A post in which we go to North Myrtle

This morning was designated for the North Myrtle flea market run.  First, though, we stopped off at Springhouse Family Restaurant for breakfast.  After tasting the food, I wished we had gone there before.  We had a really good breakfast with hot coffee for all, and headed out ready to face the day. 

Unfortunately, the North Myrtle flea market was rather a disappointment today.  It is always junky, but then I like a junky flea market.  But that seemed to be all that was there today.  Mom and I walked around for a while, but she wore out pretty quickly today.  I've run her pretty hard the last couple of days, so it's not a huge surprise.  I found her some place to sit while I ran through the rest of the buildings to look for glass.  I just scored here in May, but not today.  I believe I found the reason.  A little queen has set up a booth out there, and I'm pretty sure he's sucked up whatever out there was worth buying.  I did pick up:

- a pair of silver hoops (I usually buy my earrings there)
- a pipe for my Halloween costume
- a couple of grommets
- a pair of jeans (for $3) (after last night in my jeans, I just couldn't resist the extra breathing room)

On the way out, we saw a guy selling white sweet potatoes, which we both love, and bought a couple to take home. 

I wanted seafood for lunch today.  When we were down in May, I wanted to go to a big seafood buffet, but we never made it to one.  We were watching today as we drove back towards town, and ran across Bennetts Calabash Seafood #2.  It was one of the few open for lunch this late in the season - the really big ones are only open for dinner this time of year.  So it was kind of a port in a storm thing, but I was pleasantly surprised.  They had a large selection, and the food was fresh and good.  I played with some snow crab legs before moving on to eat a lunch that would have handicapped a less determined person.  It wasn't cheap ($27 for a lunch buffet), but there was a lot, and I didn't feel gypped.

When we left there, Mom said she needed some down time.  That was fine with me - we have done a LOT in the last couple of days.  We went back to the room and she went out onto the balcony for a while.  I went to the bedroom, opened the sliding glass door to listen to the surf, and took a nap.  Lovely.

me at the beach in my favorite old bathing suit 

Mom at the beach on our beach walk

When I woke up we took a walk on the beach (we try to do that every year), then sat on the balcony and talked until it was time to start getting ready for dinner.  It was one of those good talks that you don't seem to have at home - they happen in time out of time.  One of the reasons you go on vacation is to get away from everything, and take a little time to do the things you don't do in your regular life.  It is always interesting to me when Mom talks about when she and Dad were married, and the way things used to be.  It's good to have that perspective on the people they are now, and how those things shaped them.  In many ways, my father is an unhappy man, and I don't want to make the same mistakes.

Dinner tonight was at Abuelo's.  I found this place a couple of years ago during an internet search, and we fell in love with it.  I have dragged the boys out there, and it has become a must-have meal for a Myrtle Beach trip now.  Mom had been looking forward to it the whole trip.  Happily, the place was just as great as always.  Mom enjoyed her food, and they brought me an impressive platter of nachos, which I made a good dent in before calling it quits.  I think I have a new regular order there. 

The meal was lovely, but it was a little sad that it was the last day.  That's always a little bitter-sweet.  We got rather reflective over supper, and Mom told me that she felt she hadn't been there enough for me during treatment.  I couldn't believe that!  She drove up twice from Columbia to go to treatment with me, and this was before she retired.  I tried to reassure her that many hands make light work, that I'd had many people around me to help me and love me through, and that I completely felt that she had done her part.  Talking about treatment upsets me though.  I don't like to think about being sick, how miserable I was, or how close I came to not being around to make this trip.  I got control of myself though, and it was OK. 

One of the traditions we hadn't met yet was the perusal of the acres of crap at the beach shops.  They are all over the place down there, and I always enjoy seeing what's new in beach novelties, and what new stuff they've come up with to suck out that tourist money.  I like seeing the hermit crabs and stuff too.  Surprisingly (we had gone to dinner late) the stores were still open when we got out of the restaurant, and we set to with gusto.  We found some surprisingly tasteful colors out in hoodies this year.  I really wanted a zip one, but I have several, and when we found one in my size in a beautiful periwinkle color, I couldn't resist even though it was a pull-over. Mom got it for me for my birthday. 

It was a lovely way to close the trip.  We went back to the hotel and sat on the balcony for a while, watching the surf in the beautiful night before turning in.