the vacation week in review.....

Friday, June 30

We left on Friday, June 30 at around 9:40 AM, headed for Johnson City to spend the night with Mom and Dad. Traffic was decent, just a slight delay in Knoxville as usual.

Saturday

Saturday morning we met Chris, Kathy, Landon and Kaitlyn at about 7:30 and left around 7:40 for North Myrtle Beach. At this point, the bride would like for me to mention that the three female bladders in our van held out much better than those four total bladders in the Jeep Cherokee that we were following. There’s even a story about a towel (or a t-shirt) and a potty break, but I promised to save that for Landon’s wedding rehearsal dinner.

We arrived at the condo at about 3:45 and unloaded the vehicles. This is the point in the post where I blast Condo World. If you’re traveling to the Myrtle Beach area, avoid this realty company – unless you enjoy being ignored. Use anyone but Condo World. Go with 21st Century/Thomas, Elliott or Condolux, but AVOID Condo World.

We’ve stayed at Ocean Bay Club before. It’s a great facility. However, the unit we rented for the week was not only dirty but also sparsely furnished compared to the other units at OBC. We spent the first couple of hours cleaning out the food around the table surface, cleaning glass tabletops (as seen in the picture), finding LIPSTICK PRINTS on a supposedly clean glass in the cabinet, learning that lamps were not in working order, etc. I called Condo World twice and left messages – neither call was returned. Then I sent a lengthy e-mail detailing all the problems with the unit – no response. (They had the nerve to send us a thank-you e-mail for booking with them when we got back. Attached to the e-mail was a survey. At this point I doubt they’ll do anything with my complaints, but I did go ahead and fill out the survey and I sent them a copy of the original e-mail.)

We went to Bi-Lo that night, as did everyone else in a 10-mile radius. Not fun. Stay away from Bi-Lo at the Beach on Saturday night. It’s not their fault, it’s just crowded.

Sunday

This was a special day because Meg turned 16! We’d already had a surprise party for her before leaving, so we just spent the day hanging out as a family of 8.

We spent the morning on the beach. I spent the majority of my time riding waves. Before going out that morning, the bride applied what we thought was plenty of sunscreen. When we went in for lunch, we realized that we’d left the sunscreen in a bag on the beach so I thought I’d be OK for the afternoon. Bad decision, and I’ll elaborate on it later. I went to bed that night worn out. Chris mentioned that I had played hard that day, and he was right.

We went to Wal Mart that night. Bad idea. As I heard one gentleman remark on the way out of the store, “I ain’t never spent so much #$@% time buying no #$%^ water in all my life.” Eloquently put, my good man.

Monday

On Monday, I became the fat, nerdy kid whose mom made him wear a t-shirt in the ocean because she didn’t want him to get a sunburn, only I was wearing one because I ALREADY HAD a sunburn. Meg mentioned to the bride that this particular look was not a good one for me. I would also learn later in the week that after a good sunburn, no amount of aloe in the world will prevent peeling.

That night we went to the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. The Pavilion will be closing after this year. The owner of the land found that he could make more money selling the property to developers, so next year construction will begin on new condos there. It’s sort of sad in a way. Sara and Landon were our champion “ride riders” of the night. All I rode was the go carts, mainly because I want to throw up after most rides because I get motion sick very easily in my advanced age. Kathy did step up and ride some ridiculously crazy ride that Sara wanted to ride. I don’t do that any more. On those rides which are motion sickness inducing, either Sara rides by herself, gets another adult to ride with her, or she doesn’t ride at all. No more flashbacks to the Williamson County Fair, thank you very much.

Tuesday

Chris and I had a 7:30 AM tee time at Beachwood Golf Club. We played in about 4 hours and 15 minutes, but we could have easily played it in 3 hours. There was a foursome in front of us who held us up quite a bit. This was their shot routine: 4 practice swings behind the ball, 2 more as they addressed the ball, then the actual swing which would send the ball about 10 yards towards its target. At this point, the golf club would be tossed to the side, and the golfer would then thrust his arms heavenward as if to say, “now how did that happen?”. And it wasn’t just one guy doing this. 3 of the 4 “golfers” did this with almost every shot. Marriages have been reconciled in less time than it took these guys to putt. The courteous thing to do when the group behind you is playing faster than your foursome is to let them play through. They weren’t courteous. Frustrating day on the golf course, and my score proved it. I won’t share my score with you, but I will say that I hope to live to be that old. But I also had a sunburn. Yeah, that's it.

We made it back to the condo, had some lunch then went back to the beach for the afternoon. Yes, I still had a t-shirt on for protection. We had take-out pizza from Giorgio’s for dinner. Very good. We watched fireworks from the Cherry Grove pier on our balcony that night.

Wednesday

Another beautiful day. The weather during the week was very good. I was able to don some BullFrog sunscreen and get rid of the t-shirt. The picture to the right is of Chris and Vanna White. Yes, THE Vanna White. Vanna owns a condo there at Ocean Bay Club and spends the week of the 4th there every year. She was very nice and graciously stopped to posed for pictures with anyone who asked.

We ate at Preston’s for dinner. Our family doesn’t eat that much seafood, but Preston’s has a lot of home cooking type of food – fresh vegetables, good rolls, all kinds of meat, and a dessert bar. After dinner, we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall across from Wal Mart. Here’s a tip for anyone traveling with the bride and Meg – don’t take them to an outlet mall and plan to spend just 30 minutes there. They won’t get out of Banana Republic in 30 minutes, whereas I can do the whole complex in 30 minutes.

Thursday

At about 2:00 PM, a storm front rolled through the Grand Strand area. It rained for the rest of the evening, and it cooled things off quite a bit. But the little bit of rain for the week wasn’t all that bad, so I’m not complaining. That night the bride, Kathy and Meg went to another set of outlet malls, returning later that evening at around 11:00 PM. Chris and I stayed in the condo with the rest of the brood, briefly touring the North Myrtle Beach area for potential condos for the next vacation.

Friday

Cooler and overcast with a high around 80. We didn’t spend much (if any) time in the water that day. Instead we just sat out on the beach and enjoyed the sand and tidal pools. That night we walked back to Main Street for dinner at Giorgio’s. The sandwiches weren’t nearly as good as the pizza, but they were OK. We walked back to the OD Pavilion where the kids played arcade games and Sara traded in the tickets she’d won over the week for a valuable prize. Later Chris, the bride and I took another tour of Ocean Drive and took down condo names for our next trip to North Myrtle Beach. The bride and I were able to take a short walk on the beach. We came back and started packing up for the trip home.

Saturday

The Moffitts saw all week that it takes them less time to get ready in the mornings than it does the Stapletons. See, we have more females, so we take longer. See how that works? This was very evident Saturday morning. Though we seemed to have everything packed before they did, they still beat us by being ready before us.

We left the Condo World offices at 8:50 (they didn’t open until 9:00, so no confrontations upon check-out) and got back to Mom and Dad’s by 4:15 that afternoon. The drive back was very relaxing, with fewer traffic problems.

Sunday

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I guess that means I’m insane. I offered to stop at another outlet mall on the way home. I thought we’d be there for 30 minutes. Again, I must be insane.

The week was wonderful, just what I needed. It was good to get away and not have to deal normal everyday life for a few days. Not that my normal everyday life is all that bad.

One final thought – Meg gets her official drivers license today. If you’re on the road in Franklin and you see a silver Accord coupe, just do me and my insurance agent a favor and pull off to the side of the road…..