- Continued -

View from our balcony

Introduction

This trip, our 6th visit in a little over two years to the Grand Strand, occurred August 14 - 19, 2008.  We had decided beforehand that we wanted to slow things down a bit in terms of the almost nonstop, frenetic activities we pursued on our past visits.  Consequently, you'll find accounts of fewer specific events and experiences being shared in this report, but that doesn't mean we have fewer thoughts, observations and opinions to relate.  No surprise there!  For example, we dwell at some length on what constitutes "fine dining" these days and what should qualify as such.  No, we don't offer a definitive answer, but certainly raise some questions and offer some opinions you may find thought provoking.  We are looking forward to the feedback.

You will find we stayed in a new place for us this trip and we've enjoyed enthusing about it in the section devoted to accommodations.  And, as always, we go to some lengths to share our gastronomic experiences.  You'll discover we visited one extremely casual seafood restaurant twice - a real rarity for us on the same trip, but it was because we definitely enjoyed dining there.

In this report we've touched on the subject of Carolina Beach Music much more so than we would normally do when relating our Myrtle Beach activities.  That's probably because of changes being made at our favorite radio station there which have been on our minds lately.

Contrary to what the weatherman had prognosticated, the weather left something to be desired, but it easily could have been much worse such as was the case immediately after we departed.  We had rain only one afternoon which was more than enough to cut short a much anticipated event.  The rest of the time the sky tended to be extremely hazy and often the humidity was on the high side, especially for the beach.  However, apart from the one consequential exception, it certainly didn't detract from our enjoyment of the trip.

Before we launch into the specifics of our trip we want to say "Welcome" to what seems to be our always increasing number of new readers and point out that there is a link at the bottom of each page to a Table of Contents which in turn provides the means to move directly to any of the 9 pages in this report containing subjects which may be of particular interest.  Also, all of the smaller pictures found in the report can be "clicked" to see larger versions of them.

And as a last point which we've expressed in various ways before, we really aren't concerned or motivated by whether you might agree or disagree with what we have to say or whether you approve of the information we share about our activities. Such concerns don't influence what we have to share and how we share it. You'll definitely find us talking about matters which matter to us about our trips including cars, nice accommodations, good food, interesting people, appropriate attire, polite social conduct, music and other aesthetic considerations, and much more, not least of which is using subtle and sometimes not so subtle plays on words.  Something we do care about in terms of your perceptions is whether you find the information reasonably well communicated.  Without a doubt the most pleasing comment we actually frequently receive both from people who personally know us and those who are complete strangers is "I love the way you make me feel like I'm right there with you."  Yes, that's our objective.

So, read on and join with us as we recount the trip.

Traveling

Since the Myrtle Beach forecast looked especially promising - upper 80's F, lots of clear skies with no prospect of rain - there was no doubt we wanted to take the XLR-V for the trip.  Ed had it spotlessly clean and looking absolutely showroom new which it should since it only had about 4,000 miles on the odometer.  The day before our departure a long awaited special decklid liner arrived and was installed.  We'll briefly digress and explain for the benefit of our readers who care about such things.  Cadillac had begun offering a liner for the underside of the decklid (technically the hard tonneau cover) with a Cadillac crest and the letters "XLR" embroidered on it, which we thought was very nice.  But our preference was to have one with "XLR-V" which would denote the supercharged model of the car such as we have.  Subsequently we learned Cadillac had decided not to offer a "V" version of the liner because of the comparatively small number of such cars that have been made.  Not to be deterred, Ed tracked down the OEM supplier, convinced them to manufacture a one-of-a-kind unit for us and provided them the needed senior level contacts responsible for XLR vehicle production and marketing at Cadillac to approve the undertaking.  So, that's the quick short story about how we came to have the only one in existence and its first outing was to Myrtle Beach where it certainly got noticed along with the other aspects of the car.

Frankly, as we've noted before, our XLR-V always attracts a lot of attention traveling to and from Myrtle Beach and while there.  That seemed especially the case this trip and the Sunday we visited HOTO's (Harold's On The Ocean) in Cherry Grove was particularly remarkable in that respect.  Our good buddy at HOTO's, Ms. LuLu, had arranged for George, the parking lot supervisor, to expect us and have a special place saved for the V that would be not only protected but also be where he could keep a close eye on it and he did just that.  George was keen to know facts about the car which of course Ed enjoyed sharing with him.  We learned later that while we were on the oceanside deck partying that day and also when visiting on subsequent days he was doing a great job of not only looking after the car but answering questions about it from the many people who saw it and were interested in knowing about it.  (It still surprises us to see people walking around it making pictures with cell phone cameras as we did there).  Thanks, George.

The drives to Myrtle and back were very pleasant and quite uneventful for the most part.  It took 3 hours 13 minutes to cover the distance from our house to the intersection where SC 57 crosses SC 9 and that was exactly 1 minute less than on our previous trip.  We continue to appreciate greatly the XLR-V's ability to rapidly accelerate and then decelerate when passing on the often times short stretches available for such on the two lane roads between Laurinburg and the intersection of US 701 with SC 9 beyond Tabor City.  A couple of those times we hit 100mph and once 112mph.  Love that heads-up digital display that shows exactly what we're doing.  Apart from those few instances we pretty much stayed 10 - 15 mph over the speed limit.  We rarely ever see a policeman on our trips, but undoubtedly one of these days our luck will run out.

The only unhappiness we encountered with the driving was when we were departing and were a bit beyond the last traffic light on SC 9 headed for Tabor City.  We were taking it easy in the left lane going literally a few mph over the limit and an older dark green Buick driven by a black woman was a bit ahead of us in the right lane.  She rapidly pulled up right behind (much too close) a slow moving, large flatbed truck and then suddenly swerved into our lane.  Ed hit the brakes hard and blew the horn as she missed us by mere inches.  It was more than scary.  Eventually, she pulled over into the right lane and as we passed her she was giving us the finger.  Lovely, some people.  That fool took the next turn to Loris and we were glad she was gone.

As we did on our last trip, most evenings we chose to use other transportation which included the free Hilton shuttle service a few times and various taxis for the other occasions.  Charles was the driver for the Hilton shuttle the times that we used it and was very pleased to see us and welcomed us back.  Of course, he and Sandra immediately engaged in one of their favorite topics - food preparation.  Charles told her about a scrumptious sounding blueberry cream dessert in a phyllo dough pastry topped with strawberries he had recently made and then proclaimed he was going to make one for us.  He delivered it the following day.  Absolutely delicious!  Thank you very much, Charles.

With regard to taxis we will note either the driver who took us from Joe's Bar & Grille to Pete's Landing at Dock Holidays or the one who collected us from there and took us to our hotel that night must think we are extraordinarily generous tippers.  Afterwards, Ed discovered that in addition to the money for the fares and 20% tips there was a $100 bill missing from his wallet.  We're guessing it stuck to one of the $20's that was handed to one of the drivers.  Oh well, we made someone's evening.

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