Life's A Beach
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2006
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22
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Trip End
Oct 13, 2006
Raleigh, North Carolina
Friday, September 29, 2006
The rabbits - which look about the size of kangaroos - are at least getting to the fast lane, but the armadillos (plus the odd possum and raccoon) are barely making it onto the road.
Strange the things you notice on the open road (anything to take my mind off Nick's driving - joke, Nick), but at least we have hit some countryside with a bit of variety, for the first time since Upstate New York.
After days of the flat Midwest prairies, we finally hit some hills as we headed west towards Georgia with the spectacular Great Smoky Mountains on the end of Tennessee. And there are trees everywhere, so much so we still haven't seen the woods. (CRT!)
But there is also water everywhere, particularly as we have hit the Carolinas where the only other thing that takes up any space bar water and trees is golf courses. I'm sure you could actually play from one end of the Carolinas to the other.
Anyway, back to Georgia where we made a bit of a pilgrimage to Augusta, home of the Masters.
Well, we sort of drove past the front gate, turned round and drove past it again.
Basically, that is all there is to see. There are no signs, just a row of thick trees down one side of a garish, neon-lit strip and the small entranceway the BBC always start their coverage with.
At least next year when Gary Lineker spends far too much time on the screen spoiling the coverage, at least I can tell whoever I'm watching it with that I've been there. Sadly, that'll probably be Nick who will be telling me the same thing.
As ever when Nick goes near a golf course, his thoughts turned to two things - sand and water. So we headed for the beach. Myrtle Beach in South Carolina to be precise.
It is a great golden beach, full of bars, hotels and anything you could want from the traditional seaside resort. The word Skegness was mentioned more than once - apart from the fact that it was over 80 in late September.
Unfortunately, it has closed for the season.
After a quiet night and a bit of a lie-in this morning, we turned north to start the last leg of the journey up the east coast.
And so from South to North Carolina and another beach resort, Carolina Beach, which sits out on a thin strip of land and features more beautiful, golden beaches, marinas and rather less neon and cheap stores than its southern cousin.
It was also pretty much shut, overcast and raining (although still in the high 70s), but we found a nice café/bar just off the beach, but I'll let Nick salivate as he tells you about that.
We are now back inland having found a first for this trip - a full hotel.
Something to do with the North Carolina Senior Citizen Games in town. The bars should be jumping tonight.
NICK - Myrtle Beach out of season really is just like Skegness out of season, only a little bit warmer. There were closed amusement arcades everywhere, with just one or two remaining open trying to tempt the last few tourists out of their last few dollars.
For those who don't know, Skegness is a small seaside resort on the East Coast of Lincolnshire around 25 miles from where I grew up and where I started my journalism career some 17 years ago - on the Skegness Standard. Think Blackpool but much, much smaller.
To be honest, I loved Myrtle Beach. It had this odd sort of calm about it where you could kick back and relax for a few hours in the late summer sunshine.
I went for a very pleasant walk along the golden beach late in the afternoon and headed for a rickety old pier where twenty or so fishermen and women were dangling their bits over the side (CRT!) in an attempt to catch a passing fish or two.
And most of them were enjoying quite a bit of success. It was really lovely to sit and watch the fishing or look along the beach in the sunshine.
It took me an awful lot of resolve to resist the temptation to ask if I could borrow someone's rod for a few minutes. (It is pretty obvious by now that I like angling. Not that I do much any more but as a kid, most weekends in the summer (and a few evenings as well) would see me pitting my wits against everything the local drainage system had to offer. It often won, however.)
After my Dawson's Creek-esque walk along the golden sands (Mum, I'll explain that one when I get home. It's a Yank teen-angst TV kind of thing), I discovered Rob had discovered the hotel pool. I then discovered I had my camera with me.
The evening was spent in a couple of bars, one of which featured Meal of the Day, chicken on a skewer served on a bed of extremely nice fried rice. We also headed north towards another rickety pier, this one featuring a restaurant bar where a man played his organ (CRT!) and failed miserably to entertain the audience.
Still, it gave me another opportunity to have a walk down the pier and watch the late night fishing action. Nobody caught a bloody thing. It didn't seem to matter.
While Carolina Beach may have been pretty well shut, it was also the venue not just for Meal of the Day but Meal of the Week.
It is so rare to find cold cooked shrimps anywhere on a menu. They are always deep fried, battered or skewered or smothered in some Thai sauce. So when I saw half a pound of chilled shrimps served with a spicy tomato dip on the side on the menu, there was no competition. As a nipper, we would sometimes be given a huge bag of shrimps which we would slowly peel and devour in front of the telly so I was really looking forward to another trip down memory lane. And what a trip it was. Each one was three inches long and stuffed with delicious meat which was pure shellfish heaven!!
NB - We are a bit behind with pics (from Nashville onwards). We will get them on as soon as we have time and a quick connection - they take a while.
Comments
Gasheads
Sorry to tell you Rob, but you're lot got gassed on Wednesday! Rovers beat Hereford 2-1 at the Mem after going 1-0 down to a dodgy penalty.
Richard Walker got two goals in two mins to put us up to the lofty position of 18th.
Up the Gas! Enjoy your stay
Dodgy penalty!!!!!!!
Sorry, but you're having a laugh. Brizzle were no great shakes, but the Bulls were well worth their half-time lead. Admittedly, the second half was a different story.......and my God didn't we get wet