiece.



It was SUCH a triumphant evening - and Gary and I hammed it up a little during his presentation to the group about all the uses for ice, how to go about ordering ice, and how we can customize anything they could dream up. It was also great to see a bunch of old friends - these were all "my people" from my days as hotel-caterer-extraordinaire!

The rest of May has been spent cleaning and clearing out the house of all "clutter" - in order to stage it for potential buyers. Yes - we are putting the house on the market IF IT KILLS ME! Room by room I have cleaned and cleared the middle floor. I still have upstairs and downstairs to go (downstairs being the most daunting) - but the house looks amazingly good, and Gary even painted the front foyer... FINALLY ridding us of the circa 1980's floral wallpaper that has adorned the walls of 12808 for WAY TOO LONG. Although now we have the complete opposite of the busy-ness of the wallpaper with a fresh coat (or 4) of very boring vanilla paint. Our listing agent and his wife came over for a walk-through to help me get a punch list going, and this was at the top. So we're feeling pretty good about the progress. Now bring on the BUYERS!

Coming up - I plan to post more regularly again, and have another HUGE project to document. We're moving the boat from the luxurious marina at the beach to a new home on Lake Norman. That's happening on Monday through Wednesday of next week and I'll blog the whole thing. It's a MAJOR deal. While I am excited to get to explore and rediscover the lake of my childhood boating adventures with my family, I will desperately miss the fine living I've enjoyed at the marina at the beach. Stay tuned!

Spring Round Up Part I: What happened to April?!

After over a month's hiatus in blogging, my brain can't hold any more in. I've been in a writing funk. I've had tons of stuff going on, but just couldn't be bothered to put it on paper. To my detriment really, because I get a lot of satisfaction from blogging. It's a lot like my exercise routine. I love the way I feel after a good work out, but it's the getting on the treadmill that's the hardest. I know this intellectually, I just have a really hard time getting started. It's such a pain to be this way. I wish I were different. But it is what it is, and here I am.
So what's been going on?

Let's see, we'll have to go back to the last post which was...holy crap - April 17. That's over a month ago. Since my calendar is not at my fingertips, I have to scroll back through the photos on my camera to see what I was up to in April and May, because a lot has happened in the past 2 (alomst 3)months...

In early April Gary and I accompanied his middle daughter to a cheerleading competition at the beach. It was our second attempt at one of these. Suffice to say we are not exactly the best "cheer parents". Finding ourselves in the wrong auditorium on day 1 and missing her group altogether, yet watching HUNDREDS of other kids to deafening music and horrendous acoustics. When we finally realized we were in the wrong auditorium we made a bit of a scene with the organizers demanding our money back due to their lack of decent signage and missing seeing her performance.



Day 2 wasn't much better. We sat through numerous performances with the same eardrum bursting music, waded through hundreds of tiny girls decked out in day-glow glitter, barely there short skirts and big bows tied in their hair - and G's daughter's group only got like fifth place, and she cried and sulked the entire ride home. What fun!

Next up was a trip to North Georgia for an ice delivery I went on with Gary. The resort we delivered to is called Brasstown Valley. It's about a 4 hour drive from Charlotte, so I went along to keep G company. After making the drop, we drove on another half-hour to a touristy mountain town called Helen, Georgia. The town is like a Gatlinburg, but not quite as commercial and has a more homogeneous look with all the buildings made to look like a German (Austrian?) village.



It was cute enough, and we walked around, had a decent but expensive-for-what-it-was lunch at this German eatery, and sat on the balcony in the brisk spring air. It was a pretty day and I did get a souvenir cream pitcher in the shape of a cow with delicate blue detailing on her face and sides. I've always wanted one.

Next was a weekend visit from my dear friends Vickie and Walt from Baltimore! Vickie and I were on the Baltimore NACE board together, and her husband (of 25 years) Walt came to lots of NACE functions and we got to know each other over the 4 years I was there. They are the GREATEST! They were on their way south, driving to Florida from Baltimore and Charlotte was a good mid-point. Sooooooo nice to have old friends visit!



We had a great dinner at Zink in downtown Charlotte, then walked over to Charlotte's see-and-be-seen-wannabe bar Mez, which we found to be very crowded, but found some cozy sofa seating outside on the balcony at a table with a fire pit in the center to keep our extremities warm.

We took pedi-cabs on the way back to the hotel where Vickie & Walt were staying (my old Marriott City Center). We squealed like little kids that the drivers RACE - so these poor guys pedalled their hearts out. In the end, Walt jumped out of their cab and pushed it up Trade Street between College and Tryon. So not only were the drivers about to pass out from the exersion, I was afraid that had done Walt in - but he was impressive!!! Here's Walt running on the sidewalk trying to catch up with the pedi-cab he had just pushed up the hill...



And here's Vickie and her driver at the finish line!



Our poor driver, who pedalled SO HARD bless his heart on the skinniest legs I've just about ever seen - I swear looked like he was about to have a stroke when he let us out. I didn't get a picture of him (or us) but I'm sure he'd run the other way if he ever saw us again!

The next day was Easter Sunday, and we went to the most wacked-out Easter service I've ever been to. Along with the three daughters, the ex-wife, her husband, and Grandma, we went to Verizon Amphitheater for the girls' mega-church's service. It was basically a 2-hour Christian Rock concert (a type of music which I loathe) with a 20 minute sermon in the middle.



Admittedly, the sermon was good - but I just don't *get* the whole "casual church" thing. The minister looked like he was going bowling after. I haven't attended church regularly in some time - I am someone who doesn't believe you have to be inside a church to feel divine presence - but if I'm going to go to church, I want to see everyone in their Sunday best, respectful of the institution. Call me old fashioned, narrow minded, whatever. I don't care. I feel like the "casual church" is filled with more propaganda than any other. It's like they use the casual dress to lure you into their cult, then bombard you with all these modern messages through their "rock" music and make it "cool" to be at church. Church isn't supposed to be "cool". Church is supposed to be church. Anyway, I won't be doing that again.

Right about then the yard peaked with all the Azaleas and dogwoods.



This gargantuan bush exploded with white blossoms and looked like a giant snowball!!



Shortly after Easter we were paid a visit by our good friend Aaron from Ohio. Aaron's wife Sarah couldn't make the trip due to her INSANE schedule at home. We missed her something terrible!! - but we did manage to have a good time with the solo-flying Aaron. He's in the ice business and competes globally. He won the gold medal for Ice Sculpting at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. It's not a sporting event, but at each Winter Olympics they have the "Olympic Arts" competition.

Aaron's a really cool cat and he and Gary really are a lot alike in so many ways, but especially in the way they think about things. They are constantly bouncing ideas off each other with only the smallest amount of ego getting in here and there. He stayed with us while he attended the American Culinary Federation's southeast regional conference, then we took a few days to go down to the boat, then back to Charlotte where he gave a great seminar to about 2o folks at the shop.



Down at the beach Aaron and Gary did a bunch of jet skiing. I got in a little riding, but it wasn't nearly as high on priority list as it was theirs. Getting the jet skis in the water at the boat is a royal PAIN because the marina doesn't have a ramp. We have to drive about 8 miles (in either direction) to put in at various public ramps. They are usually located under highway overpasses. This one is down at Socastee - I kinda like the perspective.



On one of their jet ski jaunts, they came across a large alligator in the waterway. It was a pretty exciting spotting for Aaron, who hadn't seen an alligator close up on jet skis before! So on the last day before heading back to Charlotte we stopped at a Myrtle Beach attraction that I've never been to, but Gary insisted we get a little more alligator spotting under our belts.



We saw all sorts of alligators, including this one which is about the same age as Gary! He was HUGE!!! A magnificent creature indeed!



We watched a feeding frenzy, as the handlers flung cut up raw chicken out for the gators to gobble up. We also saw a pair of rare albino gators imported (rescued)from Thailand I believe. They have to stay out of direct sunlight because of their sensitive skin.



As for me, I had a great time just hanging out with "the guys".

All in all, seems like quite a lot happened in April! More to come with the May update...