The subject of weather deserves its own section simply because it was probably the worst we've encountered in 13 trips since we resumed our visits to Myrtle Beach in mid 2007.  No, it wasn't terrible most of the time - just the first half.  It began with torrential downpours, high winds, and cold temperatures for the first two days which tapered off slowly and eventually turned pleasant enough for this time of year.  The nastiness was courtesy of tropical storm Ida which caused a good many more problems a short distance away along the North Carolina Outer Banks and further north.  Comparatively speaking, we were lucky.

As noted in the Introduction, we had one absolutely fabulous afternoon sitting by the beach with the sky totally clear, brilliant sunshine, and the temperature in the mid 70'sF.  Short sleeve tops were perfect for us, but we weren't prepared to don swim outfits and hop in the nearby pool and wander along in the surf as we saw others doing (must be more of those hardy Canadian types we often spot in the Myrtle Beach environs).

Somewhat amazingly, we picked up some "color" on our exposed parts from the wonderful sunshine.  Yes, that was an extraordinary contrast to just a few days earlier.

The story about the drive to Myrtle Beach is all about the weather!  Without a doubt, it was right up there as being one of the worst driving experiences we've ever had and we have a lot of driving experience between us.  We (read that as "Ed") really, really wanted to take the new 2010 BMW Z4 s35i on this trip and it was beyond spotlessly clean (read that as better than showroom condition) in anticipation of doing so.  Sandra had custom ordered the new car for Ed's birthday and after what seemed an interminable wait while it was manufactured in Germany and shipped to the USA, he was more than ready to drive it on its first trip of any consequence.  Until the possibility of less than auspicious weather arose, the greatest concern was having to constrain his driving on the trip in accordance with the break-in instructions - couldn't exceed 100mph for the first 1200 miles on the car.  It only had about 600 on it at that point.  While on the subject of birthdays we'll digress a bit more and briefly share the story of Ed's latest birthday present for Sandra.  It was beautifully wrapped as always and presented along with flowers and a card.  As usual, Sandra was touched with this display of affection and she began to carefully unwrap the pretty package, all the while saying "You shouldn't have done this."  Then she broke into laughter as she realized it was the Escort 9500ix radar detector Ed had been wanting for the new Z4.  She allowed as how that was almost as good as the time he gave her a chain saw.

Anyway, there was no way the Z4 was going to Myrtle Beach in the unbelievably hard rain that was falling the morning of our departure.  The transportation had to be Sandra's Cadillac CTS.  Having very little driving experience with it in bad weather, Ed asked Sandra if she had ever noticed any tendency for it to hydroplane and the response was "No, never."  Let's just say we did enough hydroplaning on this trip to provide a lifetime of unwanted thrills.  Even at reduced speeds we were hitting places on major highways where there were several inches of water standing and away we would go.  Ed never fully lost control and managed to keep it in our lane, but there were others who were scaring the crap out of us.  Oh yes, there were those wonderful tractor trailer trucks which weren't about to slow down and were hurling phenomenal amounts of spray across the windshield - no way the wipers could keep up with it.  And as if that were not all too much fun, there were long stretches of road blanketed by virtually impenetrable fog - we literally would come upon cars and trucks with their lights on in the lane ahead and not see them until we were perhaps 30 feet way.  No, not nice at all.  We've since had the damage to the CTS repaired - the places where Sandra mutilated the door grip and dash squeezing them so hard, and the dent in the floorboard where she was applying the imaginary brake.  Kidding, of course - she was reasonably calm throughout - well, sort of.

We did manage to make it without any mishaps.  Later we learned parts of US 17 in South Carolina and other roads in the vicinity had been closed because of flooding.  Fortunately, after we arrived and for the trip home everything was alright.  Well, that's not completely true.  Our first stop was at HOTO's in the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle where we eagerly consumed a few adult beverages to calm our nerves.  While doing so, the rain abated briefly, an especially angry looking sky revealed itself, the wind began howling even more strongly and the waves were unusually visible beyond the dunes adjoining the back deck.  The Manager, Chris Minor, fought the front door open against the wind to be sure the closed awning wasn't going to rip loose and smash into the CTS.

There is one other thing we want to mention about the driving which, though related to the rain we experienced, is also a major new aggravation on our trips to and fro regardless of the weather.  We're speaking of the incredibly idiotic washboard strip that has been created in the center of highway 64 between I-85 and Asheboro.  It's like the grooved sections of a road sometimes found on the sides of the pavement and which are intended to provide an alert that one is about to go off the paved section.  This new center strip (maybe 8" wide) is even more deeply grooved and the grooves spaced such that tires hitting it produce a thunderously loud noise.  That's bad enough, but if one tracks along it, the steering of the vehicle becomes unstable and downright scary - easy to picture a novice driver losing control.  Why would one have a tire "tracking" along the washboard, rather than immediately moving off it?  Because that stretch of road which goes for about 20 miles is very challenging in terms of finding opportunities to pass slow moving vehicles.  Consequently, one tends to shift to the left looking ahead for a safe opportunity to do so.  Unless you've experienced it, you really can't appreciate how loudly distracting it is and how much it adversely affects steering.  Now, couple that with a torrential rain which causes water to stand in the grooves and above them, and you've got a very unsafe situation.  And, apart from all that, it immensely aggravates us that taxpayer dollars have been needlessly spent on this absurdly ridiculous contrivance no doubt intended to enhance safety.  What a pitiful joke.  We do hope the people accountable for the idiotic bureaucrats and engineers in the NC Department of Transportation responsible for this travesty will note what we have said.

Now that we've got that unpleasantness off our chests, let's move along with the much more enjoyable aspects of our visit to Myrtle Beach.

Actually, one of those aspects involves our return trip home.  It was a quite decent weather day and as we were tootling along one of the country byways enjoying the ever pleasant coastal plain scenery of the Carolinas we saw something large ahead of us in the middle of the road.  It wasn't at first recognizable, but as Ed began firmly braking and we drew much nearer our first thought was a huge stork.  We stopped about 10 feet away and it just stood there looking at us and us at it - had never seen such a bird that close before.  It didn't move until about a minute or so had passed and then began to amble toward us.  After taking closer looks, it unfurled its wings, took a little run and lifted off as if in slow motion - magnificent!  That was quite a treat.  Was it a stork of some sort?  Most likely not according to our National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds - Eastern Region.  The best candidate we could identify is the Great Heron, but what we encountered would be pushing the upper limit of the height because it was about 4 1/2 feet - we did say it was "large".

Flower Arrangement

And as always (we use that term a lot, don't we?) Sandra had flowers from Ed waiting for her in the suite upon arrival.  For this time she had made a special request or, rather again wanting to be perfectly correct about the matter, had said after the previous visit to Myrtle Beach it would be nice to have an arrangement of all Alstroemeria, (also commonly known as Peruvian Lilly) - a consistent favorite which had been prominently featured at our wedding ceremony and reception in Myrtle Beach some 22 years ago.  Of course, that's exactly what was waiting to greet her - several dozen of multiple varieties.  Anne at Flowers on the Coast did slip in a few ferns and variegated leaves which added just the right balance.