Weekly Recap - Myrtle Beach

Last week's recap.
I realized I didn't post any photos of where we were staying. This is a Wyndham timeshare 2 bedroom 2 bath condo on the ocean.

Heated lazy river

Sunday was a little cool but the guys went golfing and we wandered along Main St. Hardly anything was open as we belatedly realized it was a Sunday and we were in the deep South.

We found a local bar and had a great lunch, grilled cheese and a fried bologna sandwich with a pickle and  chips.

Not their menu but one from downtown Myrtle Beach, but you can find bologna sandwiches everywhere here!

Dinner was roast beef, potatoes, carrots, turnips and corn followed by strawberries and ice cream.

Monday the guys went golfing on a much warmer sunny day and we went out to wander.

Lunch at Duffy St. 

Crab!

Fried green tomatoes. First time and they were good.

A walk along the beach.

It was John's birthday so he chose Italian and we decided on Castano's at Barefoot Landing. What a mistake! Nothing went right. The bread was promised several times and finally came after our main courses were served.
The food was terrible. Here is a photo of my veal marsala swimming in sauce with pasta. The veal was tough and everything just looked beige!

They did provide a birthday dessert as the server had overheard us mentioning John's birthday.

Tuesday morning we drove our friends to the airport for their flight home. We had time to kill before we met other friends for lunch so we followed the signs for Downtown Myrtle Beach.

They have a skywheel on the boardwalk. More photos downtown.

Delicious coffee as we walked around.

We had time to kill so we drove slowly to our lunch location and took a lot of photos of old motel signs.

Lunch was at Nacho Hippo. We met up with Dave whom we hadn't seen in 12 years. He and his wife live in Myrtle Beach where he has an importing business.

Nacho Hippo was a great fun spot with delicious food.

Wednesday we checked out of the Wyndham Ocean Blvd. We went to Broadway on the Beach for a few hours and lunch as it was a gorgeous sunny day.

Lunch at Joe's Crab Shack so much better than a few weeks ago in Carlsbad CA. Maybe because it was lunch hour and not that busy.

 We checked into Wyndham Sea Watch in Myrtle Beach.

The manager was from Alberta, the timeshare desk was from Quebec so we chatted about the horrible Canadian weather. We loaded up the baggage cart with what we needed. Took it up to Villa III unit on the second floor. We took one look and said no way, it was dark and cramped. we called the desk and said it was not what we expected of a "deluxe" as it was described when we booked. Mary suggested we come down and get the keys to another unit. It was in Villa II unit 412, it was an end unit with lots of light so we switched.

Settled in and had steak sandwiches for dinner.

Thursday John was off to golf with Dave, so I had the day to myself. Spent some time walking the beach and then sitting in the sun. Time to read and catch up on blogs.

Dinner was beef stew and cheesy garlic bread. We have made good use of our leftovers.

Friday we went shopping at Marshall's and Ross' and did very well!! I scored a Steve Madden oversized tan bag for $49!!

John golfed with Dave and then the four of us met up for dinner at an Italian restaurant that they selected. Ciao, a tiny little place where reservations are a must. Delicious. I had veal marsala again as I had to rid myself of that horrible dish at Castano's.

Ciao is rated number 1 on Tripadvisor!!

Not my photo.

Only complaint? Portions were huge! Our friends went home with plenty of leftovers.

Saturday, time to pack up and get on the road to Charlotte NC. Click here for details.

Dinner at Fujo, amazing!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. For this meme, bloggers post what they finished last week, what they're currently reading, and what they plan to start this week.

My comments are not meant to be recaps of the story lines as I include a link to Goodreads for their synopsis of the book. I am merely stating how I felt about the book without giving any spoilers.

I missed the last couple of weeks as we were travelling a lot and not much reading was done! And then we got to Myrtle Beach and had friends visiting. So definitely not much to update. The complex we were staying in only allowed two wi-fi devices (like, seriously, in this day and age??). This meant I couldn't download to my iPad (third device) from the library so I ended up reading some books my husband had bought.


35 COMPLETED READS TO DATE!

1 ABANDONED

1 not finished as it expired so I will have to borrow it again. The Nightmare

FINISHED:

When a woman is kidnapped off a Chicago street in broad daylight, Jack Reacher's in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's kidnapped with her. Handcuffed together and racing across America toward an unknown destination, they're at the mercy of a group of men demanding an impossible ransom - the woman is worth more than he can imagine.

It was a pleasant read.

Jack Reacher was alone, the way he liked it, soaking up the hot, electric New York City night, watching a man cross the street to a parked Mercedes and drive it away. The car contained one million dollars in ransom money. And Edward Lane, the man who paid it, will pay even more to get his family back. Lane runs a highly illegal soldiers-for-hire operation. He will use any amount of money and any tool to find his beautiful wife and child. And then he'll turn Jack Reacher loose with a vengeance--because Reacher is the best man hunter in the world. 
On the trail of a vicious kidnapper, Reacher is learning the chilling secrets of his employer's past...and of a horrific drama in the heart of a nasty little war. He's beginning to realize that Edward Lane is hiding something. Something dirty. Something big. But Reacher also knows this: he's already in way too deep to stop now.

Again, a pleasant read.

STARTED:

With humor and opinions aplenty, a woman embarks on an unconventional quest to see if she is meant to be a nun.

Dreaming of France

 The rules for this meme are: Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again.

August 2012 - outside Paris 

Going through the first lock as we left Paris heading towards Normandy.

On the Road Again - Myrtle Beach SC - Charlotte NC

April 2014

We left Myrtle Beach after an 11 day stay. It was meant to be 8 days but the weather was not nice the first few days so we extended our stay. As well John connected with an old friend Dave and they spent a couple of days golfing.
The wisteria was in wild bloom everywhere along the highway.

 The GPS took us along scenic highways but not onto the interstate.

Lots and lots of billboards along the way.
These billboards were interesting, click here.

 And churches!! Everywhere!

We crossed into North Carolina and then hit Saturday afternoon suburban weekend traffic around Monroe.

Checked into the Hilton Charlotte City Center and were greeted very graciously.

The tulips are almost finished!

Time to head out and get some lunch.


Right around the corner was the EpiCentre which  is a mixed-use neighborhood located in Uptown Charlotte. It is laid out like streets winding around the space.

We ate at the Blackfinn Ameripub.

Once fortified we walked towards the visitors' centre to see what was around.
Isn't this sign priceless? I will post more of them another time.

For dinner we decided on Asian, Fujo, located within the hotel complex. Delicious, I think, partly because the portions were not overpowering in size. We had fried dumplings, won ton soup and General Tso.

Great city, would definitely come back.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - Apr 6

I'm joining the Scavenger Hunt Sunday sponsored by Ashley.

The rules are simple:

1. Anyone can participate.
2. You’re encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge. Creativity is also encouraged!
3. If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive (although I’m not too strict about it – I do my best to take fresh shots).
4. Link up here on Sunday (or Tuesday at the latest) – you can use the button above.
5. Leave comments for at least five entries around yours (with so many new participants each week, it’s the only way I know to be inclusive
6. Have fun

March 2014 - Myrtle Beach SC

Macro - a cool sand castle

1. Wheels

Shiny

Weather - after several days of rainy cold weather the spring breakers were happy to have a sunny warm(ish) day.

Favorite Sport - hmmm... frisbee, football or girl watching???

Song-ography Apr 6

Here's a new fun meme to join! You'll Shoot Your Eye Out rules are:

1.  Would be kinda cool if you would link back to my blog somewhere...ANYWHERE
2.  Would be kinda cool if you "followed" me.  Not to the bathroom or anything creepy...just here in blog-land.
3.  Please link up using your permalink URL.
4.  Photos MAY or MAY NOT be recently taken.  Heck, sometimes you might see a song title and think "I ALREADY have an amaaaaaaazing photograph for that song title!"  No reason you shouldn't use it.  Amazing is amazing regardless of when it's taken, right?
5.  Would be kinda cool if you'd visit some of the other participants and leave a kind word or two.  I'm from Philly, and you KNOW we have a rep for being the kindest and friendliest peeps in the world :)
6.  You may have one photo,  or drop a photo bomb of photos in your link up post.  Just please make sure your photo(s) are an interpretation of the song title for the week. 
7.  Link-up will be available beginning Sunday mornings.
8.  Tell lots, and LOTS of your blogging friends so I don't feel like I'm sitting at the school lunch table all by myself on Sunday morning.  I don't want to be a "Lonesome Loser" and have to post a photo about it.Got it?  Sunday, link up, song titles, photographs that are interpretations, a mash up I'm calling Song-ography, be there...YO.

March 2014 - Myrtle Beach SC

Wandering around North Myrtle Beach I came across the following: