Appreciate What You Have

Another Myrtle Beach week has come and gone (no relation to shark week). However, this year was extremely different for many reasons. For starters, our usual condo is under repair. The condo company set us up in a different location in North Myrtle Beach (we usually stay in the Surfside area). Our regular condo is nothing fantastic but compared to the NMB place it is freakin' Shangri La. Within a matter of seconds I discovered a deep and profound appreciation for our Surfside condo. The NMB condo was teeny tiny. It still had two bedrooms and two full baths like the other one but everything was so small. The place had no storage and most disappointing of all; no balcony. I consider a balcony to be essential at the beach. The NMB condo did have a pool area but this turned out to be another draw back since we could hear people partying at all hours, mostly screaming kids, and DJ Disco Wednesday. The other major difference on this trip was the rain. It rained every. single. day. This presented some complications as to how to fill our days. We did lots, and lots, and lots of shopping. My dad hates to shop. He only got to play golf one day and we could only play miniature golf one night. It looked like this trip was going to be the only one without any mini golf but the rain finally stopped on my last night there and we played in the puddles. We also only had one day on the beach. I managed to get sunburned and attacked by the waves which means I fit in all the normal beach visit requirements in one day. I was able to run every morning and walk on the beach each morning but the rain usually started around 9am and on into the evening. The food was great, as usual, and I enjoyed shrimp and grits, salmon, mahi mahi, an oven baked pizza, and plenty of hush puppies (not all in one meal though--I do have some self-control). Anyway, enough talk and onto some photos. One cloudy morning we did make it to the Alligator Adventure at Barefoot Landing. I have to say this trip was the highlight of the whole week. When you first walk into the park you are greeted by this sight, at least a hundred Juvenile American Alligators. They didn't do much.

Just lying around looking lazy. 

Or lying on top of each other.

These birds are Laughing Kookaburras. They had interesting beaks and pretty blue feathers.

Notice anything interesting about their diet? They are carnivorous. I know owls eat mice and such but these birds didn't look like they ate more than berries and such.

The tortoise pen had a few very large specimens. This big guy in particular was very entertaining. He came out of the house at almost a gallop speed.

Here's a shot of him next to Ralph. This tortoise was gigantic and very friendly, he even let you touch his shell.

This big croc/alligator (sorry reptile experts, I don't know which is which in all my pictures) was all my himself except for the boat.

We watched a feeding demonstration. I took some video of this scene as well. They were feeding them chickens (grocery store kind) and the noises their jaws made was intense. The crowd really liked the show.

The park had two albino alligators and they were in a fairly dark and dank exhibit.

You can see the pink eye in this shot.

This little one was named Bob, short for Bobbette. It's a girl alligator born without her tail. This is the number one birth defect for alligators. Without their tail the percentage of survival is zero. Bob is only 4 ft long and weighs 80 lbs.

Living on the lake allows me the chance to see plenty of ducks, geese, and herons. I've never seen a duck with this kind of coloring before so I had to take a picture.

The park also had two tigers and two bobcats.

They had plenty of iguanas, frogs, and lizards to see as well. This one is the Rhino Iguana and it was huge.

Shortly after the feeding demo the rain started again, and didn't stop for the rest of the day. It was really pouring.

See the alligator shaped gables? This park was very detailed and all the kids (including myself) really enjoyed the place.

The juvenile alligators were extremely active in the rain. We watched them swim around and get into minor fights.

Those were the highlights of the park visit on Thursday. On Friday we went to see a movie (ParaNorman, it was cute and little weird). The rain was still going after the movie was over so we shopped in the mall which included a Bass Pro. They're selling a gun called the Zombie Eraser. I had to take a picture for Jeff.

Myrtle Beach is known for many things: the beach, the shows, the golf courses and...the gentleman's clubs. I think we found the smallest one in the whole area of Myrtle Beach up the street from our condo. I took a picture while playing mini golf. I bet there's only room for one dancer and she probably mixes and serves the drinks and runs the place too.

Our first mini golf visit was at Hawaiian Rumble. It wasn't great but we had a fun time. The volcano emitted fire every ten minutes.

The second mini golf place we tried was Mutiny Bay. Michanne and I tend to favor the pirate themed courses. I think this one was more enjoyable that the Rumble. Do you see the alligator in the water? Those guys are just everywhere in Myrtle Beach.

 So, that raps up the trip. I probably won't be able to go next year but hopefully our Surfside condo will be ready for business so my parents can enjoy it.