Day 8 - Pawleys Island

A small, but powerful storm blew up over us at 6:00 am, sending me to my phone to make sure we weren't having tornadoes.  A lightning bolt hit very close to our hotel and temporarily woke most of us.  We all went back to sleep and ended up sleeping in.  I think we finally all needed to catch up on sleep.  After grabbing bagels from a great local shop, we loaded up into Vansen and headed back to Myrtle Beach.  The girls took Sylvia to a ropes course and the boys played a round of miniature golf at Jurassic Golf.  I'm pleased to report that I got a hole-in-one on the first hole and went on to have one of my best games ever!

We all got back together and headed to North Myrtle Beach to visit Wheels of Yesteryear, a car museum made up of mostly muscle cars from the 50s-70s.  Jason and Lena had been wanting to do this one for a while.  After we toured it, we realized we were very close to Conway, SC and could get there on Highway 501.  I just had to take a photo to document that!

We headed back to our hotel in Pawleys Island, taking time to drive down the old highway through Murrells Inlet.  This is an interesting beach area/town as really only a few towns are on the beach.  Most of the others are on the intracoastal.  So instead of beachfront restaurants, the ones in Murrells Inlet are marsh or creek side.  As we headed south, we passed the Hot Fish Club, a restaurant we've been trying to get dinner from the last two days.  We've learned that unlike the rest of the east coast, people here eat early and many restaurants stop taking to-go orders after 4:30 or 5:00 pm.  When we got back to the room, we called Hot Fish Club at 4:00 (when they opened) and got our order in.  We were soon enjoy great local seafood (yes, I still had an amazing steak, but with a crab cake) and very happy to have checked this off our list.

Jason had to take a business call so while he did that, we rested and read a bit.  Soon, we were headed back to Huntington Beach State Park.  A small storm moved away a bit before we arrived and the evening was just wonderful.  It felt almost like we were on a private beach and we got to witness a second beach wedding (one last night too).  We had a great time swimming, using the boogie boards, and jumping through the waves.  There's just something about having the salt of the ocean in your eyes and on your lips.  I decided to grab my Sony camera at the last minute, and I'm so glad I did.  And I only had to dry off the lens once!  

Our last full day in Pawleys Island is tomorrow, with something fun and unique planned for tomorrow night.  After that, we turn towards home.