I'm back.
We had a good trip to the South Carolina coast. There were no airport delays, because we went by Toyota. Just before leaving, we learned via TV news that a waterspout had come ashore in downtown Myrtle Beach. As you all know, a waterspout becomes a tornado when it comes ashore. It's sorta like magma becoming lava as soon as it flows to the surface. Same thing in a different place. The tornado was not kind to Myrtle beach. I didn't hear any reports of death or injury, but damage to trees and buildings was quite heavy. Campers and cars were battered and business was disrupted at the height of the tourist season. It was a hard financial hit for the area. Driving down Ocean Blvd., the air was filled with the smell of hot roofing tar as workers repaired damaged roofs. Trees were splintered and piles of debris were everywhere. We talked to one lady who said that shortly after the storm there were lines of damaged cars heading out of town. Apparently, many vacations were ruined.
Our vacation was great. We stayed at Surfside Beach, which is more or less a suburb to the south of Myrtle Beach. South Carolina still has great beaches. The weather was nice in the evenings and rather hot mid day, as you would expect. We were on the sixth floor of a hotel with a clear view of the beach and the nightly fireworks displays that went on from dusk to after midnight. Chris and his metal detector found over $2 in change as well as countless pull-tabs and chewing gum wrappers. Where have all the gold Spanish coins gone? He also found that sand castles that take hours to build will wash away in minutes. He liked body boarding, a popular South Carolina pastime.
In the Myrtle Beach area, they build shopping centers like Howard Hughes built airplanes. They defy discription.
My favorite seaside pastime, walking on the beach,
was somwhat curtailed by a swollen knee. That put me in the hot tub a lot, which is my second favorite seaside pastime. It also made the knee feel better.
The food was better-than-average fast food, for the most part. Naturally, we visited the pyramid-shaped Hard Rock Cafe. The food there was good, too, but I have enough T-shirts already.
Now I'm home. I hope I don't have too much trouble sleeping in a strange bed.
Howard