A post when we go to Surfside

This morning was a flea market day.  There is one north and one south of Myrtle Beach, and we do both when we're down.  They both have their charms.

The one south of Myrtle is at Surfside.  I wanted to go back to a place we had eaten before, that resided in my memory only as 'the pink place'.  I had enjoyed it when we went before, but because I didn't remember the name of it, we've been kind of hit or miss on going there again.  This morning we hit it.  The actual name of the restaurant is Garden City Pancake House in Murrells Inlet.  Sadly, I had to pull a picture offline - the decor truly has to be seen to be believed.  It kind of looks like Liberace's dressing room: light oak, lots of pink, painted wrought-floral light fixtures, and tons of silk flowers.  I enjoy the kitch, but it could be seriously emasculating to the fixedly butch.  The meal itself didn't quite live up to my memory.  I had 'eggs Oscar' which was like a Benedict with crab cakes in place of Canadian bacon, which sounds freakin' perfect.  But my muffin was kinda chewy, the crab cakes tasted more like frozen chuck wagon steak, and the hollandaise was a disturbingly unnatural neon yellow.  Mom's coffee wasn't hot enough, but her breakfast was good.  I was hungry, and I'm usually pretty game, and since nothing was burned, I tucked in and we made a good meal of it.  Once a year, it's really worth going in there to be sure nothing has been changed (to me, anyway).

Hudson's Surfside Flea Market was just as we left it, and didn't disappoint.  I bought pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down, and looked at the one depression glass booth.  Interestingly, her prices have gotten a tad more reasonable, but she didn't really have anything I wanted today.  But I found everything else I wanted.  I got:

- two new pairs of aviator glasses (I broke my old ones)
- two big sun glass boxes to put them in (the fancy Beyonce kind for big glasses, one in faux-Vuitton, and one in basic black)
- a blue and white Myrtle Beach t-shirt exactly like the one I have almost worn the letters off of (the original washed and packed for this trip in its farewell voyage)
- a set of little pans to use in my toaster oven
- a microplane (Billy has two, and I've been wanting one to replace that worthless Pampered Chef thing I had)
- a new wallet (I just changed out recently, but the one I had in reserve is already falling apart)

So it was a successful trip.

On the way back we stopped in the Myrtle Beach Flea Market.  They have a lot of jewelery and stuff, and we enjoy going in there.  Also, it's all inside, so I'm sure in the summer the air-conditioning is a welcome relief from the heat.  I bought my flip flops there and I love them.  I was kind of hoping to replace them today, but no luck.  They have tons o' shirts on offer, and although it's mostly tourist-y junk, they do have some antiques on offer as well. 

The big surprise today is that I found a bathing suit!  I like it.  It fits me.  It's a Speedo.  And it was on super-discount markdown.  Of course it's last year's (or the year before's) style, but since my present bathing suit is about ten years old that matters not in the least.  They only had one in the right color for me, and it was the right size.  Mom talked the clerk into letting me slip into the store room to try it on, and it was mine.  For ten freakin dollars.  You just can't beat that. 

I looked around a bit, and they actually had more glass there today than I have seen before, but again they had nothing I wanted.  That was fine with me.

We headed into town for lunch at Peaches.  I love Peaches, and eat my one real (if indeed you can qualify anything as ambiguous as a hot dog as real) hot dog a year there.  The food is just as I remembered it.  I have a foot long there the same way I did when I was a kid; with ketchup, mustard, and mayo only.  Sadly, they have re-done the outside.  It looks great and all, and I know it needed to be done, but I didn't want them to change it.  I sound like a freakin' old man.  But lunch was good, and afterwards it was on to the Gay Dolphin!!

I love the dolphin. When I was a kid, I could go in there with a couple of dollars and buy half the store.  I just thought it was the most wonderful place ever.  Of course now that I'm an adult, I see it in a slightly different way.  I can't believe they can stay in business selling the same crap (in some cases the exact same merchandise that has been on offer) for the last forty years.  In this case, I love it because it hasn't changed, and I hate it because it hasn't changed.  I love the junky ole dusty feel.  I love that there might be a treasure (there frequently are) nestled in all that junk.  But it is at the same time frustrating.  They have a known and loved brand that they are doing nothing to further.  I would LOVE to have a Gay Dolphin t-shirt, as I am sure many of the people that shop there would love; but the only ones on offer are those awful embroidered ones that seemed like such a great idea when computer embroidery machines came into being.  They look like old lady clothes, and they're uncomfortable.  But if you want a Gay Dolphin t-shirt, it's that or nothing.  So while I love the fact that they haven't changed, it would be nice if they got some new things in every now and again.  I bought a pair of earrings, a Myrtle Beach shirt in that neon green color that looks so great if you have a new tan (I don't even have an old one) that looked unfortunately conspicuously cheap, and a postcard for Rhondee.  I later noticed that it was thirty-five cents.  I can't remember the last time I bought anything for thirty-five cents, and wondered anew.

At this point, Mom was wiped.  We had hit it pretty hard yesterday, and again today, and she needed some chill time.  That is the one problem with our trips together.  We both enjoy similar things, and a lot of time we pack so much in that we don't leave any time to relax.

We headed back to the hotel, and I went to get wet for a while.  The hotel boasts an outdoor and an indoor pool, in addition to an indoor lazy river (more of a stream, it's not that long), and two Jacuzzis.  But it is, after all, October.  And although we had lovely weather, it has been cool.  The outside pool was freezing.  The indoor pool was heated to the point of being too warm to be refreshing.  I got in an paddled around for a bit, but my heart just wasn't in it.  All I could think about was all the bacteria that could grow in water that warm.  I didn't stay down there for long.

Dinner tonight was at Rossi's.  We went there the first time in 2010 for my birthday, and Mom was pretty impressed with it.  It is a nice place.  They have upscale Italian food, and the meal we had there the last time was excellent.  Things started off well.  The salad dressing was homemade, and the garlic bread was lovely.  Our waiter was nervous (he seemed new), but nice, and willing.  Mom had the stuffed shells, and she said they were very good.  I ordered shrimp and angel hair pasta, but I asked for lemon butter sauce instead of Alfredo.  Bad move.  Now this could be on me, because I changed the dish, but the lemon butter sauce was like water.  There certainly was no hint of lemon in it.  I flagged down the waiter and asked for some Alfredo sauce, and that made it better, but it didn't live up to the kind of meal I would expect from a place like that.  Still, Mom was happy, and I certainly ate it, so it was fine.

We had to get through the meal and get back to the room because the Gamecocks were playing tonight, and we wanted to watch the game.  To that end, I had worn my new Gamecocks shirt tonight.  But first, we had to get still more food.  Larney had given me a gift certificate good for a dozen free Krispy Kreme doughnuts - one of the most delicious things ever invented.  My mother would pretty much rather have those than air, so despite the huge meal we had just eaten, we went through the drive-through for a dozen hot free doughnuts before heading back to the room. 

We got back to the room, put on our comfy pants (I had to get out of those jeans or hurt myself), Mom put on a pot of decaf (that's all she drinks now), and we settled in to watch the game.  Unfortunately, the ESPN channel the game was on was the worst received of any channel, for some reason.  All the other channels were crystal clear.  So we watched them play through the light dusting of 'snow'.  Also unfortunately, the third quarter went pretty badly for our boys.  I don't know what was going on with Conner Shaw, but he was losin' it.  I decided that I would not let him be my boyfriend.  He pulled it together in the fourth quarter and they started playing again, but it was just too late to bring the game back.  They lost.

Mom exchanged texts with her new guy during the game.  I didn't hear from Jason, but that's not unusual.  I didn't get a response from Dana, but that's not unusual either.  The game ran late, and by the time it was over, we were full o' doughnuts and way ready for bed.