So it’s been a good month since I was in Myrtle Beach. About time I posted about my trip. Here’s a series of photos, with stories to go along with them, that document my ten days on vacation in this beach town of South Carolina.

My view each morning for 10 days

Once we got checked into our room at the Westgate, the first place I went was out to see the beach. And this is what I did each day I was there. And seeing this awesome view often made my vacation that much better.

This is the view from that beach area at the Westgate resort. Is it a converted Holiday Inn, which was obvious from the front, but from the back, it looks like other resorts. Our room was in the middle tower, somewhere on the 6th floor. I could never find it from the beach, unless my wife was standing on the balcony. The tower to the far right is the newer one, which we were not in (maybe next time we will stay there).

tanning the backside

If you are going to go on vacation to a beach area, your main goal is to get tan. And tan I got… well, not right away, but after a few days of bringing my un-tanned body from a winter state, the tan took. The magazine I’m reading is Vanity Fair.

Red like a lobster

See, I had to get red and a bit sunburned before I got tan. Splotchy in color, this eventually become a nice brown tan all over. I even used SFP 50 on my face and SPF 30 on my body and still got red. This is from spending a good 6 hours a day out in the sun.

Kiddie pools are not for adults with no kids

The pools were a nice break from the sand and ocean water. I never went into the kid area for fear they would have thought a lobster made it’s way up from the ocean. So I mostly stayed near the pool bar and the larger pool pictured at the top right of the photo.

east coast storm a brewin’

There was one afternoon and evening where the sun faded and dark storm clouds replaced it all into a gloomy and dimmed sky. The storm continued for a night before having the sunny skies return. I was ok with the storm because it was cool to see and experience and it only lasted one afternoon and evening.

Take a walk on the Boardwalk… if you pass GO, collect $200

Myrtle Beach has a recently rebuilt boardwalk with shops, places to eat and easy access to the beach. We had some awesome scallop tacos at Dirty Don’s, saw a very diverse crowd of people and found many places to just relax and enjoy the ocean and the atmosphere.

Pier pressure

Two piers are lined up along the Myrtle Beach coast, which are pretty much just old wooden structures that people fish from. These piers also had restaurants and gift shops and charged a $1 to go out to see people fishing. Or at least a different view of the ocean.

a barge of people enjoying the river

Based on a suggestion from one of the many gift shops in town [there are 3 for every tourist], we drove the 2 hours south to Charleston, SC one afternoon. The above photo was the river from flows from the Atlantic Ocean into town. This place is filled with history and class.

Awesome bridge

Driving into the city across this giant bridge was pretty cool. We want to go back here again someday to experience more of the city’s rich history and culture.

Don’t look a gift shop in the mouth

Speaking of gift shops, these places were all over. Mostly with names like Eagles or Whales or Bargains and sometimes three of the same name within 1/2 a block apart. Some like the one above, have inviting entrances. All in the name of a t-shirt or seashell with “Myrtle Beach” on it.

Here I sit all connected…

One of the only times I complained was trying to get online (as I normally do when traveling). Not only was the cell signal coverage bad inside the resort, so was the wifi the Westgate had. First off, I had to pay $25 to have it for the week. Secondly, the signal didn’t work anywhere inside the room… except in the bathroom, where full bars made me happy again. I also had full bars out on the beach front, which I obviously didn’t complain about. Complaining to the front desk also didn’t net me a refund nor an apology. Must remember this for next time I visit this Westgate location, where I will ask for a room in the newer tower. [where I did test the wifi and it worked flawlessly]

Reba and Marty

One of the many photos my wife took of us. We are happy. How can you not be when staying next to the beach and ocean.

not actual size, but it was still pretty big.

Almost every night, we walked the beach. On our last night, many jelly fish had washed up on the shore. This was a close up of one of them. We made sure to avoid touching or stepping on these newly-beached sea creatures.

the final sunset

And on our last night, we enjoyed – as we had many nights before – a wonderful sunset. We’ll be back there again someday. It was a wonderful vacation.

What’s that? I can’t hear you!

I’ll be back next week, en route to home from vacation in Myrtle Beach.

Until then, I’ll be relaxing and enjoying the sun, sand and songs!

Well, I leaked the details out over on my Facebook page and told a couple of other bloggers where I was going. It’s about time I revealed to the rest of my readers the destination.

Yep… Hawaii. I’ve never been there and neither has my wife. The dates we are going are:

• March 6 – 15

We are flying direct on Friday March 6th from Salt Lake City to Oahu, where we will spend two nights. Then we take a puddle jumper over to the island Kona where we will spend the remaining of our time. Then returning to Oahu via puddle jumper on Saturday March 14th, then a direct red eye flight back to Salt Lake City, arriving early Sunday morning, March 15th.

Will You Be Blogging?

Of course, to my readers, the question that comes up is: will I be blogging? And the answer is: very little, most likely in the form of a couple of posts with photos and a small blurb.

Guest Bloggers

So this means that I will need a few guest bloggers, three (3) to be exact. I already have one lined up. Catherine from Seventh Notebook has offered to guest blog during the week of March 9th.

I am needing two guest bloggers for both Sundays, which means that there will be no Snowy Sundays for two weeks in a row. I know… major crisis, but hey, where I will be, there is no snow… not a single flake. Oh, and my wife has requested I take these two weeks off from doing videos to actually be on vacation. I think most of you will understand.

If you are interested in guest blogging either of the following Sundays:

• Sunday March 8th
• Sunday March 15th

… leave me a comment below or send me an email. The posts do not have to be Snowy Sunday themed. They can be whatever subject you want. And when I say any subject, I mean ANY subject.

But wait a minute. I’ll back on Sunday March 15th. Why do I need a guest blogger? Because I will be tired and in no condition to put anything together that resembles a blog post.

Snowy Sunday Returns March 22nd

I will be back on March 22nd with an all new episode of Snowy Sunday. I will provide more details about the season ending episode of Snowy Sunday, along with discussing the return of Scooter Sunday in a future blog post.

So, just to summarize here and clear all of this up, here’s what’s happening on Banal Leakage for the month of March 2009:

• March 1st [Sunday]- all new Snowy Sunday episode
• March 8th [Sunday]- Guest blogger
• March 9th [week of]- Guest blogger – Catherine from Seventh Notebook
• March 9th [week of]- a couple of posts with photos and a small write up.
• March 15th [Sunday]- Guest blogger
• March 22nd [Sunday]- all new Snowy Sunday episode
• March 29th [Sunday]- the season finale of Snowy Sunday

Wow. Ok, take some time, digest all of that, and if you have any questions, want to guest blog or tell me how jealous you are that I’m going to Hawaii, leave a comment.