South Carolina has been a real surprise! I didn't know much about South Carolina, and anything I had known I had long forgotten. It was a real treat driving down South Carolina's coast and calling Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head home.
Last Saturday, 3 November, we left Ellerbe, North Carolina. We set Myrtle Beach into our phone's map app, and took our time driving. I don't think we were on a single interstate highway the entire drive. The route was gorgeous!
Ellerbe is in the southern part of the central corridor of North Carolina, less than 30 miles from the South Carolina state line. This is the town where Orsuré's maternal side is from. That day, after our electricity panic (see our "We have no power?!" journal), we ran some errands at a larger nearby city, about 15 miles from the state line. Once we were finally on our way, we crossed into South Carolina pretty quickly.
We got to Myrtle Beach in the mid-afternoon. The sun was still up for another few hours. We found a parking lot that allowed us to stay over night - our backyard for the night.
Before the sun went down we walked the beach. What amazing views! How I missed salt water! And the city is definitely becoming a real destination, even during the off-season. Orsuré remembers visiting Myrtle Beach when he was a kid. He says the city's skyline has totally changed since then. According to a sign, this is the 6th boardwalk development that Myrtle Beach has had throughout its history. It current boardwalk and skyline development is as new as 2006.
That night Myrtle Beach was hosting a mile race. Apparently many people were coming in from all over the place because the winner of the mile race would win $25,000. We had noticed the main beach drive was being closed down and learned from the manager of our parking lot this was one of weekly weekend activities the city was hosting during the off-season. It was really cool and fun to see all this going on! And needless to say, the views along the beach were breathtaking!
We were able to relax and sleep-in a bit the next morning. There was no rush in getting going. When we did get going we plotted our path towards Charleston. Along our drive, we saw a city sign saying it was established in 1734, so we decided to check it out. This was Georgetown, South Carolina. It was a cute little city with a nice little boardwalk. Here we learned that it is part of the South Carolinian Historical Corridor, and had over 60 historical sites within this little city alone.
Continuing on towards Charleston, Charleston felt like an actual large city. So big, in fact, they have a couple Costcos. Yes, we did take advantage of this and got some of our Costco food staples. Our little fridge was the fullest it has been yet. And yes, everything still fit! Oh yeah!
Heading towards downtown Charleston we were redirected into a neighborhood. Police had for whatever reason closed down the main road. This neighborhood was beautiful! According to signs it is called Harleston Village neighborhood. The homes, stores, everything looked like they had such amazing character!
Following along this same road we made our way to the Charleston City Market. It is this 4 or so block long, street-level market with amazing vendors and products. At the end of the market we found an open and free street parking spot. Orsuré was driving and parallel parked into the spot. He made it look super easy. In fact, as I was standing outside pretending to be helpful, a person walked by and commented, 'He's an amazing driver!' Yes. Yes, he is.
We walked around some of Charleston and were absolutely amazed with how alive it was. It's Sunday, partly drizzling, and there were tons of people everywhere. The restaurants, bars, stores, all walkways were packed. Look at you, Charleston!
Walking alongside the Charleston City Market, we were captivated by some pieces of art. These were laser-cut wood maps and designs. Orsuré stepped into the store to take a better look. I stayed outside with Ben who began whining because Orsuré left him. This whining caught the attention of the person managing the store that day, and she said 'We are fur-baby friendly.' Thank you, Best Gift Idea Ever, for getting Ben to hush up. He was so relieved to be reunited with his daddy who had abandoned him outside. I was so relieved that Ben had stopped his insufferable whining.
That day's manager was so sweet. We hadn't planned on getting anything, but we ended getting a piece of art that we partially made signifying our names (Orsuré, Thomas and Ben). The manager walked us through how to do it, and even helped bring it all together.
Through our conversation with her we learned that today there was a parade happening. That's why the main road was closed down. This, however, was not the reason why so many people were here this day. Apparently Sundays always draw so many people into the city. We didnt get an exact reason, but it's cool all the same. We also learned that Charleston was becoming a more and more welcoming city for LGBT folks. This was really exciting to hear.
By the time we left the store the parade we just learned about was over, and it was starting to downpour. We made our way back to ShaVanda to take refuge from the rain and find a spot to sleep for the night. We stayed in the Charleston area and the next day went to the gym. (Read about this in our journal: Where to shower now?)
After this we pushed on towards Hilton Head. I had never heard of Hilton Head before. But, this was one place that was on Orsuré's list to see. I learned from him that Hilton Head was this ritzy island in South Carolina just north of Savannah, Georgia.
From the moment we got on the island it was clear that they city worked hard at weaving in the natural swampy-forest look into the design of the city. We had stopped at a Walmart, hoping to be able to stay there for the night. The Walmart parking lot was an actual forest. No exaggeration. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it. How cool it would be to sleep in a swamp forest for the night! Unfortunately, there were signs up forbidding overnight parking. And so, we were forced to move on.
Being an island, we were hoping to find beach access, or at least a beach parking lot with views of the water. We didn't find any that had views, where we didn't have to pay to then hike through the forest to get to the beach, or weren't only accessible through gated fancy resort complexes. This was a bummer to me. I had gotten really excited by Myrtle Beach and wanted more beach time. Another time.
We eventually found our backyard for the night. We had found our way to the island's airport. It was a cute little thing. Its parking lots were also in the same natural theme as the Walmart and the rest of the island. They were swamp forests. And, we called the airport's forested cellphone lot home.
We were a bit hesitant at first. But with time we calmed down. Could we actually sleep overnight for free at an airport? The answer is apparently yes. We had prepared a short narrative in case we were approached in the middle of the night. 'We were picking up our friend who was arriving the next morning, joining us on our road trip. We had just gotten there early and were waiting until the morning.' This became our truth, the truth we didn't need to make up.
At the cellphone waiting lot there were no signs prohibiting overnight parking, nor was there a maximum length of time permitted to stay in the lot. The only sign that was there informed us the cellphone lot also served as a carpool lot (no decal required). Because of that there were a few cars sitting there empty all night. And so we attempted to stay the night. We ended up having no issue all night. What a relief.
The next morning, as we were getting ready to leave (*huh hmm* since our friend had now arrived and joined us...) a Hilton Head local pulled up in front of ShaVanda. We had apparently parked right by where they daily feed wild cats. Several cats found there way outside this person's car. We waited, not trying to draw more attention to oursleves. And then from a distance we followed the local through a shortcut in leaving the airport grounds. That all was really cool! We slept in the forest at an airport without any issue!
And this next day, marked our last day in South Carolina. We arrived in the state on Saturday, and left that following Tuesday - election day - headed towards Savannah, Georgia. South Carolina, thank you for the beauty you shared with us at every turn! We look forward to visiting again!