Myrtle Beach – Unexpected Finds At The Tourist Destination – Why It’s Fun For The Whole Family

The first time I went to Myrtle Beach I was prepared to have a bad time. I don’t usually like crowds, and lying around in the sun all day just wasn’t my bag. The wife and kids liked it, though, and we were visiting family so I just resigned myself to a week at the beach.

That was over twenty years ago, and I wait with joy for the moment when I can once again head for the coast. Myrtle Beach 
surprised me then and continues to do so now – I have grown myrtle_beachto like the bustling crowds around the SkyWheel and the Boardwalk, and even some of the other standard tourist attractions are fun – especially when you see the kids (well, the grandkids nowadays) discovering things for the first time!

The Alligator Adventures is great, and of course the Family Kingdom is fantastic for kids – there is also some of the best mini-golf courses in Myrtle Beach I have ever seen (that’s one of the things that started turning me around on this town!)

Another pleasant surprise Myrtle Beach offered were the unexpected gems I found – the small restaurants like the Soda Pops Vintage Shop, the state parks and nature reserves like Huntington Beach State Park, the Burroughs-Chapin Museum and Brookgreen Gardens, a delightful little park, garden an museum all rolled into one!

The thing which draws me back to this place in thought and body, though, was a simple sight that greeted me more than two decades ago, and which is still the largest attraction was the ocean.

There is something about it – some people like it in the sun, and playing in the sand and the surf. I happen to like the beach early in the morning, or on cool, windy spring days. I like to fish from the piers in the afternoon, and watch the people enjoying themselves on the beach – they have chosen best attraction of all, and one that is free!

There are great camping opportunities at Huntington Beach State Park and Myrtle Beach State park, but in the peak tourist season they get filled up fast. Reservations can be made at most state parks for camping, and more parks are offering amenities like Wi-Fi as well.

That is just one more thing about Myrtle Beach that I like!

I don’t know how many times now I have traveled to the coast of South Carolina, and I wait fondly for the next time that I can go back, and sit once again with a cup of hot coffee to watch the sun climb slowly over the Atlantic.

The sound and the smell of the ocean are powerful triggers, and bring pleasant memories of a time when my family was just starting out. I have watched the kids and Myrtle Beach grow up together, and cannot wait to see the grandkids back on Boardwalk and the Ferris wheel, eating cotton candy and hot dogs, getting lost in the mirror houses or shrieking in joy at Alligator Adventure or the Waccatee Zoo.

All these years later, and here I am looking forward to another beach season!

The Author writes about family, life, work and how to make them all come out right – these days he likes the  resorts in Myrtle Beach more than the camping, and looks forward to watching his grandkids enjoy the Myrtle Beach activities!

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Cruise destinations from around the world: Barbados

Barbados, much further to the East from the other Caribbean islands, is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike its neighbors, which have a volcanic origin, Barbados is an island made of limestone, with beautiful beaches along its famous Platinum Coast and reefs with swarming marine wildlife around it.
Bridgetown, the energetic capitol of the island, is a significant business centre of the Caribbean. The heart of the city lies at the mouth of Constitution River, at the small inner harbor of Bridgetown, called Careenage. There are many pleasant cafés here by the water, ideal for a having a rest and a strong Caribbean coffee on a tiring afternoon and

watching the colorful life of the city.

Going west on St. Michael’s Row the cathedral of Bridgetown is only a few minutes walk. St. Michel’s Cathedral is known for the fact that George Washington himself visited it on his only journey outside the area of today’s United States, when Bridgetown was the largest city on the world outside Great Britain with English-speaking population.

Behind the cathedral lies Broad Street, the city’s main shopping and business district. Among the many office buildings and shopping centers there are several old colonial mansions left, decorated with wrought iron gates and balconies. This is the colonial heritage of Barbados: fantastic mansions and lush tropical gardens everywhere around the island. The owners of the plantations built mansions to express their high status in society, affording every luxury due to the rich incomes provided by sugar cane. The majority of these architectural treasures is private property and neither the locals nor the tourists can visit them. However each year (sometime between January and April) the Open House Program encourages the owners to let the public visit their property at least for a few hours. Lately those who were interested could even visit the residency of the president.This program involves not only the mansions from the colonial period; Barbados is famous for its modern architecture, too. During the Open House Program some of the astounding buildings of the illustrious Sandy Lane was opened as well.

Another yearly activity attracting many tourists is the famous summer carnival of Barbados, which continues for five weeks and has its peak on the first Monday of August, with the spectacular procession of Grand Kadooment. This summer festival commemorates the times when Barbados was the world’s largest sugar producing country, and the yearly harvest was celebrated with joyful festivities.
Besides the cultural activities and its rich heritage Barbados is also famous for its wildlife. The soil on the inside of the island proved to be too hard for establishing plantations, so this area remained practically intact through the centuries. One of the reserves here is Welchman Hall Gully Gardens, close to the west coast with fantastic rock formations, tropic plants and flowers and a towering bamboo forest. Just two miles northeast from Welchmann Hall lies Flower Forest on a vast area with steep paths meandering among thousands of flowering orchids. But the real home of orchids is Orchid World itself next to Gull Hill, on the eastern side of the island, with more than 20 thousand, astonishing, colorful and diverse species of orchids.

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