Myrtle Beach Day #1

We arrived at Myrtle Beach yesterday for our first beach vacation together.  We ended up reserving a room at Carolina Winds; a huge building full of independently owned condos right on the beach.  When I made the reservation, I asked for the room with the very best view and was assured that all of their oceanfront rooms had great views.  I explained that my wife was pregnant and had gone through a rough patch in the first trimester and I really needed this to be an awesome vacation for her.  Apparently my spiel paid off because we ended up in what, from the outside, looks to be the best room in the entire massive complex.  We are on the top floor, directly facing the ocean (other rooms have just a slanted view) and have the only room on the floor with a wrap-around balcony that allows for views down the beach as far as the eye can see in either direction.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think our view would be anywhere near this good.  My next post will have a picture from the outside showing the balcony.  But here's a picture of us beginning our journey:

After getting checked in and relaxing for a while yesterday, we headed to Carabbas for dinner and, like always, Bertucci’s delivered.  The food was fantastic.  Here we are about to devour our meal (if you haven't eaten there, the lasagna is out of this world!):

After dinner we made a quick stop at a local grocery store.  Last night was the Super Moon which is when a full moon happens to coincide with the closest approach that the moon makes to earth.  This results in a moon that appears slightly larger and brighter.  When we arrived at the grocery store, we could see this awesome moon against a deep blue dusk sky.  And, of course, this super moon would be setting over the ocean right outside our balcony.  And, of course, we were not at our balcony but at the grocery store.  We grabbed some quick food and raced for the condo.  It was a little too late to get the shot I would have wanted but fortunately I was able to snap off one quick one before the sky became too dark.  The result is the top image above.

Right after we plopped in bed from exhaustion, a huge thunderstorm moved right over the ocean outside the bedroom.  Our room has a door out onto the balcony and we had left the door open so we could hear the loud waves while we slept.  Being so close to the water, this allowed us to watch the lightening strikes on the horizon...all while lying in bed.  I finally could take it no longer and bounded from the bed and out the door with my camera.  The strikes weren’t close enough for a fantastic shot but here is a small strike:

It was awesome to be able to lie in bed and watch the storm…and then to wake up to the sound of the waves and to be able to look out and see the ocean without even getting out of bed.  I love this room! Here is the view from our bed:

Neither of us slept great last night.  The downside to leaving your door open is the other noises you must endure.  We had some loud obnoxious people walking on the beach and some late night (or early morning) fireworks to contend with.  And then the smoke alarm kept beeping in the condo.  I finally got up to remove the dying battery only to find that it is hardwired into the electrical system and the battery is only a back-up for power outages.  So the loud beeping continued with the battery removed.  I got back in bed and tried to ignore it but it was no use.  I finally wandered down to the first floor and found a security guard who was able to find a 9 volt battery.  At that point there was no going back to sleep so I waited on the balcony for the sun to rise.  There are no great pictures from this morning as the clouds hid the sun but it was still fantastic to enjoy those early morning hours.  While I will always call myself a mountain person, I most definitely do love the beach.  Off to enjoy day 2…