Myrtle Beach - March 6 - 12

March 6 - Sunday was a quiet day. We did some reading between services and enjoyed the day.   We had a beautiful sunrise which was changing by the minute.  It was interesting to watch.

March 7 - we went golfing in the morning at Wachesaw East.  The course was in nice condition and it was a fun round played with John and Grace.  After golf we drove to Huntington Beach to enjoy a walk and spend some time at the causeway.  The birds were quiet today so we didn't spend a lot of time there but it was a nice way to round out the day.  We are seeing alot of yellow pollen in the air and it's all over the water, on our trucks and even on our clothing.  There is "high pollen" alerts in case you have allergies.  It's everywhere right now.

March 8 - we went golfing again today and this time played at Aberdeen.  It's a beautiful course with really nice tree's that are coming into full blossom.  Afterwards we visited the Vereen Memorial Gardens and enjoyed a nice walk in the marsh.

There is a tradition here where you can write your name on an oyster shell and hang it from a tree.  There were many hanging there and it was interesting to see.  It reminds me of the locks that people hang from the bridge in Paris (I think that's where it is).

March 9 - today the weather forecast was calling for rain. Since the rain was predicted for the afternoon we figured we'd go to Murrells Inlet in the morning and enjoy a nice breakfast and see if we could find the Eagle. Breakfast at the Dead Dog Saloon was delicious but we didn't see the Eagle. It was really foggy by the boardwalk which made for some interesting pictures. Afterward we headed to Huntington for a couple of hours and enjoyed the wildlife at the park.

March 10 - a quiet day as weather was overcast and not very nice.  A good book reading day. I just finished the book called "Monster" by Frank Peretti.  I quite enjoyed reading it.

March 11 - we went golfing again today at Leopards Chase.  It was cooler so we wore pants and sweaters.  The golfing was fun and we were able to get our round in before any rain came.  The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading.

March 12 - we woke up to Tornado warnings.  It was a day of constantly changing weather.  It was really windy at the beach and the sand felt like sandpaper against my legs.  The temperature in the morning was really nice at 19c but by 3:00 in the afternoon it had dropped down to 8c with a real feel of 0c.  It's crazy how fast it changed.  I went out 3 times with my camera and thoroughly enjoyed my time outside.  

I had left my shoes on the beach while wading in the water taking pictures.  When I came back they had so much sand in them.  Later when I took a shower, my hair was full of sand that had been blowing across the beach.

It was another really enjoyable week with new adventures and new memories made every day.  We are very blessed to be able to spend our winter months here.

Myrtle Beach - February 27 - March 5

February 27 - in between church services we decided to visit a place in Little River called Vereen Memorial Gardens.  It sounded like a nice place to take a walk.  As we were driving there it started to rain but we hoped that it would have cleared by the time we reached our destination.  It was drizzling a little so we set out for a short walk.  We were wrong about the weather and once we were a ways from the truck it started to pour rain.  That was too bad as this looked like a really nice place to see.  We'll have to go back again.

February 28 - this is Lawrence and Teresa's last day.  We decided to enjoy a round of golf all together in the afternoon. The weather was a little cooler but still perfect for golf.  We played at Long Bay.  In the morning we had a gorgeous sunrise.  I had offered to help Teresa find some sharks teeth so the  past couple of days I was walking the beach looking for them.

March 1 - After saying goodbye to Lawrence and Teresa we decided to head out to Huntington Beach for a while.  The weather was really nice and warm.  It was fun to watch the birds as they are all starting to exhibit their mating rituals.

Baby nightshade heron

On the far side of the pond there was dozens of mergansers doing their dancing. I wish they were closer.

March 2 - today the boys went golfing (Ralph, John and Mark).  I decided to go check out the Gay Dolphin which people here have said is a really good store to see.  I walked along the beach as it is in the south end of the strip just past the pier.  I left the condo at around 8:30 and was back around 11:00.  I didn't find the store that interesting which was a little disappointing.  I did enjoy however a good walk. I was able to enjoy seeing the dolphins while walking this morning.  It was fun watching them jump while looking from the beach.  I found some sharks teeth on my way back.  They are really abundant this year.  I joined Grace and Katrina at the beach where the kids were enjoying the beautiful day.  We had a nice lunch together before the guys came home.

March 3 - we went to Charleston for the day.  It was another gorgeous day for an outing.  We decided to do a little shopping and then headed to the beach to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine.  We went to a place called Folly Beach which is known for it's abundance of sharks teeth.  Our grandson is going to be so amazed at all that we have found.  While walking the beach we found 36 between the two of us.  The beach was very busy with many people hunting for teeth or sunbathing.  We spent a little over 2 hours there and then went in search of a lunch/dinner meal.  We went to a burger place which we really enjoy called Sesame Burger.  Yummy!  It brings back fond memories of other visits we've had here and the food was really good.  On our way home we two two huge forest fires.  It was pretty frightening to see and we could imagine how rapidly they would move.  One covered over 100 acres of land (we heard later in the news).  Driving over the bridge in Georgetown - it was like a heavy fog had rolled in over the ocean. Later that night the smoke was so strong smelling by our condo that we couldn't sleep with the door open (about 50 minutes by car away). 

March 4 - today was a quiet day for reading and walking the beach.  It's my favourite pastime when I'm at the condo.  I got really lucky and found two really large sharks teeth.  Oh was I excited.  We now have 4 of the really large "great white" sharks teeth that we have found.  Ralph had found one on Cherry beach and another here at the beach early on in our vacation.  

March 5 - wow!!  Where did the week go?  Mark and Katrina headed for home early this morning.  I'm glad they had nice weather during their stay.  Ralph and I decided to spend some time in Murrells Inlet and then Huntington Beach.  While we were at Murrells we talked with one of the locals who told us the best times to come to photograph the Eagle which is a local resident.  We didn't know that and we were intrigued.  We walked to the area that we were told it liked to fish to see what is was like and decided that we would come back in the week sometime early.  After photographing some of the pelicans we decided to head to Huntington.  While walking back to the truck, Ralph looked up and saw something sitting at the top of the church steeple.  I zoomed in with my camera and wouldn't you know it, the Eagle was sitting at the top surveying the surroundings.

I'm happy with some of the photo's that I got of the pelicans as well.  I've been practicing using my "fill" flash as I find it helps with clarity and brings out the beauty of the feathers.  It does tend to wash out the background so I don't use it all the time, but it's fun experimenting.

We headed to Huntington and took a walk to our favourite places.  When we go there, we saw that it was quiet on the causeway.  We walked down the south path in search of some of our favourite birds and found it was pretty quiet there as well.  Maybe they are all sitting on nests?  Who knows?  We did see a few however and lots of alligators.

Afterwards we headed to the south end of the park and enjoyed a nice picnic lunch while watching the Blue Birds.  I love how colourful they are.

To finish off the visit we went back to the causeway.  The tide was heading out and finally some birds had started to arrive.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the Osprey but it didn't stay long  We also got to enjoy watching a Cormorant struggle with a "huge" catch of fish which was nice to see.  There was plenty of Ibis and Snowy Egrets as well.  I think the highlight was seeing two Great Egret's fighting for territory.  I have a series of about 20 pictures where they are aggressively fighting.  It was fascinating to watch.  

It sure has been another beautiful week filled with lots of memories.