SOUTH CAROLINA SUMMARY

Day 1 - My flight landed in the early evening. We headed to a restaurant along the intracoastal, watched the passing boats and had pizza and fried pickles!

Day 2 - We took a morning walk to the intracoastal, then drove out to New South brewing for some delicious beers. Afterwards, we strolled along the Myrtle Beach boardwalk. It began to rain so we conveniently took cover in Grand Strand where we did a flight of tasters.

Day 3 - Today began with a visit to Huntington Beach State Park. Here we saw alligators, wandered through the slowly decaying Atalaya Castle (the winter home of Archer and Anna Huntington, built in 1930), and enjoyed a wide variety of birds in the salt marsh. Our visit to Brookgreen Gardens was split between the zoo and the sculpture garden. We finished the day with a pier walk at Murrells Inlet.

Day 4 - At Vereen Gardens, we explored a marsh along the intracoastal. It was low tide so we could wander the shell-filled beach. We then popped briefly over the border into North Carolina where we (unsuccessfully) looked for more gators by a golf course! Back in North Myrtle Beach, we did a tasting at Duplin Winery with its absolutely spectacular sweet wines... and wine slushies! We then strolled around the shops of Barefoot Landing.

Day 5 - We did a big walk around the N. Myrtle Beach sports park, stopping to say hi to the multitude of turtles. We followed this up with a long beach walk at Cherry Grove.... and another slushie at Duplin!

Day 6 - From Cherry Grove, we kayaked down House Creek to Waites Island, where the river dumps into the ocean. We got to explore a bit before paddling back.

Day 7 - We walked around the Lighthouse marina before heading over to Broadway on the Beach, an outdoor mall and amusement park. We stopped by Duplin for a glass of wine then enjoyed a long walk on the beach.

Day 8 - In the morning, we visited the Horry County Museum, which was filled with all sorts of history of the area. We spent my last afternoon on the beach again before I had to catch my evening flight home.