Myrtle Beach Vacation

A Visit to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Summer is almost here, and the smell of vacation is in the air. Where do you want to go? Myrtle Beach sounds good to me. I can already smell the ocean air filled with a hint of coconut suntanning oil. I can feel the sand between my toes, and hear the waves crashing onto the shore. Kids laughing and playing, building sand castles, finding sea shells, sharks teeth, and other curious items washing up from the deep. Then again, I live here and enjoy it often. I may be biased! 

Myrtle Beach is flooded with an array of very nice motels to accomodate you while you are here. One of my favorites is The Landmark Resort Located at 1501 S Ocean Blvd. Ammenities include indoor and outdoor pools and kiddie pools. Kiddie water park, 2 300 ft long lazy rivers (one inside and one outside), 5 indoor whirlpools, sauna, exercise room, miniature golf, restaraunt, gift shop, pool bar, video arcade, and an onsite laundry (As if you want to do laundry while on vacation, but you never know). My family and I choose this particular motel for our "staycations".

So, what is there to do besides hang out at the motel and play on the beach? A lot! There are night clubs, amusement parks, Go Karts, Malls, Gardens, and so much more. There is fine dining and seafood buffets galore.

Family Kingdom offers amusement rides, arcade and sweet treats in Myrtle Beach's only ocean side amusement park, and Splashing fun at the ocean front water park. Fun for all ages.

Brookgreen Gardens is a lovely adventure also enjoyed by all ages. Walk through the beautiful gardens where you will see wildlife, beautiful sculptures, and even a zoo!

 Ok, so I've been wanting to go to Alligator Adventure for 5 1/2 years now, and we finally went today. With it being Easter, the crowd was minimal. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera, so, no pictures. I did take a few on the cell, but I have no idea how to get those onto the computer.

 Anyway, we paid our admission, which was surprisingly low. $26.00 for 2 adults and 2 children with our local discount. I think it is something like $17.99 for adults. $15.99 kids 4-12, and kids 3 and under are free. There is a senior discount, and there are oodles of coupons out there for $ off as well.

 We first looked at the Lemur exhibit. They are so darn cute! One momma lemur had its tiny little baby hanging onto her back. Just darling. Then, there was the African Fruit Bat. I personally had never seen a bat before. They really do hang upside down. They keep this exhibit dark so they actually do fly around. They are not as clumsy as I would have thought, to be "blind". I guess that sonar works pretty well.

 Then we went on to the Alligator feeding show. WOW! Mostly, the alligators just lay around looking dead. When feeding time comes....A whole new story! It was really amazing to see them jump out of the water to get the chicken pieces. You could hear their jaws snap shut. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that bite!

 Next we went into the reptile house. LOTS and LOTS of pythons and other snakes, monitors, and geckos. There was one anaconda that could have easily fit myself and my husband into its huge body.

 We went on to the snack area and got popcorn ($1), frozen lemonade ($1.50), apple juice ($1.00), and chips ($1.00) I was pleased with the snack prices. They also had all-beef hotdogs for $2.00, and other snacks as well.

 We then took in the reptile show where we were able to touch the turtle, ball python, and baby alligator. (I was the only one in my family that would touch them.)

 After that we spent about an hour and a half just walking around, looking at the tigers, llamas, turtles, alligators, a porcupine, fish, exotic birds, and more.

 We had a great inexpensive time, and I would recommend this to be one of your stops when you come to Myrtle Beach. It is located right inside Barefoot Landing (where we went afterwards and rode the carousel and bought 2 bottles of wine from the Carolina Winery. It is actually legal to buy your chilled wine there and then walk around and drink it inside Barefoot Landing. They even supply the cups! We took ours home.) Great adventure!

There are many golf courses to choose from and several motels offer golf packages as well.

This is a fun place for all! As I said, I may be biased since I live here, but when I go on vacation, I STAY HOME!!!

Another fantastic must see attraction is Ripley's Aquarium. Right now they have a dinosaur exhibit that is extremely educational. There are several robotic dinosaurs including a t-rex that you can interact with. My kids were a bit scared of them. Aside from that, they also have....you guessed it, FISH! Sharks were swimming above our heads. They looked as though the were swimming in the air and it seemed we could reach out and touch them. We didn't even have to walk through this part because they have a long moving walkway. You just stand there and it takes you through. In other parts there were eels, saw-fish, sea horses, jelly fish, rays, sharks, poison dart frogs, the list goes on and on. My only complaint is that the only exit is through the gift shop. I understand that this is a ploy to get you to spend more money, but this is brutal with children. We managed to escape with only spending $12.00 in the Cargo Hold Gift Shop, for toys that were in no way, shape, or form related to fish. All in all we had a great time. Ripley's Aquarium is located inside Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach.

On any given night you can see fireworks on the ocean, and inland as well. There are fireworks stores on almost every other block, but it is prohibited within the city limits to shoot them off! Go figure!