Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey

In defense of Myrtle Beach…

Author: thenicknick

This is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  There’s amusement parks and water parks.  There’s water sports, like para-sailing and jet skis.  There’s mini golf courses on virtually every block of the strip.  There’s a boardwalk that comes alive at night with its arcades and bars.  There’s  shopping in malls, Broadway at the Beach, outlets and even Wal-mart.  There’s restaurant row which has virtually everything you could want, as long as you want it at a reasonable hour.  There’s the Beaches, Waves, and other souvenir stores every hundred feet or so.  There’s commercialism at its finest.  It is a tourist mecca where people can find something to do rain or shine.

And this is Myrtle Beach, too.  This is where I walk for hours picking up my cherished sea debris, my black smooth stones, my unusual seashells, my coral, that I then decorate our house with.  This is where S and I walk while the sun sets.  This beach is how we get back to the hotel on hot summer nights after hanging out on the boardwalk and visiting The Bowery, a bar famous for its live music.  (Alabama started there.)  I love Myrtle Beach.  It’s not my favorite beach, but I have some amazing memories there.

And that would be why I was so disturbed the other evening when we were flipping through the channels.  S was clicking through when I head the narrator say something about Conway, South Carolina, which is the just outside of Myrtle Beach the way we drive there.  We paused.

narrator: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is filled with rednecks and badly tanned northerners in the summer months.

I looked at S.

S: I guess I’m the redneck.

me: Well, I’m from the north, but I tan very nicely, thank you.

And the longer I watched this show about a teenage boy who killed a female friend in Conway, the more upset I became.  They had no love for Myrtle Beach.  Always champion of the underdog, if I think the underdog has a case, I felt the need to share all the good stuff about Myrtle Beach.

Let’s start with the obvious.  They have a Margaritaville!  would Jimmy Buffet just stick a Margaritaville anywhere?  (And yes, I’ve been.  Had a REALLY strong margarita at lunch, since it was five o’clock somewhere, and needed a nap to recover.  Ahhh.)  Sorry, Giyen, it was before I knew you, so I mostly just thought ‘what a yummy margarita.’

It’s one of the many restaurants at Broadway at the Beach, which happens to be one of my favorite spots.  There’s something for everyone there: food, movies, shopping, huge coy to feed, mini golf, Magiquest, Ripley’s Aquarium…something for everyone EVERYONE.

And we love the boardwalk at night.  We’re skeeball players.  And ice cream eaters.  And homemade fry munchers.  Then, when we’re done with that, we’re music appreciators at The Bowery.  (Oh, do I have some Bowery stories for you!)

Myrtle Beach is commercialized, I’ll give them that.  And there are rednecks and badly tanned northerners.  Unfortunately, those two stereotypes are not unique to Myrtle Beach.  I’ve found them EVERYWHERE.  There are wild and crazy teens on spring break.  There are bikers during bike weeks.  And there are families from all over enjoying quality time with each other.

What’s so bad about that?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 5:50 am and is filed under Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.