A day of shopping

A cool vintage "Gay Dolphin" postcard we bought today. We can't go to the beach without a trip to the Gay Dolphin. I've been buying crap here since I was a kid. Even then, I loved the name.

Today was the store shopping day, since tomorrow and Saturday will be prime shopping days at the flea market. We kind of lolly-gagged around the room for a while, having coffee and talking, then headed out.

We went through several of the antique places on Hwy 17. One of them is a great big place that used to be really good, but has gotten kind of junky. They still had a good amount of glass though, and I went through it all. The prices were pretty ridiculous. I guess they are used to tourists who'll pay anything, but some of it looked like it had been there for a long while.

We went downtown to do lunch at Peaches, but it was closed. We went on for the annual trip at the Gay Dolphin though. I love that place. I've been buying crap there for thirty years. It just makes me feel good to go in - it changes so little. I love digging through the mounds of crap and looking at all the tacky stuff. We buy our postcards there too. I got a t-shirt, some windchimes, and a new paperweight for my desk.

Even at the Gay Dolphin though, time marches on. They have closed the observation deck now. And the long long oil fountain that used to go all the way down the front of the store has been taken out. They have a water fountain at the bottom now, but it's just not the same. Still, it is the good ole Gay Dolphin, and it's always good to see it still there.

By that time, we were getting pretty hungry, so we found the little Thai place I like down there and had lunch. The soup mom got was WONDERFUL, but she didn't like it, so I ate it. I had some excellent Pad Siew, and mother had pepper steak, oddly enough, since she doesn't like green pepper.

After lunch, it was time for a rest, so we went back to the room for a bit.

***

Dinner that night was pizza. We looked up pizza places in the phone book, but when we got to the place we decided to go, it was already closed for the season. We did find a little place though, and had a great meal. Greek pizza with feta, black olives (sadly Spanish and not Kalamatas), onions and tomatoes, and I had spinach added to my half. Very tasty.

When we left, we decided to do the beach shop thing. Usually we have some mission or something we're looking for, and we go in just about every beach junk shop on the strand looking for it. One year, it was fake crocs (which I still have and wear more than I ever thought I would). One year it was a corkscrew. One year it was a bear beach towel (which we finally found, and I still treasure). This year there was a really pretty tie-died hoodie I wanted, but it didn't seem to come in my size. We looked in a bunch of beach shops, but since it is later in the season than we are usually there, they were closing early. We did that until we were tired of it, and it seemed like all the beach shops were closed anyway.

By that time, Mom decided to get doughnuts. She loves Krispy Kremes if they're hot (and really how could anyone NOT love them?), but she doesn't have them near her. We always get doughnuts late one night while we're at the beach. It's a tradition. We go get them when she comes to see me too, since there is a Krispy Kreme in Greenville. I never even go in there when Mom isn't with me. With my weight, I hardly need to. But I'm on vacation, and not worrying about my weight this week. Screw it. Some things are just more important. Like enjoying a tradition with my mom.

The doughnuts were delicious!