Ok, so let me set the stage. I’ve lived in my Lamp for awhile now, and unfortunately, the water pump has taken a beating & started leaking. Google to the rescue and I was able to find the part & the instructions for installation. Well BF says he can do it, so I check on the order time & it was 3 weeks out for part delivery. Now I’m 100% sure that I can not go 3 weeks with out using the water and every time I use the water, it leaks. Camping World, Myrtle Beach has one, it’s on sale, and I’m off Friday & Saturday. Hell yeah, let’s drive down. So we booked a night at
Palmetto Shores and since BF has never gone we decided to splurge on tickets to
Medieval Times as well.
So we packed up, grabbed NightShade, boarded Divo with his grandparents, jumped in BF’s Jeep and started cruising (pit stop for gas & to visit his mom) then zooming down I95. Made decent time down, until we got caught in a stand still parking lot on hwy 501 in Conway. We just missed getting to Camping World by literally 5 minutes (we’ll catch them in the AM), so we got back in the traffic line and decided to locate the hotel, instead. Let’s just say wonderful pick off the net – because it is gorgeous!!!
So we get inside the main office to check in and Allison said SURPRISE! We gots a free upgrade, to an oceanfront condo! How totally cool is that. Since she’d been such a doll already I asked where she would recommend going for dinner – I wanted a real local type place because we had planned to do the touristy thing for Saturday, so she says “
Soho I go there like 2 times a week, it’s my favorite place.” Sold – that’s where I wanna go for dinner BF and he goes “Cool”. Wrap up the check in process, pull next door, unload and let me tell you this place is Ah-mazing!! You step in and first thing you see the beds,
beds
then it’s down the hall,
hall
bathroom (I love all the little touches they put into this room, fan towels, shower curtain pulled back, and of course the toiletries),
bathroom
then kitchenette
kitchen
with Murphy bed,
bed down
living room,
LR
and then the balcony
balcony.
After dropping off our gear, BF went to park the car and when he got back we sat out on the balcony and enjoyed the sense of being there – sight, sound, scent. Couldn’t really see much of the beach at this time of the night, but just knowing it was there made all the difference to me. (And just so you don’t think this is all wahoo & hell yeah there were down sides - tile floor is really uncomfy when you got to the bathroom in the middle of the night and there is sand all over the place! And the shower left a lot to be desired.)
So anyways hunger finally drove us off the balcony and we braved the beach traffic to locate the restaurant. Thanks to Allison’s wonderful directions we found it without much trouble and were immediately seated. (No interior pics cause phone was D-E-A-D! oh well) The ambiance was monochromatic and wonderful – I loved it all but especially the music! (BF had issues with the music and the dimness) Crystal was our waitress and she was right on point, she made recommendations and served us like a pro. You have to try the Sushi when you are there – it was a truly mouthwatering adventure. I got the Buddha Role and fell in love, while BF got a kinda ho-hum chicken hibachi with fried rice. Forty bucks for the two so extremely affordable for the yum factor of my meal alone. Left the restaurant and headed back to the hotel (had to play find a spot). Upstairs for a quick little snuggle on the balcony, then BF went for a walk on the beach, and totally tuckered out me curled up in bed and passed out.
Fast Forward 7 hours to Saturday morning ~ BF was so super excited to see a sun rise that he was up before dawn even dawned, but it’s all good, and if he ever needed proof that I love him I got up at 6:15a. No seriously, I was up and on the balcony with him, watching the sun come up and while it was truly spectacularly amazing, I think I would have liked to stare at the back of my eye lids for just a bit longer. Oh well, while I woke up (as much as I could with out coffee) and got dressed & made up and repacked us all up, BF took a walk on the beach. We both wrapped up almost at the same time, so we relinquished our beautiful room and went in search of caffeine (tea for him, coffee for me). Kimberly - morning front desk clerk- said that Starbucks was just down the street, and that suits me just fine, she also said she would pass on to Allison how much I enjoyed Soho.
Due to a marathon, getting around the oh so interesting Myrtle Beach may be a bit tricky today, as multiple roads were blocked off as routed runs, but we found the caffeine dealer and got charged up for the day. In transit to 501, we hit a couple of stalled patches, but thanks to quick thinking and the confidence in our ability to find our way some where (I never get lost I go sight seeing lol) – we got out of the boggy zones and found Camping World, but oops they don’t open for yet another hour. Okay so let’s hit
Broadway at the Beach, so BF can figure out where he would like to have lunch & what type of fun he wants to get into.
Still wasn’t time for CW to open, so we decided to try and locate Medieval Times so we will know where we are going this afternoon, after a few false starts and interruptions (detours galore due to marathon & road construction) we located the make believe castle.
Headed back to Camping World when it opened – grabbed the pump and a few other things for my Lamp & the replacement power cord for Dad’s Motor home, checked out and headed back to Broadway at the Beach for lunch and the “childish” portion of our day.
I refused to pick either the place for lunch or the place for play, because I honestly feel like BF has never been allowed to choose, so I made him pick. The choice for lunch was a default choice because we were admiring the chairs outside Margaritaville when they opened and we were both starving.
(I just love these chairs and this is what I envisioned when I asked for one)
So BF said you want to and said I love their burgers & never ever say no to a margarita, so in we go. We get seated and our waiter Kyle comes over, flirts a bit, takes our drink orders and then wanders off – and BF is well, bewildered, is probably the best word. He just couldn’t absorb the ambiance that is Margaritaville, lol. Now to be honest, there is a lot to take in at this restaurant, and it probably wasn’t entirely too nice to take him in, but he did actually pick it out. I don’t think it helped any that Kyle was very clearly flirting, a little bit of harmless fun. We placed our orders and talked about all that we had already done, playing best/worst, just enjoying being together. Then with a bit more flirting, the burgers (Cheeseburger in Paradise for me & Shroom Burger for him) arrived with crispy seasoned fries & a crunchy dill pickle spear. MMMM, I am definitely a meatetarian.
The conversation turned to the fun choices for the day -
Wonderworks, Dragon’s Lair Fantasy Golf,
MagiQuest, or
Ripley’s Aquarium. BF asked a little bit about each one, so I gave him a bit of a run down on what to expect at each location. Ultimately he decided that he would like to be a wizard for a couple hours, so he chose MagiQuest. So we settled up at Margaritaville and headed across the bridge.
(Side Note: MagiQuest is a live action role-playing game in which players take the role of magic users, called Magi. Magi use their wands to interact with the enviroment such as waving & pointing the wand at a treasure chest & it opens adding gold to your “account”)
We get to the realm and BF picks out his wand & topper (hey go figure he chose the Shadow clan and got a skull topper), then we get all signed in, receive our own Ancient Book of Wisdom (whatever you do, don’t lose this book - it’s your main resource in playing the game), learn how to use the wand (point & flick), and then head into the belly of the beast. There are kids running all around, noise level is elevated, and BF looks like someone hit him over the head with a 2x4, really he did. We ran over to the quest stones, sign him in with a wave of his wand, and select his first quest. The lightning quest:
Seek out the tools of the Warrior rede:
The armour, the shield, and the Warrior’s blade.
A Magi Warrior’s Code Book.
A book of great size.
Then report to thunder cave
To receive your valiant prize.
Using his Ancient book of Wisdom, we go looking for a suit of armour (its near the dungeon’s entrance), a shield (on the wall of the room filled with knowledge), a sword (stuck in a stone), and a book. Race against time, snag those 4 items, rush to find the guy at thunder cave, ta-da, the lightning rune! And then I abandoned him to his own devices. I grabbed the second book and continue my domination of the Master Magi quests. I had a wonderful time, running around and tackling the A-Z challenge. I think this one was designed to get a couch potato in shape. BF & I kept bumping into each other all over the game floor, but we had oodles of fun and for 2 hours we ran around like hamsters on a wheel – playing like children. After our time ran out on the main game floor, we dueled a couple of times, then checked out the magical store, and decided we needed to go ahead & leave. (FYI BF you went LARPing LOL)
We did a little walk around Broadway at the Beach until we ran out of time & had to book it to
Medieval Times.
(Side Note: For those of you who don't know what Medieval Times is, its dinner and a show. The people attending the show are divided into 6 different groups to cheer & boo the six knights competing in the King’s Champion tournament and you get dinner: half a chicken, rib, half a tater, tomato soup, & garlic bread)
So after a bit of a wait, we get in, and are assigned a knight (Hell Yeah!! We got the Evil Green Knight), took a picture with the King and then headed into the building. We were looking around, walked around the dungeon (I think BF creamed his britches looking at all the gear that was featured in his torture book), checked out all the for sale memorabilia, then headed up to the bar for a round of drinks (Maiden’s Kiss for me & Strawberry Mango smoothie for BF) in souvenir glasses, claimed a table and did some people watching.
Pre-show hijinks – a knighting ceremony. The Herald kept trying to get us to yell louder, and finally hit on the fact that if he said North Carolina the crowd went wild. There were 2 boys from Georgia that were getting knighted & he was having some fun saying watch this “They’re from North Carolina! Well not really, but look how many new friends you just made.”
Then we witnessed a proposal
picture
and I’m pretty sure BF crapped his pants thinking oh man what do I do.
Then it’s show time as we got called into the dining area, and since we are on the Evil Green Team we got called in 1st. The Herald called for all of his Evilness drunken minions & I raised my glass saying “here here” – some lady from the blue team almost fell off her chair laughing. I can honestly say I got really (did I say REALLY) into it. We show our little ticket thingies to the guide and he sends us down to the front row in the second tier. Holy Crap! I’ve never been this close to the action LOL. It was out of this world amazing. (FYI – purchase your tickets on line & grab the free upgrade to royalty – it guarantees you seats in the first 2 rows)
So anyways – they put us in the Evil Green Knights camp & like I’ve said – I had entirely too much drunken fun cheering & booing. It was so bad that the Blue Knight, The Red Knight, The Green Knight & The King started laughing at different times. Yeah yeah – I know I’m supposed to boo the Red Knight, but I enjoyed booing every one. The Blue Knight rode by & I shouted booooo, then other people started booing, then he started laughing and rode back by, smiling directly at me (at least according to BF). The Green Knight did some posturing right in front of us and the crowd went wild. At one point the King got rude with my Knight – so I booed him, then EVERYONE in our section started booing and the King started laughing (not sure many people would boo their “host” oh well I’m an uncouth drunken Heathen) . Of course after much posing & fighting – it is revealed the duh-duh-duhhhhh the Green Knight is the bad guy, the Prince & the Black/White Knight battle him. (Point of pride – it took two of the suckers to defeat my Evil Knight) All in all, I got some good pictures & decent food, got ticked at BF for being a tool, then he pulled the stick out of his a$$ and started enjoying himself.
Then of course we drove home (3 hours after a fun filled weekend) – got some talking time in with BF & NightShade.
Giggle – and now that this post is like ten thousand words long. I’ll wrap it up with all in all we had a truly amazing time, probably spent way more than we should have on a weekend away, but hey all my bills are covered and I had the extra – it doesn’t hurt to splurge when you can.
