Since we were headed south, we thought it'd be much warmer when we got to South Carolina, but yesterday and today the region was experiencing an icy cold snap, so it was very chilly! Clearly, it's not yet time to put away the beanies and parkas.
At Myrtle Beach we found the Apollo Moonprints, which are of astronaut Charles "Charlie" Duke's boot prints from the Moon. He walked on the moon when he was 36 years old, making him (still) the youngest man to do so. The prints are outside the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, celebrating the man who grew up in South Carolina.
Another Atlas Obscura stop that we saw nearby was of The Gay Dolphin--which sounds kind of intriguing from the onset (like, can dolphins be gay?). It sounded a bit like a gay bar name, but it's simply the name of the largest gift shop in the country, spanning 35,000 square feet, with nearly 70,000 items (or more at this rate). It's been around for over 80 years, and also features a golf course, three inns, a monkey house, a small amusement park, and an aquarium, among other attractions. True to its name, there are sculptures of dolphins, but we didn't really spend much time here: we're not in the market for buying any souvenirs, and a lot of these trinkets aren't things that we need!
The Capital of Mini Golf
Apparently Myrtle Beach is also the nation's mini golf capital (although based on our recent trip to Ocean City in Maryland, if that's the case Ocean City has to come a very close second). We hadn't played mini golf on this trip, but if there was a place to do so definitely Myrtle Beach would be it! So we went to Mt. Atlanticus Minotaur Golf, one block away from Myrtle Beach, a tiki-themed mini golf center filled with sea life, waterfalls, and caves.
The combination of the icy cold wind and the off season meant that we were the only people playing mini golf. There were 2 options for a round to play, and we chose what was apparently the more difficult course. It was a lot of fun! We were guided up and down stairs, playing indoors and outdoors, wandering past shockingly blue dyed water fountains, a Loch Ness-looking creature in the pond outside, with palm trees and other adornments to add to the tiki vibe. We didn't think that the course was particularly hard in comparison to other places we've been to--no moving windmills that we had to time our putt to so that it wouldn't miss the entrance to a tee, and no overly tricky shots that required a good knowledge of physics.
At the end of the course, there's a bonus 19th hole, where a hole in one gets you free mini golf for life. It looked impossible to us (we both missed and the golf balls landed in the water), but all along the wall were pictures of hundreds of people who have been successful--including young kids! So perhaps the mini golf wasn't so easy after all...
Historical South Carolina
We briefly checked out Warbird Park, where we also stopped for lunch. Behind Myrtle Beach International Airport is an old Air Force base that has been repurposed into a small park and memorial. There are 3 former Air Force planes on display, and a park that lists the names of the personnel who were at this Base before it closed in 1993. While there's a park with picnic tables and trails, we ended up having lunch inside the RV--still cold, and more convenient!
We wanted to check out the area around the Boone Hall Plantation , which is one of the country's oldest plantations. We've been to the Whitney Plantation Louisiana and made a point to go to there given its focus on the slaves that were there (other plantations focus more on the architecture and gloss over slavery), so our focus here was to simply drive around the vicinity, as it is really lovely. There are gorgeous old oak trees, and we love that the wispy moss that hangs off them--it's kind of reminiscent of a weeping willow tree, but with a more ethereal vibe. Driving through this area was a rather narrow in parts for us though, given it is an old neighborhood, so we were breathed a small sigh of relief when we drove out with our RV unscathed!
In the evening, we parked near a gas station, which was surrounded by fast food restaurants. Michael was craving an ice cream and we found a grocery store called Harris Teeter that was walking distance. We'd never heard of this brand before (it's headquartered in North Carolina and we never saw it on the West Coast), but when we went in it was really nice and upscale--kind of like a boutique Whole Foods! Of course, it meant that things were on the pricey side, but they did have a lot of really yummy-looking gourmet foods that we couldn't help going googly-eyed over. So we got a few little treats, like a fancy protein bar that was on sale, the ice cream and an orange. It still felt like a special treat coming from the fancy grocery store!