But sometimes things don't go as planned - For example, see my blog from April 2009 where Carol and I got married ;o)
After our week in Asheville, we had one more trip. Not planned, but, Hey, that's what's life is all about.
We had traded into our N Myrtle timeshare for a week in August. We were giving it to a family who are some of our best friends. But then their situation changed and they couldn't go. We offered it to another dear friend who said she'd go with her two daughters. Then one of the daughters canceled so we decided to join Marianne and her daughter Angie. This could have been a total disaster because the timeshare is really really small. It trades as a two bedroom but it is TINY. And except for Carol working with both of them, we'd had none to little time with them.
As usual, when will I learn, EVERYTHING went wonderfully. By the middle of the week, we said, "We don't want to come back to the beach ever again without you two !"
From the beach to Broadway at the Beach and Ripley's Aquarium, to just hanging at the pool. We had A BALL !
We even made it to a couple more sunrise walks.
We had thought that we'd not make it to Brookgreen Gardens until maybe next year. But, here we were back at Myrtle Beach. And we'd promised Emily that we would go, "the next chance we got." So -
Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, artists, poets, REALLY RICH people started their "gardens" in 1931. The vision was to collect work of the finest American sculptors, provide an outdoor showcase for Anna's incredible work, all in a garden setting highlighting South Carolina Lowcountry indigenous plants and animals. Their success shows in the simple fact that the gardens have been open to the public since 1932 and the number of visitors grows every year.
EMILY found THREE of her true loves - art, nature and photography. I cannot put ALL of the 201 pictures she took over two days. But here are a few - I can't even say, "of the better ones" because almost all of them were this beautiful.
And not to be too redundant - but if you "click" on the picture, you'll be taken to a much larger version.
And I even took pictures, too
And complete strangers took pictures of all of us
We've found a new secret about leaving Myrtle Beach but "shhhhh" don't tell anybody.
Another wonderful inbetween, my - becoming OUR - trademark of making an incredibly right decision for totally wrong reasons. The kids REALLY wanted to go back to Johnny Rockets. The only time we could possibly work it in was on the Saturday we were leaving. Carol insisted, while I wanted to get an early start home. We agreed to stay until 2:00.
Our checkout was 10:00 Saturday morning. The same as almost everybody else who were at Myrtle for that week. We have found that leaving earlier, even MUCH earlier on Saturday morning did not avoid the incredible traffic jams in the small towns west of the beach. In order to go to Johnny Rockets, we decided to check out, go to Ripley's Aquarium, have lunch and then head home in the middle of the afternoon. And it worked out perfectly. Broadway at the Beach was almost deserted, there were no crowds at the aquarium or the shops or the restaurants.
Emily, Andrew and Angie
Andrew, Tom and a Horseshoe Crab
A close look at a shark
The ride home was unobstructed by all those other tourists. We DID see mile long lines of stop and go traffic headed TO the beach.
So another - week long - inbetween. Mary Ann and I used to agree that the secret to a long happy marriage was "Low Expectations."
What I had simply hoped would not be a disaster turned into a great week with new wonderful friends.
Life is good - especially at the beach !
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