A Little Bluegrass

Last weekend Paul and I attended the First Annual Bluegrass and BBQ Festival held here in Surfside Beach. It was a fund raiser sponsored by the Shriner's Club of the area.

It was a nice day for sitting outside enjoying music. There was blue sky and lots of sunshine. There were two bluegrass bands performing for the afternoon.

The children were having a fun time dancing and playing. This little girl was such a cutie.

As I said, the music was very enjoying and so was the barbecue. There were vendors from the local area as well as North Carolina and Charleston. Paul and I sampled the pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches, and must confess, we had seconds!

There was such a mix of people with all the snowbirds in the area. Everyone was a clappen and a tappen to the music. Music always seem to bring us together...

Paul and I look forward to next year. The location was great as it was just up the street from our condo.

Another Year Older

Before I start my new post, I wanted to let you know that the snow you saw in the photos in my previous post did not stay with us long. I am happy to say that within an hour of our walk on the beach most of the snow had melted and we were back to white sand again. I know some of my friends were concerned that we were experiencing snowy weather here. Thankfully, not so.

Since my last entry, Paul has turned another year older and according to him, another year closer to his first CPP (Canada Pension Plan) cheque, which he will receive at age 60, (two years from now).

We started his birthday celebrations with breakfast at our favourite weekly breakfast place here, the Prince Creek Diner. Our new South Carolina friends, Irmgard and Don, joined us and we had very pleasant chat over a nice meal.

Paul decided that he wanted to spend his afternoon walking the beach at Huntington Beach State Park and do a little shelling. We did have a great walk but we did not find any treasures on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon.


We also spent a little time walking on the boardwalk through the marsh and stopped to watch the herons and egrets.


After a very enjoyable afternoon at the Park, we returned to our condo, as Paul wanted to sit out on the balcony enjoying a cool drink while watching the surf. I joined him with a glass of wine but I had to get back to the kitchen and prepare the birthday dinner which was homemade lasagna, requested by the birthday guy.

The last event for the day was the cutting of his birthday cake. It was not a homemade cake as Paul thought I would make it too healthy! He wanted lots of chocolate and LOTS of icing.

I am happy to say that after we each ate a large piece of the cake, Paul disposed of the remainder - in the trash.

February Fury...

The US is calling it the February Fury. As of last night all but one state, that being Hawaii, has had accumulation of snow this winter.

Last night our area received it's first accumulation in 10 years. The Surfside Beach and Grand Strand areas received 3 inches of snow.

This was the scene from our bedroom window this morning.

And this was the scene from our front door.


But the snow did not stop people from enjoying the beach. We saw more people on the beach this morning than of all the time we have been here. Most were seen to be taking pictures of the snow.

This family was making a snowman in front of our balcony.


Many people in the area were enjoying our snowfall, but there were a lot of disappointed people here, as well. This was the weekend of the Annual Marathon in Myrtle Beach and at about 10 p.m. last night the Organising Committee made the decision to cancel the Marathon for safety reasons, as the roads were expected to be slippery in the early morning.

The sun is now shining and the snow is quickly melting but the Weather Channel is saying there is a chance of more snow for Monday.

Exploring Garden City Beach

Last week Paul and I decided to explore Garden City Beach. We drove south to the far end of Waccamaw Drive, which is considered Murrell's Inlet, parked near the Gulf Stream Restaurant and found a beach access onto Garden City Beach. It was mid tide so we still had lots of beach on which to walk. There were many beach houses along the dunes with large beach stairs.


Other than two men taking a walk, we had the beach to ourselves. We walked around a couple of break walls and headed south down the beach. It was sunny and a great afternoon for exploring the beach.




I did a little shelling along my walk, but without much luck, and stopped to enjoy watching the sandpipers and the other beach birds scurry along the shoreline.

Paul continued on with his walk along the dunes as he was curious to see what was around the point. He found lots more sand and water along with a marina housing large boats.

Here was our view looking north on Garden City Beach showing the beach houses along the dunes and the high rises of Myrtle Beach in the background.

It was such a peaceful afternoon and a great place to enjoy the ocean that we almost stayed too long there.

It was nearing high tide so we had to hurry back the beach before the tide came in too near the break walls as we would not have been able to get around them. There was only one place that we had to wait for the surf to roll out before we could pass around the wall.

Paul and I thought it was an afternoon well spent. We hope to go back another day.