Life’s A Beach!

As noted earlier, yesterday we got home from our vacation.  First came a day at Kings Dominion late last week… and then on to North Myrtle Beach for a week with the in-laws, their children, and the grandchildren. Fourteen (14) of us in a beach house…yep, it was a rocking time!

We saw some interesting things.  In Ashland, we saw a black Ford 150 pickup truck with tags that read “got ink” and had what appeared to be a set of plastic testicles handing from the trailor hitch.  Somewhere in NC, we bestowed the “I am Pretentious” award on an old style Saab with tags “Phd Phd”.  There is a McDonalds in Dunn, NC that has video screens to entertain customers in the drive up outside and fireplaces to warm customers inside.  Dolly Parton’s brother Randy has just opened a theater at Exit 171 on I-95 in Roanoke Rapids, NC.  It is visible from the interstate, and is quite the building!

Life at North Myrtle Beach, shag (the dance, not the, uh, verb) capital of the world, often seems like it is in a time warp.  Giorgio’s still sells it by the slice or the pie, they still shag the night away at Fat Harold’s, and the OD Pavillion is the home for music, food, and fun to young and old, pale or tanned.

Others change…the old five story concrete looking motel I used to stay at back in the day has been replaced by a fifteen story condo center (complete with lazy river), the horseshoe outside the Spanish Galleon is not quite as insame as it once was, and Crazy Zack’s is long gone…shoot, where can a young fellow get a beer at 0500 in NMB these days?

Maybe it was best summed up at the no name barber shop on NMB’s main street.  I went in for a long overdue haircut, and heard one of the regulars go on about some kid loitering at his store.  When asked when it started, he said, “I am not sure…the days sort of run together.”  Another regular replied, “Yep, that’s old age for you.  When you are young, the night’s blend together.  When you get old, the days run together.”

The beaches were less crowded than usual, as SC started school back in on 8.20.2007. The weather was hot, and the water was quite warm-none of this walk in slow and acclimate stuff!

Even so, there is plenty of fun to be had…and some highlights I can recommend:
-Go to Ella’s in Calabash, NC, to get some great seafood…and some might attractive t-shirts!
-If you want a great breakfast, head here in Cherry Grove, but be aware with a store name like that you might go light on the t-shirts. The food is great, the pancakes heavenly, the patrons racially diverse. Check the link, and then ponder what would happen if you opened a restaurant with that name (despite the heavy Uncle Remus focus) in NoVA…
-Want authentic Mexican? Head to Fiesta Mexicana in Myrtle Beach. Food is great, service is slow, so allow plenty of time for some great food.

We also got to play a round of miniature golf…and not just at any course, but at the home of the USPMG tour masters, the Hawaiian Rumble course. Nope, I kid you not…they even have shirt that mimics the lesser Masters golf event in August, GA.

It was a rollicking good time, replete with maximum sun and minimal sunburn…and now it is back to the grind stone, and fielding emails from folks who are irate I did not have internet connectivity while away.

Funny to think we came home from fun in the surf to weather a thunder and hail storm last night!

With This, Who Needs Seconds?

I am not a fit person, although I aspire to be one.  I am back on the fitness trail, hit the company fitness center multiple times each week.  But it doesn’t come easy.  You see, I enjoy eating, any my travels around the Commonwealth have allowed me to consume some marvelous food, and often in the most unexpected places.

I have had Jess’ dogs and taken down an entire “what the gang ordered” sandwich at the late lamented Spanky’s around the corner in Harrisonburg.  I have had frozen custard at Carl’s in Fredericksburg as a chaser to dinner at Allman’s barbeque in the same day where I knocked back multiple pulled pork sandwiches at Pierce’s in Williamsburg.  In my mind I genuflect at the mention of the Smoky Pig in Ashland and the Pig and Steak in Madison.  I have consumed Gus Burgers, Motor Burgers, and Cheezy westerns. 

It was a joy for me to down a Muffin Burger at the Meadow Muffin Diner in Stuarts Draft.  I ate a 4AM breakfast at a dive on Broad Street while the manager did maintenance on an electrical bull, and from that experience I learned to always order fried food in any establishment where you are uncertain as to the hygeine of the staff.  While I think Crash Davis should have added the Grand Slam breakfast at Denny’s to his list in “Bull Durham”, I will always remember the Corn Beef Hash omelet I in Bloomsburg, PA at the Lickety Split Diner.   I have consumed ice box pies, shoofly pie, and an experimental pie of undetermined nature at the Lee-Hi truckstop in Lexington that tasted great in the moment and then stayed with me for a week.

 So, as you can see, I have been around… 

However, even with dining habits that have seldom stinted on barbeque, chili dogs, nachos, lasagna, pizza, and other high calorie, there are some things I couldn’t even consider consuming…and this is one of them.

Check the label, and you may ask, as did the divine Ms. Sharp asks, “Is any man this hungry?”  Not only this hungry, but clearly desirous of driving their cholesterol through the roof?  All day breakfast?  Does that mean you can eat it at any time of the day, or that after eating one you have no desire to eat for another 24 hours?

As for me, nah…you have to draw the line somewhere!

But looking at that picture is making me wonder what time lunch is…I had better head to the gym and get those glutinous thoughts out of my head.

Ciao!

P.S. Before my Jaycee pals ring my bell, there is a reason the Vienna Inn and their collection of beer, dogs, and chili-which ranges from amasing to disgusting to subline is not mentioned above.

Simply put, it is not fair to mention amateurs and professionals in the same paragraph.