A post in which it is quite a lazy day

I woke this morning to find that Mother had experienced another rough night. Apparently putting the mattress on the floor didn't do the trick last night. I went and fetched some cream cheese for the bagels while she made coffee.

We had agreed to take some more time to relax than we usually do when we're off together, and we have done so, but today was a really lazy day. I went down for a quick dip in the pool after breakfast while mom rested, and then we got cleaned up to go to the Gay Dolphin.

I love the Gay Dolphin. I've been going there since I was a little kid, and no trip to the beach is complete without stopping in to get something. It's not as much that they have such fabulous things - they really don't, despite the mind boggling array of crap. But mixed in with the junk are things they have been carrying since I was little; vintage post cards of women in bikinis with Madonna-esque breast cones in the tops and the like. It's comforting to know that the store never really seems to change that much. The sedimentary layers of disarray please me. When I was a kid, it seemed like an endless trove of incredible treasures. While my perception has changed now that I'm older, I never walk in without recapturing a scrap of that wonder. Although I am still frustrated in my quest for a non-embroidered Gay Dolphin t-shirt, I emerged triumphant with another set of wind chimes, a magnet (I always buy a fridge magnet on trips), a Christmas ornament (Mom and I get ornaments every year on our trip), and a box of salt water taffy (which for some reason I was inexplicably craving).

Next on the agenda today was lunch at Peaches. This is another vacation tradition. Although I am a pescetarian, I do fall off the wagon once a year to have a hot dog at Peaches. We've been eating there since I was a little kid, and it just takes me back. The hot dog this year was even better than I remembered them being, and the staff was both cute and nice. It was a capital lunch.

After lunch we went back to the room for a nap. Afterwards we were rather at loose ends, having done just about everything we set out to do. Mom suggested we just go down to the beach. It was a glorious afternoon, and the water was just as delightful as it was the first day. I body surfed for a while, and then just flopped in a lounger beside Mom and chatted with her about the endless parade of people walking by to be looked at. Mom tried with limited success to feed the birds some stale bread she had brought for that express purpose. It was just a nice relaxing afternoon, basically doing nothing.

Dinner tonight was to be at Nance's Creek Front Restaurant. Nance's is one of Mom's very favorite restaurants at the beach, and we always eat there at least one night while we're gone. They do have great food, and it's a popular place. Even on a Sunday night there was a wait. Mom ran into some people she knew and we chatted with them to pass the time. We had a capital meal. I ordered a seafood combo that I couldn't finish, and Mom had one of her own, a surprising departure from her usual predilection for crab legs. I was quite surprised.

After supper we made our leisurely way back to the room, stopping at a few beach stores on the way back. I scored a Myrtle Beach t-shirt I liked and of course needed, having brought only two others with me from past trips. When we got back to the room, Mom took the bed. I was glad about that. I had no problem getting to sleep on the sofa bed.