Myrtle Beach - January 16 - 22

Monday we started the week off by going to Huntington Beach.  We spent about 4 hours enjoying the park.  The birds were more active today and we got to watch their fishing skills.  This pond is certainly full of fish and there was plenty for all the birds.

There was a good variety of birds out as well.  I was surprised at the number of Mergansers that were there. They were really active and fun to watch.  We were also happy to see that the Waxwings were still actively flying around.  

I went down to the beach to photograph the sunrise earlier in the week.  It looked like it was going to be one of those "wow" sunrises, but in the end I was disappointed.  It seemed to fizzle out rather than the colours really starting to "pop".  It's pretty hazy so that might have been the problem.

We golfed on Wednesday at Aberdeen with John and Grace.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  We were welcomed to the course by this Hawk who was resting on the flag pole.  He was a beauty.

Thursday we enjoyed a round of golf at Litchfield.  It was a beautiful day.  In the afternoon we went to Huntington Beach.  It was pretty quiet there so we didn't stay that long.  Sadly my cough was getting worse and later that evening I came down with a fever.  Ralph and I both tested positive for Covid.  Not sure how we got it but it kept us quiet for the rest of the week

The gator (above) was on the golf course.  It's so early in the year to be seeing them.  You sure have to be careful when looking for your ball around water.

Myrtle Beach - January 9 - 15

We are slowly starting to feel better.  Monday we went golfing at Pawley's Plantation.  I love this course as it is so scenic and challenging.  My first 9 holes were horrible. Thankfully Ralph shared with me what I was doing wrong on the back 9 and I shaved 16 strokes of my score.  I need to keep that stored in my memory bank - don't bend your arm when swinging.  It sure helped, increased my accuracy and my distance....now if I could only putt better lol.  Oh well, one step at a time.

After golf we went to Huntington Beach State Park to enjoy the birds.  It was pretty quiet at the park but we still had fun.  The tide was going out and it's the perfect time for them to catch fish.  The herons go for the larger fish while the Egret goes for the smaller mullets. The cormorants aren't fussy and will catch whatever they can.  

We've been blessed again this week with some amazing sunrises.  There is nothing more beautiful than standing in awe of God's majestic displayed in the heavens.

We spent another day at Huntington to enjoy the birds.  They never disappoint.  

The past two weeks a few of my photos received recognition through groups that I belong to on Facebook.  One is a  group of photographers from all around the world who share their work and the other is from Huntington Beach.  They are very nice groups to belong to and encourage their members which makes it more fun to participate in. I love looking at all the submissions on a weekly basis.

This past weekend the weather has been pretty chilly.  It still is nice to walk along the beach but I needed to be dressed warmly as the wind was cold.  I'm still finding sharks teeth but the big ones are eluding me right now. 

We welcomed John and Grace who have arrived safely.  We'll be planning some rounds of golf in the next week as the weather starts to warm up.  

Myrtle Beach - January 4 - 8

The weather this past week has been really nice.  We had one day of rain but it was intermittent and didn't bother us at all.  Most of my time was spent walking the beach or reading.  The ocean itself is very cold but after a while I got used to it (my feet that is). I've been looking for sharks teeth as there doesn't seem to be any shells on our beach this year.  It's interesting how much that changes year over year.

The weekend was quiet for us as both Ralph and I weren't feeling well.  Ralph has had this lingering cold and it passed on to me.  I started taking some medication from the drug store right away to try to fight it.  It seems to be working as it is controlling how stuffed up my sinus's are getting.  My sore throat only lasted a day thankfully.  It knocks the wind out of you that's for sure.  I spent a few hours in the afternoon on Sunday resting which is not anything I normally do.  Hopefully it won't last too long.

Myrtle Beach 2022-2023 - first week

We are back in Myrtle Beach for the winter of 2022/2023.  We arrived on December 28.  It was a much longer drive this year because we encountered bad road conditions in Buffalo and then later experienced long delays while driving down highway i95.  

Our trip started early in the morning on December 27.  The day before while getting things ready, we started experiencing problems with our truck.  Can you believe that?  We're all excited and ready to hit the road and what happens...... the motor won't start.  Just click, click, click. Thankfully Lawrence was home and came to the rescue.  He gave us a boost to get ourselves started.  Ralph left the truck running while we called around to see if any dealerships were open.  Nothing!! Thankfully Canadian Tire was and after driving to our 2nd store we were able to find a new battery.  Phew, we would have had to wait until Wednesday otherwise to get into a dealer.  Ralph finished packing and after a light dinner and a little tv we decided it was time to get some sleep.  I was able to stay asleep until 10:30 but then I woke up with my mind racing.  What if the truck gives us issues while driving, what if it's the alternator, or starting motor...Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep and was up making coffee already at 12:30.  Ralph didn't sleep well either and so we did our final packing and were on the road by 2:15.  

The driving conditions were good in Canada but once we hit the border it was a mess. Thankfully the day before Ralph had started checking out alternate routes in case the highway was still closed.  Everything was closed just passed the border, so out came the "paper" with our Map quest directions.  6 pages in all taking us down all these Country Roads.  Some of the snow drifts were about 8-10 feet high.  Thankfully there was very few vehicles on the road at the time so we could drive slowly and take it easy.  When we finally reached i390 I had this tight knot in my left shoulder blade.  I think it was from stress as I was holding on tightly to the door with my foot on my imaginary brake all the way through the back roads.  We thanked the Lord for keeping us safe and getting us onto a main highway.  

From there on the roads were clear sailing (or so we thought).  We had added an additional hour to our drive and hoped to arrive around 4:00.  Unfortunately by the time we hit Gettysburg, the traffic came to a standstill and then moved on slowly from there.  We observed a motor accident on both sides of the highway but nothing else to explain why we were travelling so slow.  It was at least 2 hours of stop and go traffic.   We finally arrived at our hotel in Wilson just before 7:00. It sure was a long day. Admittedly I was struggling to stay awake for the final couple of hours of our journey.

We quickly checked in and went in search of a place for dinner. At this point we were pretty hungry.  The first restaurant that we went to had a 40 minute wait so we opted to look for something else.  We finally ended up at a Mexican restaurant where we both enjoyed a nice dinner. Once we got back to the hotel, it wasn't long before both of us were sound asleep.

The following morning (after a good nights rest) we enjoyed a nice breakfast before heading for Aurora.  They have sand pits where you can dig for Sharks teeth here.  We were really surprised at how busy it was forgetting that many families have the week of Christmas off.  There were lots of kids.  We both found it funny that the kids didn't seem to be enjoying the search, but the parents sure were.  I guess it becomes more exciting as you age.  We stayed for a few hours and found about 88 teeth.  Not as many as last year, but we were only there for half the time.  We found a couple of large ones which always makes it exciting. 

We finally pointed the truck towards Myrtle Beach and arrived at our condo by 6:30.  We made a quick stop to grab something for dinner as we didn't want to go out again.  The weather was beautiful for the drive and the temperature in Myrtle Beach is quite nice as well.  We unpacked what we needed to make our dinner and then enjoyed a quiet evening. 

I was up early the next morning with my camera on the balcony.  There wasn't a lot of cloud cover to ensure that a nice sunrise will happen but there still was some beautiful colour in the sky.  The day was spent unpacking, walking the beach and getting our groceries.  It's time to relax and enjoy the beautiful day.

Our next couple of days were spent relaxing and settling in.  We've each already read two books and have been enjoying the beautiful weather.  It's been in the low 20's most of the days making it nice for walking and also exploring.  We have gone to Huntington twice this past week.  There is a lot of construction going on in the park as they suffered a fair bit of damage from hurricane Ian this year.  The causeway has no railings, the road is being re-paved and there is no place for sitting any more.  Sadly the walkway into the marsh also sustained a lot of damage.  I think with all the work going on the birds are not quite as plentiful right now.  We did finally see the Waxwings which was pretty exciting for both of us and we also saw an American Bittern and a Bonaparte Gull.  All three of these birds are ones that we haven't seen here so that was nice.

New Years Eve was quiet for us.  I went to bed before midnight but got up when I heard the fireworks.  They were right outside our window.  Earlier in the day I had researched the best way to photograph them so I was standing out on our balcony in my PJ's trying a new technique.  It was a fun way to welcome in the new year.

We are excited to hear that our granddaughters are coming to spend some time with us in February.  Ralph and I are already thinking of all the different things we might do together.

We started our week with a round of golf on Tuesday.  We golfed at Aberdeen.  It was such a beautiful day and we both enjoyed the temperature.  We had a really cool spectator at one of the holes who was nicely sitting at the side of the green on a hill watching.  Lol, I have never seen a stork "sit" before.

We also saw a beautiful Coopers Hawk by the green as well and it waited nicely for me to get my camera and come back to photograph it.

We finished the week with a visit to Holden Beach in North Carolina.  What a beautiful beach for walking and shell hunting.  Ralph reminded me that I have only a small bucket that I can take home lol but the searching was sure fun and we found some beauties.