It seemed like I really should write something about what my wife and kids are calling, “The Best Vacation We’ve Ever Had!” What made this one so special? Well firstly all of our previous trips were with my parents or on a shoe string budget and cheap accommodations were the theme of the day. This time through some friends of the store we got to rent a fantastic beach house at a very good rate. The house is located inside of the world renowned Ocean Lakes Family Campground, which apart from being a fantastic place with many nice amenities is also the largest campground on the East Coast.

Friday evening we spent 5:15 until about 10:00 driving down, stopping at Captain D’s in Wadesboro. We don’t often eat at the franchise so it was a nice change up. Even though it was a Friday evening we seemed to get there just prior to rush hour and as they had their A-Team on staff we got our order, chowed down and got out of their within around 30 minutes. The bathrooms weren’t exactly the cleanest so I passed up an opportunity to use the facilities which would prove to be a mistake.

At Myrtle Beach their as actually 2 highway 17’s which run paralel. This lead to all kinds of difficulty with the directions when we got close. Ultimately we had to call the owner of the home and do a lot of back tracking. We finally found the site around 11 and got loaded in. One intriguing thing was that the home has an elevator. Summer brought along one of her oldest friends and the 3 of them pack in the elevator quickly, leaving Liam and I to find the other entrance which was a small staircase on the side. I was in no mood to wait for an elevator. Remember my passing up the facilities at Captain D’s? We scooted on up the stairs and in. The first thing I said when I saw the living room and the giant TV in the entertainment center was, “Dang LIam, if you’d know about this you could have brought your XBox.” His response was, “I did!” Needless to say we got to watch him play it a LOT over the next 3 days. It was getting very chilly that evening so we decided to hold off the exploring until the next morning. We ordered in pizza and vegged out in comfort. It was very restful. The girls walked down to the beach at some point that night. I think I was asleep for that, maybe.

The next morning we woke up to breakfast Nancee had purchased at a nearby pancake place. It was medicore at best but so nice that we didn’t have to go out for it. After breakfast, Nancee and I went to rent a golf cart for the weekend, something I highly recommend for anyone staying at Ocean Lakes. There’s lots to see and do that is the best way to get around. However, I neglected to get the plastic wind cover and gosh was it cold on Saturday.

I managed to drag Liam away from the XBox with the promise of letting him drive the golf cart. BREAKING THE LAW! WE boogies on down to the ocean side and I took very little video with my quad copter. It was super windy and of course I was worried about losing it in the ocean. Still managed a few nice shots.