Myrtle Beach & Charleston, South Carolina

Our campground in Myrtle Beach was more of a massive resort town on the ocean than a campground. They had it all, beach houses, stores, restaurants, arcade, lake, indoor/outdoor pools. A real RVers dream.

The rest of Myrtle Beach was true to their Redneck Riviera nickname. Lucky had fun at the Pavilion, a shopping mall of sorts that has a few old rides, tourist shop after tourist shop and a number of grand displays of chain restaurants.

Lucky just loves these things. (Can you spot him?)

A Kiss coffee shop. Really?

The pyramid was a bit much to stomach.

A Matt and Tammy favorite. Volcano nachos at Jimmy Buffet's Margarittaville.

Ripley's Believe it or Not! has a wonderful aquarium. Very impressive.

So many tacky gift shops. Gay Dolphin has 3 floors of cheap Chinese made crap.

Myrtle Beach is home to over 100 premiere golf courses and since nobody packed their clubs, we found one that supplied them. It was pretty cute, whenever someone hit their ball, Lucky would go running after it yelling, "Oh, I'll get it!".

Needless to say, we stopped keeping score after the 2nd hole. Pretty sure Lucky won.

Lunch at my personal favorite chain...

...with my favorite mac-n-cheese monster.

Then, a walk through an Alligator zoo.

Blahhhh.... enough of Myrtle Beach.

Charleston is rich in Southern charm, beauty and history.

They have a French Quarter that requires all it's residents and business owners to conform to the preservation of the historical look of the neighborhood. A structure 75 years or older is not allowed be torned down. The yellow house behind the giant oak is most likely the oldest continuously lived in residence in the US.

Over grown gardens and plenty of cast iron work...

The Angel Oak. This tress is approximately 1500+ years old.

Much of Charleston is named after John C. Calhoun. The 7th Vice President. He was kind of a nut and died in office. Check him out, if you would like. He is who Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis is named after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun

The down home cooking at Jestine's is written up in the book "1000 Things to do Before you Die" and has countless other write ups and awards. Brad had the meatloaf of his life, Mike's Coca-Cola grilled chicken and my BLFGT (bacon, lettuce, fried green tomato sandwich) was all to die for... for sure. Lucky had The Blue Collar Special, peanut butter and banana sandwich. Delicious.

It hasn't been all fun in the sun here for us. A walk through The Boone Hall Plantation was as cold as a blustery Minnesota day. 40 degrees and windy. Our lack of any real knowledge of this paticular plantation is due to the biting wind and extreme cold.

Oak Avenue

Cotton Fields

Slave Street (old slave cabins)

These sweet grass baskets are an old craft brought over from West Africa. The grasses in the South Carolina and Georgia region were similar to the materials they used in Africa. The men and women have been able to keep this traditional basket weaving art form alive for many generations.

There are basket stands set up all along the highway. Beautiful baskets and the time put into them is unbelievable but, the prices were a lot higher than expected. About $75.00 for a tiny, hand-size one on up to about $300.00.