DAY THREE .. MYRTLE BEACH AT LAST!!!

FIRST DAY OF FEBRUARY!!!  How quickly the month of January disappeared!!!  We will get to Myrtle Beach today .. Yayyyyyyy!!!  

A chuckle to start off our day .. Ken's checking our list of penny smashers in Carolina and digging into Madonna's Cookies before we get back on the road again!!  When I told him I'd take a Cookie or two he just really did not want to share .. LOL!!!

9:30  We have had our showers and our Breakfast .. I've posted the story of Day Two .. the car is loaded up and we're out the door!!   Gassing up and get ready to hit the road.  $1.55 a gallon at Exxon .. Not bad!!!  Checked mileage .. 5632 .. We have driven 708 miles since we left Sawyers Ridge on the 30th!!! And bought 31 gallons of gas!!   For those of you who want to know how many miles and how many gallons of gas it takes to get to Myrtle Beach .. LOL!!!

9:47 .. Darn .. a few miles down the road and on the left is a  sign for gas .. 1.47 .. LOL!!   10:08 .. A few more miles down the road and gas is 1.44 .. We thought we were getting a bargain at 1.55 .. LOL!!! 

Here's what McDonalds REALLY looks like .. LOL!!

After posting those pictures of that gorgeous McDonalds in Asheville I just had to snap a picture of this normal everyday see them everywhere McDonalds!!!

10:34 Rest Area at Kinards, SC ..

Picking out  souvenirs for our friends ..   LOL LOL LOL!!!  Temps is 64 degrees .. Another beautiful day!!!  

So hard to choose .. do I want this one????   Hmmmmmm!!!

Not one of my better pictures .. LOL!!! 

11:08 .. Columbia SC .. Looking for a penny smasher .. Supposed to be one at the South Carolina State Museum   Temp is up to 73 degrees .. WOW!!!

YIKES!!  This is one huge museum!!!  We wondered if there is stuff on all 4 floors .. the answer was YES!!! 

We chose to start on the 4th floor and work our way back down .. Thank Goodness they had an elevator!!!  I was so glad that they allow you to take pictures .. I took  a lot of them but could have taken a lot more .. LOL!!!

Hearse ..

This is what is inside the huge round dome you see in the window from the outside as you're walking up to the Museum!!!

A replica of Horrel Hill Consolidated School ..

This was one giant mirror .. I don't know who those two goofballs are in the mirror .. LOL!!!

Inside the Berry School room .. I think the teacher is pointing at me .. what did I do .. what did I do????  LOL!!

Part of an I beam from the twin towers 9/11 damage ..

I think maybe everyone knows what this is ..

Notice the catalogue laying by the hole  .. LOL LOL LOL!!!

It was interesting how the wheels and rails were made ..

Nut crackers .. giant nut crackers ..

This big chunk of wood isn't very pretty to look at but I found it amazing that the sign below says it is 1 million years old .. of course I had to get a picture!!!

We made it to all 4 floors .. I would love to go through it all again but we've already been here over 2 hours and we need to head in the direction of Myrtle Beach!!! 

AH .. but we can't forget that smashed penny machine .. that's what we came in here for .. LOL!!!

1:22    What a great museum!!!  4 floors of all kinds of interesting displays!!  Loved it .. AND loved that you are allowed to take pictures ..   LOTS of them!!!  I had thought since it was named South Carolina State Museum that it would be all about South Carolina but there was a lot about everything!!!  

This picture is for you Billy .. LOL!!!

My son Billy is from the hippy era .. and hasn't left it yet .. I'm thinking he will love this bus that we saw as we were driving through downtown Columbia!!!  

We're on I 20 East and watching for a place to stop for lunch!!!!  

 Gotta laugh .. I typed " RESTAURANTS"  in on the map app on my phone and the first one that popped up was Little Pigs BBQ .. Drove 6 miles out of our way .. With Ken no doubt drooling for BBQ all the way .. Only to discover they're not open on Monday .. LOL LOL LOL!!  Time to backtrack down the highway and start looking again!!! 

Notice the highway is lined with Pine Trees .. Pine Trees seem to be very prolific in Carolina!!!

2:20 .. ended up having a late lunch at Hardee's in downtown Lugoff, SC.

At last .. something besides trees to snap a picture of ..

Had to get a picture of this street sign .. my Mom's mother was a McCurdy!!! I think this was in Conway, SC .. we are getting close to Myrtle Beach!!!

More trees and water ..

Notice the Grissom Parkway sign .. MY maiden name .. LOL!!!

Getting close!!!

7:17  .. Missouri time .. We have arrived at last .. the Caravelle!!! 

The luggage cart is just a bit full as we pulled and pushed it onto the elevator!!! 

There were a few problems we discovered as we got into the room they gave us .. when we made our reservation back in September we told them we wanted the same room we had when we were here last year .. 512 .. 5th floor oceanfront.  Sad to say they are currently doing some remodeling on floors 1 thru 6 sooo they had booked us into room 1512.   Fifteenth floor .. that's all right .. there are only 4 rooms on this little corner of the hotel so won't be much traffic going by the doors and there's an elevator very close!!!  And it is oceanfront .. BUT .. it seemed smaller than the one we had last year .. he dresser / TV stand had only 2 drawers and they were shallow .. a very tiny closet .. 512 had a double closet with mirrored doors. It also had an extra little nook before the bathroom with a mirror and counter top.    At this hotel they always call your room when you've had time to get there to see if you were happy with it .. this is good because we were NOT happy!!  I told them the problems and they had us come to the desk and found gave us "keys" to rooms 1513 and 1214 to check out. 

But first Kenny was getting hungry .. it's been several hours since lunch and River City Restaurant and Bar was right down the road .. so we took a walk that way before heading back up to deal with things ..

I hope you can read the names and descriptions of the sandwiches on here ..

Ken loves this place because they have a fried Bologna Sandwich that is 1/2 pound of Bologna!!!  Look at that ..

I really wasn't hungry so I ordered a cup of their Chili .. they brought a bowl of Chili piled with Shredded Cheese and raw Onions .. the Onion went on Ken's "plate" .. I put 4 packages of Sugar in this Chili and it still burned my mouth and tongue .. WHEW!!!   I didn't eat a lot of my Chili but I did drink my whole glass of Ice Water and ordered more .. LOL!!!  Kenny ate my Chili and I ate some of his Sandwich!! 

I was dying to take a picture of the tables and chairs but thought the customers sitting there might not like that .. I got lucky and they left while we were still there .. Yayyyyyyy!!!!

Hopefully the walk back to the Caravelle worked off a few of the calories we had partaken of .. once we got back we headed for room 1214 .. checked it out .. liked it better than the one we had but still had a tiny tiny closet.   Checked out room 1513 .. which by the way is just a few steps from the one we started out in .. and decided this is the one!!!  Double closet .. larger dresser / TV stand with 3 drawers  AND 2 a door on each side of those drawers with 3 shelves in each one .. AND the extra space with mirror and countertop before the bathroom ... Woooo Hooooo!!!

Come on in and check the place out ..

Double closet with full length mirrored doors .. and yes I brought my scales .. don't want to go home weighing 50 pounds more than I weighed when I got here .. LOL!!

Extra countertop and mirror area ..

Those beds sure looked comfy after hours on the road .. and the work of getting ourselves organized and settled into our "home away from home"!!!  It was too dark to be able to see the ocean by the time we got here and got settled in but we had the door to the balcony partly open so we could hear that beautiful sound of the ocean waves flowing in and out .. that's what I love most about this place!!! 

The moon over Myrtle Beach!!!