Myrtle Beach ... April 2011

We left for our annual trip to Myrtle Beach on April 8.  David picked Marcia up after school and we made Chambersburg PA by 9 PM.  As usual, we stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton there.  We were on the road before 8 the next morning and we were at our hotel before 4.  It was probably the quickest trip we ever made.  Whether or not the Mustang had anything to do with that won't be debated but the traffic and weather did cooperate.  We encountered some rain Friday evening but otherwise it was good.

We stayed at the Compass Cove this year.  It was our first time at this resort and it was also the first time we stayed in the southern part of Myrtle Beach.  We had a fairly laid-back week and among other things, didn't take as many pictures as usual!  It was a fairly warm week with temps in the 70s during most of the days.  We had the top down several times.

One of Marcia's co-workers also stayed there with her three sons and we spent some time with them.  We also got to meet Allen and Edna Schriver.  Allen is a distant cousin who lives in Murrell's Inlet.  He had made contact with David on Facebook several months before regarding the family genealogy and me made plans to get together with them.  We visited them at their home for a couple of hours and then went back a few days later and went out to dinner with them.  We really enjoyed meeting them and spending some time with them.  We plan on making it an annual thing.

We also got together with the Young family.  Larry and Pat are also retired E-K teachers who now winter in Myrtle Beach.  Their son Matt married Meghan Hurley, Marcia's second cousin, once removed.  Both former students, they now live in Myrtle Beach with their two young sons.  We went out to dinner with all of them and then had dinner with Larry and Pat at their home the next evening.

In addition to some miniature golf and the normal shopping, lounging and beach walking we take in a show each year.  This time around, we saw "Hooray for Hollywood" at the Palace Theatre.  Something new that we haven't done before was a visit to the Apache Pier.  In the North Myrtle Beach area, this 1206 foot pier is advertised to be the east coast's longest wooden pier.  Unfortunately, the day it was there, it was extremely foggy.  You couldn't even see the shore from the end of the pier!  Several fishermen were there and we did get to see one of them land a sting ray.  He threw it back and it swam away.  The pier was interesting but probably not worth a trip back.

As usual, the area was crowded with northerners looking to get out of the snow.  We ran into several members of the French family from Edwards, Randy and Cindy VanBrocklin, also from Edwards and Randy and Sue Slate from Gouverneur, among others.

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