mkadventures: Enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Fall was a perfect time to be in Myrtle Beach. The crowds are gone and the beach is beautiful! The water is cool, but on a warm day it's still nice to walk in the surf. We enjoyed being on the beach almost every day and seeing how the tides and the wind move the sand. Some days the beach was flat, other days there were hills and ridges. The water inlets from lagoons could run straight into the ocean one day and the next day it might run parallel to the beach for a long stretch. One day you might walk across a little steam that cut across the beach and the next day it could be like a river flowing into the sea.
We loved exploring on the beach to see what treasures we could find each day. It could be sea shells, or jellyfish, a sea star, a horseshoe crab, small crabs and live shells, or egrets, herons and sea birds. One day we found a butterfly wet in the surf. Mark carefully picked the butterfly up out of the surf and let it's wings dry out as it rode down the beach with us on Mark's finger. We also learned that horseback riding on the beach is very popular at that time of the year and we enjoyed watching the horses.
We camped at a huge campground called Pirateland; it's like a small city! I can't imagine what the traffic would be like there in the summertime, but in the fall it's nice and quiet. We found jobs at Belk department store doing support, which included stocking, recovery (puting things away where they belong and tidying up the clothes), doing clearance markdowns and sometimes filling online orders. They were great to work for, and accomodating in letting us work the same schedule. Most days we started at 6am, which was a bit early for us, but that meant we could be on the beach each afternoon after work.
While we visited Ben in Durham, I was able to participate in a two day yoga class in Raleigh, NC. Ben and Anthony cooked a wonderful homemade pasta meal for us. We were also fortunate to be able to attend a concert of the Durham Medical Orchestra and hear Ben on flute and piccolo.

We had a great early Thanksgiving with Grandma Cohen, Ben and Anthony! Kari and Jess couldn't make it this year since they are in New Zealand having great adventures of their own! On Thanksgiving Day the campground hosted a wonderful morning meal, then it was time for some more beach walking. As we did last year, we worked Thanksgiving night and Black Friday.