"Murray Beach"

This is what Reeves, with his developing speech calls Myrtle Beach. We just got back last night from our first foray into staying in a hotel room as a family. Bryant had a class T&W so we decided to make a mini-vacation of it. I must admit, as excited as I was to get out of town for a couple of days, I was dreading the nights spent with both children in the hotel. Luckily, my fears were completely unnecessary. Both boys slept great. I had envisioned being up all night as they woke each other up and took turns keeping us up. I was sure Bryant was going to be nodding off in his class because of this. Looks like Bennett has been a good influence on Reeves. Once we were all in for the night, we pushed the Pack-n-Play up against the door and covered the open side with a blanket so that Bennett couldn't see out. (It was too small to fit in the bathroom.) It worked like a charm. He even took a two hour nap in it Wednesday morning with Reeves and me in the room! Reeves spent the first night in one double bed by himself and the next snuggled up next to Daddy. (I know Bryant loved this!) Both boys, and consequently we, slept through the night both nights. Our room was peacefully quiet until almost 7:00. Neither B nor I could believe it.
Last week Reeves found some new beach toys in the garage. Bryant had bought them at the end of last summer. It's a bucket and toys all strapped to a dolly. For days before we left, Reeves would walk all over the yard with his beach toys. He loves them. He talked all about how he was going to play at "Murray Beach" with his beach toys. Unfortunately for him (and me), the weather was not cooperating. It was cold and rainy on Tuesday and pretty but freezing and windy on Wednesday. So, while Bryant was in class, the boys and I did a lot of driving and a little shopping - but mostly driving. They both took their afternoon naps in the car while I did laps up and down the bypass and the strip.
When Daddy got out of class on Tuesday, we headed to Broadway at the Beach for dinner. It was almost deserted. We first went to eat at a place called Key West Grill. I had to ask to be seated away from the table of smokers. I mean really, we have two children with us and the restaurant is about 9% full. Is this really the best place to put us? What an idiot host! Once we sat down and looked at the menu, we realized the cheapest thing on the menu was $23. Let's just say that's not in the budget now that I'm staying home. Luckily, no one came over to us at all in the five minutes we were there. Bennett was pretty fussy, so we used that as our excuse to book it out of there. We ended up at Hard Rock Cafe. Not too bad, and Reeves loved walking around looking at all the memorabilia. And it was loud, which is a must when your pushing bedtimes with two.
Since checkout was at 12:00 on Wednesday, I loaded up the car and headed out with the boys. We walked some, but it was so cold outside that, although Reeves probably would have been fine, I just couldn't subject Bennett to it. We hit Barefoot Landing for a bit, fed Bennett in a couple of parking lots, napped, and watched Nemo on continuous loop. Other than a few breakdowns, Reeves did great. The breakdowns concisted mainly of him screaming "NO!!" at the top of his lungs, continuously. I can't wait for this phase to be over.
Since I had a lot of quiet time driving up and down Myrtle, I had a lot of time to think. I was surprised by how depressed the whole place got me. Going down the old Strip is like standing in the middle of two time periods. On the land side you have the old inns and lodges that have been there for two or three generations. They're the kind of places I remember staying in as a kid. If I tried, I could just see the families pouring out of their stationwagons, beach toys and towels in hand. They'd come for a week and have the best time of their lives. They'd play on the beach all day, swim in the pool if they were lucky enough to stay at a place fancy enough to have a pool, maybe eat out, maybe cook in, and watch all the activity on the Strip at night. Fall asleep, exhausted, in a bed with sandy sheets, only to wake up and do it all over again the next day. They'd get to know the kids around them, and they'd all become best friends for those seven days they were there. Then, juxtaposed right across the street, oceanfront, are these massive highrises, holding hundreds if not thousands of guests each. They completely dwarf the smaller ins behind them. There is no view of the ocean save for those who pay for it from up above the fray. I just can't see that any interaction goes on with anyone else when you stay at one of these places. I didn't expect it to, but it depressed me. I don't long for the "good old days" all that often, but Myrtle Beach made me do just that. I can't fault the landowners who sold out so that these monstrosities could be built. How can you turn down multiple millions of dollars when you're making a living by cleaning up other people's rooms? They have torn down the old Pavillion. I imagine they'll probably put up another couple of huge hotels, maybe a park or two, but these too will be places cloaked in anonimity. Seems that the best place to go to be alone is right in the middle of the biggest crowd you can find. That's the beach vacation most people who go to Myrtle now get. SHAG, the movie, is truly now nothing more than a distant memory. There are still some beaches that are doing all they can to stay true to the family summer communities, but they are few and far between.
Reeves did finally get to take his beach toys on to Myrtle Beach. After dragging them behind him through all the outlets and stores, we bundled up and went down to the beach right before Bryant got out of his last class. He was perfectly content to dig and rake. We watched the birds and looked for shells. Then, it started to get dark. I looked up and realized the sun was indeed going down, but it wouldn't truly set for another hour and a half. It was just sinking, not below the horizon, but below the tops of the highrises. A day cut short by overzealous development. But a trip I am so glad we all got to go on. Our first "vacation" as a family of four.