Myrtle Beach was an amazing experience within itself. On the day of my arrival the weather was terribly cold and raining. I was fortunate enough to find a cheap hotel overlooking the ocean. The city as a whole was very dead. It was like walking into a ghost town. No one to be seen anywhere and nothing that looked open for me to get a feed and a beer. I was lucky enough to find a place called Friendly’s to get me some lunch. Apparently this place is the best restaurant to get ice cream from. I skipped out on this as I didn’t think that 4oC weather was appropriate to consume ice cream.
After I got checked in and settled into my new home it was most def time to try and organise to see my good old friend Dee. Sadly she was working and we had to rain check it until the following day which worked out ok to me as I had a terrible bus trip over from Miami. 4 bus changes and about 3 hours of broken sleep was difficult on an overnight 19 hour bus trip. So nothing like a pizza and beer in bed on my first night in South Carolina.
The second day there was absolutely amazing (despite the weather still being crazy cold and wet) I finally got to see Dee after 10 years since my first initial trip to the states. She as always, looked amazing and came with a gift of my shoes I had pre-ordered a few months back. I was in absolute dying need for these as my current pair were priddy much mangled to the max. We went for a drive and she showed me around a small part of the city. It is way bigger than what I initially thought. Most definitely a seasonal place where a lot of tourists come to as there are heaps of arcades, carnival rides, water slides and souvenir shops. It was difficult to try and do anything during this day as again the weather was shit and most things to do are outside. Stepping into a couple stores and grabbing a coffee was more than enough for me as I was still priddy tired from my overnight travels.
After returning to my hotel we had organised to try and meet up this night at the lonely gay bar for drinks. During the night, sadly Dee was unable to make it but I still got my shit together and went out for a few more beers as I had about 6 before even leaving the hotel. It was most definitely a strange place as you could still smoke inside the bar, the drinks were hell cheap and the bar tender was priddy cool. This bar reminded me of the Ed Castle back in Adelaide. The drag shows were intense as some of them were really terrible and others were fantastic. The queens would walk around and take tips from people as they performed. To my surprise this really stunned me as we have nothing like that anywhere in Australia. Towards the end of the performances I started up a conversation with 3 girls from Detroit. Funny as hell they were and really nice as they invited me to a game of pool. It was a rad night all up as we were the last ones in the club. They were meant to shut between 2-5am but the way things were on a Thursday night they closed early but were happy enough that we were still there. Sadly no further drinks were being served so we finished our game and made our separate tracks. I managed to get these girls on FB which was nice as I wasn’t sure with Dee’s work schedule if I would actually get to see much of her while im down.
The following day I was able to hang out with Dee and finally got to meet her lovely girlfriend, with lots of laughs over the southern accents and the differences of cultures and of course with a couple of beers and dinner. It was sooooooooo good to finally catch up the ten years between beers with Dee; the life struggles and successes, where life has taken us and where we all want to be in the future. Our dance moves on the Xbox were nothing but hilarious!
The next morning the sun was shining soooo much through the window I thought that I had slept through til 3pm! It was only 7am and the weather had done a complete 360 from the previous day! I was soooooo happy I threw on some clothes and went out for a super long walk on the beach with my cameras. There were heaps of people already on the beach walking. It was still very fresh but the sun was warming me up and I was enjoying the vitamin D. I managed to take some amazing images throughout Myrtle Beach and the pier and found 2 very old black shark teeth. An old local guy said to me that they could be up to a million years old! I was priddy stoked as I hadn’t ever seen anything like it. To my surprise it was $1 to enter onto the pier and more if you wanted to fish off of it. I was like what the fuck… it’s council property and how the hell are you charging people to walk on it. When I got on it, I soon realised that they have stalls and bars, chairs and water troffs where you can rise your fish etc. Some people were catching sand sharks which was kinda heart breaking cause they were small but they were going to consume them and they can only catch a certain amount so it was regulated. The sun was out, the temp began to rise and there were people flocking to the beach and swimming. It went from 4oC to 24oC within 1 day which was tripping me out. I was delighted to see the sun and the beach out from my balcony.
Dee and Elaine were really nice and invited me to dinner today with their two other friends. Dee was cooking up a storm. After work she picked me up and we headed to the store for supplies then back to her place to start the dinner prep. T-bones marinated in her special spice rub, roasted asparagus with almonds and parmesan cheese, salad and this amazeball dessert. For the life of me I don’t know what it was called but it was mouth-watering! Layers of pound cake, butterscotch cream-cheese with coffee and chocolate sauce and grated chocolate…. GOD it was good! Then, the unexpected was had…. These guys had me watch Movie 43 which completely scarred me for life. I can’t look at Hugh Jackman again without thinking of his neck balls! For all that haven’t seen it, be prepared to laugh your ass off and cringe at the same time! Once I got back to the hotel I got a message from the girls that I met at the gay bar wanting to go out for a drink as some of them were sleeping. I met Lauren out half way between our hotels and ended up again at the gay bar as there was nothing else open. After a few beers and as the music got louder the night became a whole lot more interesting. She and I had a few conversations where we didn’t really understand or heard each other correctly causing a few awkward moments and sooooo much laughter and confusion it was probably a good idea to leave, despite the fact that it was day light savings and that the bar stopped serving drinks but was still ok to serve you shots?!?!?! I didn’t get much about this club nor their liquor license but meh… it was a good time to leave. Trying to find a cab at 3am was like trying to get a bank to open at that time. We had waited for approx. 30 min before we started to walk. Finally after an hour we had managed to pick one up and head back to our hotels. I was kindly offered to come up for a drink but thought it would wake the other girls up and had to decline as I thought it would be hell trying to find another cab within the next hour or two.
On my last day I was able to pack my bags early in the morning and get a few things done around the hotel. I was lucky enough to see the girls again and drink on the beach in the sun and play some footy in the sand. Man I had such a great arvo it was so sad to say see ya to them as they were a lot of fun! Next time I’m in the states I would love to visit Detroit on a larger scale and catch them for a beer again. Lauren handed me her left over carton of beer and they were off to the airport. By the time I walked back to my hotel Elaine was on her way over to collect me as I was staying at their house for my last night. When she had seen me with my snail house on my back she was in complete shock to see how big and how heavy it was. We were laughing about random shit the whole way to the store, throughout the supermarket and to her house. OMG I don’t think I have laughed soooo intensely and soooo hard in an hour block in years! She is one FUNNY lady and a priddy good cook as she had prepared corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Yet again more fun n games, beers and laughter at Dee and Elaine’s house as their friend came around to play and old entertainment unit made by SEGA. Gosh it brought back sooo many old memories playing this thing. We were all right into the game and deep into random chats.
The next morning was hard as I had to pack a few things and say my see-ya’s again. Sadly I had a panic attack just as I got into the shower which had lasted for a couple hours, right up until I got to the airport. I really struggled getting all my shit within my bags and because I was so short of breath and flustered I had completely forgot that my pocket knife was in my carry-on bag. Yep… it was confiscated from me which was fine but I felt like such an idiot that I had really not taken more time to try and get my head around things. Mehhhh shit happens I spose, Sorry Hardy and Handsie… I will try to replace it shortly! Saying see ya to Dee was soooooooo hard as I hope that the next time our lives cross paths again it will be sooner than the last time. Our friendship over the years have been in and out of contact but I believe that after this week and the quality of our lives are now I feel that we will keep more in contact with each other and hope to see her and her lovely lady soon again sometime. Next stop Washington DC!
