Tuesday 12 March 2013

Myrtle Beach – The Land of NO!

We just got back from a 2-week visit to Myrtle Beach, an attempt to escape the snow and cold for a bit and tune up the golf game in anticipation of courses opening here in the next 3 or 4 weeks.
As we often do when travelling we walked a lot, both for exercise as well as to become familiar with the area in which we are staying. And this trip was no exception. Of course when walking you get a much better sense of a community, and my impression of this particular community is that the powers that be would rather just everyone stayed home and not mess up their orderly, dull little lives.
In all my travels to major cities in the US and internationally I have never seen so many signs telling me what I can’t do as we did in Myrtle Beach. This is but a small sample.
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This is one of my favourites. After taking 5 minutes to read all the activities that are verboten, the bottom line says, “Enjoy your stay”. Really?
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And this one is pretty good too. I assume it’s okay to walk there on Mon, Tue, Wed, or Fri, just not Thur.

But then what else would you expect from a State that considers elevators an amusement ride?
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But worst of all, amongst all the other no’s was this one: NO HEAT!
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The temperatures for the 2 weeks we were there ran anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees F below normal for this time of year. Expecting mid- to high-60’s we left our gloves, parkas and toques at home, a big mistake as we froze most days as temperatures struggled to get out of the 40’s and northern winds whistled down from the Arctic to make even sunny days uncomfortably cool. The shorts and tee shirts never even got unpacked and a quick trip to the outlet mall was needed to buy some sweatshirts and warmer clothing.  However we did get some good golf in and played some great courses, but next year we may be heading further south for our winter break.

12 comments:

  1. Glad you got the golf in anyway. I was afraid it wasn't going to be allowed.

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    1. Probably the only sign I didn't see was a "No Golf" sign. Surprised they didn't have one on the beach.

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  2. That sucks when everything is against the law. I hope you enjoyed yourselves in a totally non-obtrusive and orderly fashion.

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    1. I have to admit I did rebel, but modestly. I walked the beach with a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other. Of course it was minus a zillion degrees with the wind chill and the only other folks there were the ubiquitous old guys with metal detectors. :)

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  3. In years past, the City of Myrtle Beach tried to get MBBW stopped. I guess this is how they do mitigate it.

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    1. I expect that's part of it along with the summer crush of tourists. But still, there has to be a better, more friendly way to deal with the problems.

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  4. Unfortunate you didn't get the warm weather. Why is it weather forecasts change near your vacation time?

    Oh and now I have the lyrics " signs, signs, everywhere there's signs......." stuck in my head.

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    1. Sorry about that. Actually, only sorry I didn't make the connection first.

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  5. Hahahahahaha - that's absolutely brilliant!! Sorry to laugh at your predicament Canajun, but that's a truly great post.

    Of course, you could have flown down to NZ and we'd have looked after you. There's even a golf course less than 5 minutes from home which will cost you all of NZ$10 a round. The downside is that we haven't had any rain for nearly 3 months so things are a bit crispy underfoot, apart from the watered greens. Oh, and temperatures are still in the high 20's C. Can't have it all ways :-)

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    1. Thanks Geoff. 20C+ looks mighty good right now, even if it is a bit crispy underfoot.

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  6. Canajun - it was all a political/economical ploy - they turn down the heat (and disallow all other activities) so you have to hit the outlet mall. Us Canadians, we fall for it every year (Been there!) Hope you enjoyed the break anyway (along with the thousands of Ontario school kids and families that arrived last Saturday.)

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    1. True enough. Day 1 (39 degrees!) we hit the outlet mall where I discovered I really couldn't afford to save so much money. Fortunately we escaped before we were destined to spend the next two weeks eating hotdogs on the beach. (Is that allowed?)

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