Richard & Pat's Myrtle Beach Adventure-Day finished About This Page:

[Wondcat]

Who
Me: Wondcat or as the kids like to call me Pat, Pat the Wondercat
DH: Golfguy, loving and supporting husband of 30 years and very understanding of my love for another man, Mickey!
What
Christmas trip to Myrtle Beach
Where
Ocean Dunes Hotel
When
First week of December

Hi all, after having six little dogs for 11 days,(our three and Minnievoice's three while she was at WDW) we needed a little vacation ourselves. So, I decided that I would write a little trip report about it, so here goes!

Pre trip planning

Since we didn't have enough time to go to WDW and we wanted to have a car while we were away, we decided to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Richard is dying to retire in Myrtle Beach, he goes every year to play golf. I haven't been in years, so when he said that he wanted to go I said OK.

We have had a very rough last few years and just coming out of a bankruptcy we have been trying to have some fun. Since we can't afford a summer home or a timeshare, we purchased a vaction plan that allows us to go to a deluxe condo anywhere in the world as many times a year as we want (or can afford)for $200.00 a week. With this they gave us two mini vacations and a mini cruise. We decided we would use this for our mini vacation , so we sent in the refundable deposit and the dates that we wanted to go, but they kept telling us we had to pick other dates. After the third time, I decided this was a pain in my big --- and asked for my money back. We decided we would rather pay for it ourselves than go through all of the trouble that Spirit Incentives was giving us and we really didn't have a week for the condo, so we just decided to stay at a resort.

When DH first started going, he stayed at the Ocean Dunes/Sand Dunes resorts. They are sister resorts and he always stayed at the Ocean Dunes. A few years ago he got a better deal with another resort and hadn't stayed there in a few years. Recently they called us with a "great" plan and invited him to stay there again. At the time he didn't plan on going, but when we started talking about going he told me to call them.

I called and we got a mini suite, breakfast for us each day and golf for him each day for three days for $188.00. We thought this was pretty good and started to plan our trip.

Up next:
The trip to SC or Wow, Pedro has a lot of stuff!!

[luvnwdwgal]

Great start Pat! I'd like to visit Myrtle Beach myself some day!

[MickeyMAC]

[ QUOTE ]
Great start Pat! I'd like to visit Myrtle Beach myself some day!

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking the same thing....tell us more.

[Bert & Sully]

Great to see you back Pat. Hope you come back soon and share some of your trip with us!

[RobinKay6573]

My parents went to Myrtle Beach last year and they had a great time. The trip was a prize for my dad for doing so well in the National Truck Rodeo (he works for Overnight Trucking). They had a great time...although they still want to retire to Florida!

I can't wait to read about your trip!

[Wondcat]

We were going to leave on Monday morning, but DH said let's beat the traffic and start on Sunday night. So at midnight we were off. I had taken the dogs to Mandy's that evening, me in a car with three little dogs!

DH said that we would stop somewhere overnight and we were off. It's a long way to SC, we were driving, driving, driving I had brought along my little portable DVD player and got out the new Harry Potter. I watched and he listened and then we listened to CD's and we sang and we were really having a good time. My eyes started to droop going through Virginia, I had after all been up since 7:00 that morning and had even worked that day. He on the other hand had been able to nap. So when he said do you feel like driving I said no, I thought that we were going to stop. He said well, yeah at South of the Border. (If you have never been there, well, you are really missing some strange sights.) So, I said well, if we aren't stopping soon, I may have to pee in the car and he got off 95 to look for someplace to go.

All along we had been looking for a Sonic, this is Mandy & Ryan's favorite place and we were determined to find one. We knew that they would be closed at this hour, but we may need one on the way home.

He saw this little Pancake house and said are you hungry? and I was so we went in. Omigosh, everything was made with real butter, we were in Cholesterol heaven, he had 2 eggs sunny side up, sausage, bacon, grits (whats?)and pancakes!!for $4.00!! I had a cheese omelet,bacon,grits and toast for $4.00. Including coffee and tea and tip. "Oh, Grits are apparently a southern staple made from corn and they were delish!!" So we toddled out and started off again.

Now all evening we had been going back and forth about the heat in the car, I was freezing and he was trying to stay awake so we kept turning the heat on and off. Now we were warm and full and sleepy but we still had miles to go.

So, forified by the coffee he brought along, on we went until we got to the Border of NC around 7:30am and we
started seeing the signs.

Don't forget to stop at:

Pedro's Hotel
Pedro's gift shop
Pedro's antiques
Pedro's fireworks (more about this later)
Pedro's this
Pedro's that

I said who in the h--- is Pedro and where did he get all of this stuff??!!

Now I had only driven through S of the B one time before and it was in the middle of the night and I guess that I didn't pay much attention or Pedro's had developed since. Because I just didn't remember all of this stuff! Everywhere you look for about half a mile were his stores and his stuff and in front of all of his stuff are life sized statues of more stuff, every animal known to man, strange people, little houses, huge toys and just these huge colorful "things". I was just in awe of Pedro. We pulled up to this 70's looking motel/cottages sort of place and he went in to get a room. We just couldn't drive anymore. They sent us around the back to a sort of cottage type room. It wasn't Disney, but it was clean and we went to sleep.

We both slept until 11:30 then we woke up like someone had fired a gun and looked at each other and said let's go. We stopped in Pedro's restaurant for coffee to go and pasted on the ceiling were thousands of paper somberos with people's names and towns on them, they were offically closed so we couldn't put our names up so we left.

As we were leaving, we noticed Pedro's many shops and restaurants, his amusement park his waterpark and his outside elevator that you can ride up in so that you can view the rest of Pedro's stuff!! While driving out of Pedro's town we noticed what used to be Pedro's casinos, six of them, which are now Pedro's strip joints. I din't notice a Pedro's hospital or Pedro's cemetary, but you give that Pedro some time and I am sure that we will take care of it!

We decided that on our way back we would stop back because Richard is a firework nut and he wanted to buy some. On we went! The weather now was quite balmy and we didn't need heat or coats so we drove on singing to the CD's and having a jolly time.

Next: Who's that knocking at my door, NOT!

[luvnwdwgal]

Wow, that Pedro's a busy guy!! I've never been able to acquire the taste for grits. Looking forward to your next installment!!

[wdwlovers]

Great start Pat!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Pat Can't wait for more

[Wondcat]

Who
Me: Wondcat or as the kids like to call me Pat, Pat the Wondercat
DH: Golfguy, loving and supporting husband of 30 years and very understanding of my love for another man, Mickey!
What
Christmas trip to Myrtle Beach
Where
Ocean Dunes Hotel
When
First week of December


Now, to better understand us, you have to know that we have been married 30 years and we really love each other very much. Of course we bicker and fight and I have more than once told him that for our next anniversary he is getting a divorce, but I am kidding the kidder. (My daughters hate it when I say this to him)

For the first few years of our marriage we both worked days and we lived at my mothers. When we finally bought our home, I stayed home with the kids.

After the kids were in school, I started working evenings so that one of us could be home with the kids. So for the past 18 years, excluding the past two, I worked nights and he worked days and we rarely saw each other and so we are still married and appreciate each other.

BUT…..Richard is a teaser, a prankster and an agitator, even his mother says so. Most of the people who meet him ask me how have I stood him all of these years? So after I lost my job two years ago and then went back to the same job, but in a different location, I have been working days too. I work in a bowling alley and when it was the one near home, he was always in there when I was working, either bowling or just visiting.

Now, he doesn’t bowl, his knees bother him. He plays pool three nights a week and since I can’t stand the boredom of watching this more than once in a while, I stay home, hence the fact that we are still married, because if we had to be together every night we would probably kill each other.

Also, where he once said that Golf was just men walking in funny pants , he is now addicted and plays whenever possible. He goes to Myrtle Beach once a year with his buddies ( my vacation) and this is the reason for his wanting to take our trip there. However, I am sorry for taking you all of the way around Robin Hood’s barn to tell you the story.

So, to quote Ellen Degeneras, “ANYWAY” We arrived in Sunny SC and drove up to the lovely Ocean Dunes Hotel, parked in front walked into the lobby and were told that our room was ready, it was about 1:00pm so we were pleasantly surprised since check in was at 4:00. We got our luggage and took the elevator to our Junior Suite. The whole time that we were there, we would walk into the hallway, push the elevator button and the elevator down the hall would open, it never failed, I swear!

We got to the second floor to our room 239, which was adjacent to what must have been the air conditioning units for the entire hotel. Thank God this wasn’t our view, but in front of our door and also thank the Lord, it wasn’t summer. I can imagine the noise level from them all at once!

We opened the door with our keycard, they gave us two each, but we never did figure out why. All I can say is I’m glad this was a jr suite because I can’t imagine what just a room is. It was your basic hotel room with a king sized bed, a huge bathroom, with tub, sitting area, TV in wardrobe, desk, ocean view, a refrigerator, a microwave and a coffee maker.

It’s a good thing that I got this great deal or I would have been calling the front desk pronto, but wait . For, since we had been driving and felt grimy, DH said I’m going to take a bath and proceded to duff his clothes. I said OK and sat down to peruse the hotel literature, when he said there is no hot water. It was running and not getting any hotter and he said why don’t you call the front desk and see if they can do anything,?

I was having visions of having to move to yet another lovely Jr. Suite and hoping that it would be as ‘nice’ as this one, when the door burst open and a large Black woman walked in. You can imagine my surprise, she didn’t say excuse me, I’m sorry, kiss my foot or anything. She said oh I didn’t know you checked in yet, I have to count the towels. I said well, my husband is in there taking a bath or trying to take a bath, you will have to wait. She said well, there are supposed to be 2 each, bath, hand and face and I said I don’t know I didn’t count them, so she left. By, this time DH had wrapped one of the uncounted towels around him and came out and said who are you talking to and I told him as I picked up the phone. I called the front desk and told the man who answered that #1 we had no hot water, he said I’ll send someone right up. Also, I said a woman just came to count the towels, he said yes they do that I said she didn’t knock she just walked in. He said WHAT? I repeated myself and he said I will tell her manager. Needless to say, we didn’t have maid service the next day and she didn’t get her tip.

So, after the plumber came and told us that at this time of year it is hard to get hot water to this wing of the hotel. That the people in the other wing got it faster and we would have to let it run for 20 minute sometimes. At that point it got hot and we just decided not to worry about it.

While waiting I read the local info, it seems there was a church in a local fishing village that had been made into a restaurant and I thought this would be a nice place for us to go while there. We had aslo been sent info on a show there that was singer impersonators and we thought that would be interesting so when DH came out, we made ressies for that and we took off to do some shopping. He said he wanted to go to Best Buy and what could I do but go along?

Up next:
I didn't miss Reba at all and yes I am a Fanilow of Barry Manilow!

[luvnwdwgal]

Sure glad you didn't pay much to stay in your "suite"!
Looking forward to more!!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Pat Wow, I can’t believe that housekeeping didn’t even knock Hurry back with more

[Wondcat]

Who
Me: Wondcat or as the kids like to call me Pat, Pat the Wondercat
DH: Golfguy, loving and supporting husband of 30 years and very understanding of my love for another man, Mickey!
What
Christmas trip to Myrtle Beach
Where
Ocean Dunes Hotel
When
First week of December

Now my friend Ann always says that men have a ‘sock’ and I agree that Richard always seems to have a little money socked away. But I never know how much. Anyhow, we went to Best Buy, our DD, Mandy has a Mini Cooper and it has a GPS system of which he has been enamoured since she got it. So that is why we were going to BB. This thing cost $300.00 plus the protection for it and I was just amazed that he bought this thing. I mean I am trying to pay for a wedding here!! The baby is getting married in March and I am getting terrified!

So he got the GPS and we left and he was trying to hook it up in my car, well, Duh! You had to go online to download the info and he was really furious. He started to go back, but since we had made plans to see the show and still needed to have dinner, we decided to wait until tomorrow.

So we went to the Roadhouse Steak House that was right there in the shopping center. They have a signature Iced tea drink, which comes in many, many variations. I had the Grateful Dead, which was watermelon flavored, but a dull gray color. Even so it was delicious! We had the onion petal appetizer and he had the Ribs and I had some Shrimp something and then we left to go to the show.

We got to the show too early and since there was no place to wait, we decided to go get a drink, Coors for him, Margarita for me. We drove past a little bar next to a Bowling Alley, no I can’t get away from them. When we went in we found out that it was actually attached to the Bowling Alley and we spent a very nice hour there talking to the employees. The lanes were extremely busy for a weeknight and I even talked to the owner about a job if we ever decided to retire there since I have so much experience. He laughed and said come see me if you do.

When we called for reservations, they told us that entertaining us tonight would be Reba Macintire, The Blues Brothers, Elvis, Barry Manilow and Garth Brooks. When we got there we found out that Reba wouldn’t be there tonight, but instead we would have Rod Stewart, OK with me!! I love Rod!

So when we walked in Barry and Garth were standing inside the door having photos taken and these guys looked good!! I just couldn’t stop smiling, you know how it is when you smile at something and you just can’t control your face! Well, I love Barry Manilow, I named my DD Mandy and the other DD Alissa cause that’s what I thought he was saying in “could it be magic” I realized later it was Melissa not Alissa. Anyway this Barry said hello dear, how are you dear and I said fine and he took my hand and out his arm around me and they took the photo and it turned out really well. I’ll have to try to post it. I stood there watching them take photos of other people and not once did Barry hold anyone else's hand or put his arm around them. He put his hand in his pocket or held it out in front of him, I felt so special!

So the show started and we were in the second row, thank God because they gave the people in the first row a fit! They were all amazing and looked and sounded like the stars themselves. The Blues Brothers were really great, doing flips and dancing and singing is that you Santy Claus? Rod Stewart was a little short, but still had the hair going on and the accent. Elvis was really good, singing all of the Elvis favorites and he really looked like him too!! Barry was great, even talking to us about his growing up like Barry really does at his concerts. Garth’s actual little girl came out and sang a song about wanting a Hippo for Christmas and it was very cute, and when they announced her name it was the same as the garth’s name. So we knew that she was really his little girl.

It was just a really entertaining evening and I would like to go back when it isn’t Christmas, because they did a lot of Christmas songs and I would like to see them do other things. Of course they also had six Hoochie’s dancing all of the time for the men, but what are you going to do? They danced behind, in front, along side and all over the stage, I was really sick of them. You wouldn’t have them at the real thing!

But, it was all over too fast and we went back to the hotel. Richard watched TV and I watched a DVD and then we went to sleep.

Up next:

Richard and the GPS systems and our six course dinner

[Colexis Mom]

What a great night Pat Sounds like a great show (I love Barry Manilow too )!

Hurry back with more

[luvnwdwgal]

Sounds like you had a pretty entertaining evening!!