Friday, June 29, 2018

WANDER ABOUT BOOKS: Story 2 - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Vacation:


Title: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Vacation
Book of Choice: Rapture In Death by J.D. Robb
Place of Stay: Barefoot Yacht Club, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Time of Year: Summer
Rating: 5 stars! (for both the book and the vacation)

In case you missed it, I started a new part of my blog at the beginning of the year called "Wander About Books", a write up of my travels and book reading. Readers seemed to like the idea and enjoyed my last post, so I've decided to do it again. Thank you for all your comments, emails and encouragement.

This post is about my family vacation last week to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

The Story...
Starting last year, my family decided that an annual vacation was something we needed. So me and my hubs, my parents and my sister all traveled the six hour drive to Sevierville, Tennessee and had a fantastic time. The weather was nice, the attractions were enjoyable and the cabin we stayed in was beautiful.

This year, my family consisted of me, my hubs, my parents, my sister and my daughter, her boyfriend and my grandson and we all stayed in a four bedroom, four bath condo at Barefoot Yacht Club in North Myrtle Beach. It was fab-u-lous! I loved that condo so much and have vowed to save my coins and buy a place just like it one day.

Image of Barefoot Yacht Club in N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster: Master bedroom balcony side view

Image of Barefoot Yacht Club in N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster: Master bedroom balcony side view


As I said, there were four bedrooms, two of which had their own private balcony. The living room also had a balcony and all three balconies faced the inlet, overlooking Barefoot Landing. It was spectacular, especially when on our first night, one of the clubs across the inlet set off fireworks!




Images of Barefoot Landing fireworks in N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster: Master bedroom balcony front view

Myrtle Beach is a place I'm very familiar with. When my hubs and I first started dating and when we first got married, he traveled there for work quite a bit and sometimes I would go with him. So going back all these years later was exciting.

There are so many fun things to do there. Jet ski tours (sooo much fun!), laying out on the beach (I got way to much sun, but it was awesome!), walking along the beach looking for seashells (I found three I loved!), dinner theaters like the Pirates Dinner Adventure (can't suggest this enough - so fun!) and of course leisure time with a good book, which I'll get to later in this post. But I think our best adventure was taking my two year old grandson to one of our favorite place, the Ripley's Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach!

Image from within Ripley's Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach, N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster: top tier overview

He loved the aquarium tunnel where he got to see the sharks floating overhead and since he loves turtles, he was ecstatic over the huge one we saw not to far from the entrance door. He also loves dinosaurs and there was an exhibit behind the Ripley's building but it was time for his nap, so we've saved that adventure for next time.

Image taken of shark tunnel at Ripley's Aquarium,
Broadway at the Beach in N. Myrtle Beach, taken by poster

Image taken at Ripley's Aquarium,
Broadway at the Beach in N. Myrtle Beach, taken by poster

After that huge undertaking, we ate at Paula Deen's Restaurant, across the way from the aquarium. The atmosphere was fun and the family style food was amazing, but there was waaaay to much of it. Once we were stuffed, we sat out on the patio and watched the view for a few minutes to let our dinner settle. There are so many little shops at Broadway at the Beach but one of my favorites was the Retro Shop! I found some amazing 80's movie posters, shirts and post cards in there. And it was nerd central with vintage Star Wars merchandise. Oh and it has to be said, there was a TON of hair band paraphernalia to choose from. I was in heaven!

Image of water view of Broadway at the Beach, N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster: Paula Deen Restaurant porch view

Image of of Broadway at the Beach, N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster: Paula Deen Restaurant porch view

Then of course, there's the beach! Perfect waves, perfect sun, perfect ... everything!

Stock Image, North Myrtle Beach

But now for the reading part...
Since it was a family vacation, I knew I wouldn't get much alone time or a lot of time to read, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't sneak a book in there somewhere. Knowing this, I decided to take a reread - Ceremony In Death by J.D. Robb.

Why I'm rereading this series...
At the beginning of the year, I started rereading the In Death series by J.D. Robb / (Nora Roberts). I started this 50+ book series (including novellas - full chronological book order) years ago, but I lost track somewhere around book twenty-five. I've decided to try and reread a book a month (or more if I can!) until I catch up to where I left off and then continue on until I've reached the end of the series ... or at least catch up to the end, because J.D. Robb is still publishing these books! I love the futuristic stories of murder and crime in the Big City and Eve and Roarke are intriguing, fun and outrageously sexy together. So this undertaking is no hardship. But it's huge, so it'll take a while.

That's pretty much it for my vacation. We had a great time and I can't wait to do it again next year. As for our condo stay? Me and the hubs are going back soon, because like I said, it was a lot of fun and I NEED to visit that place again.

Ohhhhhh, and jeez-louise, I almost forgot!

This place?? A. MUST. VISIT!!

Image of Café de Paris - Barefoot Landing, N. Myrtle Beach,
taken by poster - cafe, cheesecake and coffee (must have's!)

Comment and photo taken from my Instagram page (because it explains everything!):

"If you're ever in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and looking for a cup of amazing coffee, go to Café de Paris at Barefoot Landing!! Omg, the coffee was superb... and the cheesecake was to die for!!
#vacationgoals #coffeeshop #coffeeislife"

It's across the waterway from where we were staying, so it was easy to get to and so incredibly delicious! Yeah, I went three times in my one week stay. Ah-maz-ing!

So there it is. My vacation and my reading time in a nutshell. What do you read on your vacations? Do you open up rereads or do you try to read a new book? Comment below and let me know what you think of this post.

Happy Summer Vacationing and Reading Everyone!
....

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