In Mourning

I am missing my ocean terribly right now. No ocean breezes here, and no sound of crashing waves. But I am going to try to keep an open mind now as I continue in my journey. There are new things to see yet.

Tonight I'm in Mt. Pleasant, just outside of Charleston, SC. This campground is actually closer to downtown Charleston, and I can get there by water taxi since my scooter wouldn't be safe crossing the connecting bridge on the highway. I'll be here for 4 nights, and hopefully get to see another view of the ocean in a new and exciting way.

The drive today was long, but mostly interesting. I went from the Marine Base at Camp Lejeune to the overbuilt tourist trap of Myrtle Beach. A few observations that caught my attention: First of all, I saw a church on the way out of North Carolina called St. Mildred Catholic Church. I didn't even know there was a St. Mildred! That was a first for me.

Next, I could really tell I was in Marine territory (not only from the many planes & helicopters that flew over us at Emerald Isle.) In one short stretch of highway, about 4 or 5 miles, I counted 12 (yes TWELVE) barber shops! There were even more tattoo parlors, but I didn't think to count them. But next to almost every barber there was a sign for tattoos, and many in between.

Finally, as I drove through North Myrtle Beach all the way south to Myrtle Beach itself, I was very very glad I had stayed in Emerald Isle and skipped this portion of the planned stay. I could have sworn I was driving through Wisconsin Dells transplanted to the ocean. If I wanted a Dells kind of experience, I would have stayed in Wisconsin. Can you say "tourist trap?"

I finally tonight have my pics organized a little more, so I'm going to try adding photos to some of my past blog entries. We'll see how well it works for me. I'm going to add one parting look at Emerald Isle from my beach.