Moonlight, Surfside Beach

Last night I was sitting out on our balcony finishing my glass of wine while waiting for the high tide to roll in and I took this photo of the moonlight. It was a beautiful night and I wanted to share it.

Surfside Beach

Taken from our balcony at Shores of Surfside Resort

A Few Quiet Days

On 1 March Paul and I moved from the Waters Edge Resort where we stayed in February to our new location at Shores of Surfside I which is just north of Garden City at Surfside Beach.

The only rainy day we have experienced since our arrival here in South Carolina was, of course, on moving day but we did manage to get most of our things into our new unit before the heavier rains and thunder storms. The ocean is still awesome, even on a rainy day.



Most of the streets along the beach do not have any form of drainage so the water collects on the streets. When there is oncoming traffic, you are forced to drive through major puddles unless you stop and wait for this traffic to pass. You cannot pull to the side of the street as the streets are too narrow and there really isn't much space to pull off.

We are now on the second floor of our new unit which gives us a much better view of the ocean. There are mostly low rises and beach houses in this area. To give you an idea of the cost of some of the properties in the area, the beach house next to us similar to the one on the right in the picture below is on the market for $1,799,000.00 and suggested as a purchase for a second home.......


At first I was not happy about the hassle of moving to another complex, but I am so happy that Paul suggested it. I now have kitchen cupboards full of pots and pan (long story) but more importantly the view from our bedroom is absolutely awesome. We wake up every morning to the sound of the surf and some mornings we can pillow up and watch the dolphins swimming in the ocean.


It took us most of Sunday to settle into our unit, sorting out the kitchen and unpacking so we decided to take a rest on Monday and just enjoy our time near the beach. Although the temperatures in the area were setting records for cold, we thought we would bundle up and take a walk on the beach, after all we Canadians are use to braving the cold. That idea didn't last long as it was bitter cold with the wind so we headed back inside. The beach was deserted.

Tuesday proved to be another extremely cold day breaking records set back in the 1800's. Mind you the actual temperatures were in the low 20's F and Paul and I would kind of chuckle when listening to the Weather Channel. They were telling people to leave their taps dripping and bundle up the children when they set out for school.

What better thing to do on a cold day then to go shopping. We set out for North Myrtle Beach to check out a couple of shops and enjoy the drive to this area. Again we were happy that we chose to stay in the Garden City/Surfside Beach area. It is such a quiet area.

Today we were happy to be able to enjoy our balcony once again and have our breakfast outside, still wearing our jackets, but not our ski jackets as earlier in the week. Breakfast was French toast in case you are wondering and if I do say so, being the cook, it was quite good.

Paul and I feel that life cannot get much better and we appreciate every day being here. We hope to share this with family and friends next year.

Finally Visited Myrtle Beach

Although we have been here for almost a month, Paul had not yet seen Myrtle Beach. I had been there several years ago in April for 10 days with my sister and brother-in-law.

Since it was a nice day we thought we would check out more of the area. We drove along the main street of Myrtle Beach on our way to Apache Pier. Paul was not impressed with Myrtle Beach as it was mostly high rises, tourist shops and attraction parks. The area of Garden City and Surfside Beach where we are staying is more residential with mostly low rise complexes and beach houses which makes the area more tranquil and homey. We both agreed that we like where we are staying much better.

We stopped at a public beach parking area and took a walk on Myrtle Beach.

We then drove on to Apache Pier, the east coast's longest pier. There were several fishermen trying to catch a little supper but not having much luck. There were great views of Myrtle Beach and its high rises from the far end of the pier. There are 60 miles of beach.

Of course I had to take time to check out the treasures on the beach. There were so many shells. It was amazing.

We then moved on from the Pier to Broadway at the Beach which is a new shopping area opened in the Myrtle Beach area. As this time of year is not the tourist season here, it was rather quiet there and some of the shops and attractions were not open. We enjoyed a walk around and popped into a few little shops. We both loved this piece of stain glass but the price tag was a little high. Maybe it will be there next year.

We had another great day together and headed home to start our packing up for our move to a new condo on 1 March.

Sunset at Garden City Beach

This is the sunset last night over Garden City Beach Marsh that we experienced on our way home from dinner at the Gulfstream Cafe.

Beresford Snow This Week

This was a picture of our front and side yard before we left Beresford in January.

This is our yard now after a winter storm this week that dumped more than 55 cms of snow on Beresford. Where are our cedars?

Charlie is trying to find the path to the front door.

I think he found it. Bless him.

The side of our yard along the driveway.

I don't think all this snow will be melted before we return home in April, but a girl can dream, can't she........

Historic Seaport of Georgetown, SC

The temperature on Wednesday reached 12 C so we thought it a nice day to do some exploring.

We started our day by checking out the Spring House Restaurant for breakfast which was nice but unfortunately no ocean view.

We stopped at the Visitor's Centre at Murrells Inlet to get some information and a map for the Georgetown area. It is about a 30/40 minute drive from Murrells Inlet and we arrived there around noon. Established in 1732, Georgetown is South Carolina's third oldest city. The oak-lined avenues of this "little Charleston" city boast group tour treasures. The riverfront has lots of history and is alive with activity in tourist season. We strolled along the main street, Front Street, which reminded us of Rainbow Row in Charleston with all the nice colored businesses and shops.

We followed a historic district map which gave us information on a number of historic properties in the area. We found the history, the southern style houses and the huge trees quite interesting. We could easily see why Georgetown was referred to as "little Charleston". It was nice to see the flowers blooming in the many nice gardens.

This large white plantation house reminded me of the US Ambassador's house in Ottawa.

After strolling around the residential area, we took a walk along the harbourwalk. Overlooking the Sampit River Harbor, the boardwalk is lined with restaurants, galleries, antique shops and specialty stores. People were enjoying a meal or a drink on some of the patios on the boardwalk as it was nice and sunny. As February is not peak tourist season, the atmosphere in Georgetown was tranquil and we enjoyed our time there.

On our drive back to Garden City Beach, we stopped to browse in Ace Hardware and saw these awesome hand-painted bar stools. With a price tag of $109.00 each, they are still in the shop and we are the proud owners of photos only.

Retirement Motto

Spring in Garden City Beach

My blog counter is showing that I have at least 125 days before I can even think about gardening in Beresford but here in Garden City Beach and Surfside Beach the garden centres are open for business. I am so envious. And it is even more difficult to resist buying any plants as we are not allowed to bring them across the border into Canada.

As Paul and I were walking off the beach last night, we saw these daffodils by the side of the walk at the resort next to us. It was so nice to see a sign of spring. Since Beresford had 55+ cms of snow on Tuesday, I know my tulips are no where near popping their heads up yet.

We Are Now Two

Since we arrived here in Garden City Beach, we have been taking turns cooking dinners at each others condo to lessen the work for us. We then treated ourselves to a meal out in a local restaurant for the third day.

Friday night (20 Feb) was the last evening that we cooked together. It was our turn to cook but this time we decided to do the cooking at Ro and Neil's condo as they were more lucky than us and had pots in their unit big enough to cook a meal for more than 2 people. It's a long story but we have been trying to get more cooking utensils from the management company since we arrived but with no luck so we are moving to another rental on 1 March.

I cooked a shrimp stir fry and we had a toast to future trips to South Carolina.

As Saturday (21 Feb) was our last day together before my sister and brother-in-law started their journey home to Brockville, we decided to take a walk on the beach here in Garden City and to revisit the boardwalk on the marsh at the Crazy Sister Marina at Murrells Inlet. It was a nice afternoon.

We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out so we went to a place in Murrells Inlet called Drunken Jacks. We sat at a window table that looked out onto the marsh where we could see the boats and watch the seagulls and pelicans.

One of the great foods that we love here are hushpuppies. They are a southern American food consisting of small cornmeal breads that are deep fried or baked in the spherical, oblong or ring shape. Most of the local restaurant will serve a basket or two of them with your meal along with honey butter. Yes, we know that they are not at all healthy but once you try one, you are hooked. Ask Paul.....

We had a great three weeks together at Garden City and talked of spending a month together here again next year.

Walk at Pawleys Island

Yesterday we decided to take a walk on the beach at Pawley's Island. The temperature was 67F but the winds were high so we got sandblasted a few times while on the beach, but it was well worth it.

Neil took this photo of an eagle flying overhead with an object it its beak. When the eagle dropped the object on the beach near us, we discovered it was a rudder from a small surf board.

Even though the water was a little cool, there was a surfer in the water.



There were lots of shells on the beach but unfortunately no great finds today.

Pawleys Island has a lot of great beach houses and sand dunes.

I spent a lot of time getting the sand out of my sandals.