Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - Myrtle Beach

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Myrtle Beach
Brookgreen Gardens

Last evening we drove over to the dunes located within the campground pulled out our beach chairs and watched the tide go out. The beach was totally ours except for a crab who was feasting on a dead jellyfish. The night was beautiful and the air warm and breezy. We are always amazed at how we love to sit by the ocean but never do when we are at home. I think it is because when it is beach season in New England the crowds are too much to handle. We love the solitude and quiet we experience when we are traveling during the shoulder season.

The campground is land that the state leases from the Huntington family estate, owners of Brookgreen. The home that the Huntington’s lived in is located facing the ocean a short distance from where we were sitting on the beach. Normally there are tours but as luck would have it they have started a renovation so as of 5/12/08 tours have been discontinued. We poked around the building anyway but never did get inside. It is a one-story 200 by 200 foot structure that is architecturally unattractive.
Mr. Huntington designed the home himself.

This morning we hooked up and drove back to Brookgreen to complete our tour. There were several sculpture displays that we had missed, a walking trail and an animal show. Again the sculptures were exquisite. The nature trail traversed through old rice fields that produced 51% of the rice sold in the US. Eventually the rice fields were abandoned because they were too labor intensive. They had been manned by the salves with an intense workload and little expenditure. After slavery was abolished the production of rice became too expensive.

The “Meet the Animals” show was cute. There was an adorable possum with cross-eyes who was quite active despite the ranger reporting that possum’s are very lazy.
She also showed us an owl who was disinterested and a very pretty orange snake who spent the majority of time slithering through her belt loops. If in the area Brookgreen is a must do and see.

We headed out around 4 PM making our way to Charleston 90 miles away. We will be staying at a Walmart outside of the Charleston city limits. No overnight parking is allowed at Walmart within the city limits.
Today is Megan’s 15th Birthday so we called and sang Happy Birthday to her. She will going out with her parent to a Sushi Restaurant to celebrate. Happy Birthday Megan!!