Myrtle Beach, SC

Myrtle Beach is a coastal city situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. The Grand Strand refers to a large stretch of beaches and it consists of 60+ miles along an essentially uninterrupted arc of beach land, beginning at Little River and ending at  Georgetown. Myrtle Beach is a major center of tourism because of the city's warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches, attracting over 14 million visitors annually. The Grand Strand offers more than 1,600 restaurants with many all you can eat buffets. There shopping is endless with 2 large outlet malls within 10 miles of each other along with several other shopping malls. There are over 100 golf courses located in a 60 mile stretch of the coastline known as the Grand Strand.
It really was crazy to see this all, and it reminded us of Las Vegas and Palm Springs mixed together = Myrtle Beach.

 

The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk officially opened in May 2010 at a cost of nearly $6.4 million and runs 1.2 miles (1.9 km) along the oceanfront. National Geographic has ranked Myrtle Beach Boardwalk number three in the United States, while Travel and Leisure ranked the boardwalk number two. 

The Myrtle Beach Sky Wheel is a 187 foot tall Ferris wheel with feature glass gondolas that look over the Atlantic Ocean. The SkyWheel has "42 glass-enclosed, temperature controlled gondolas". The wheel operates year-round. Though the wheel itself can withstand 135 MPH winds, the gondolas must be removed if high winds are predicted, a process that takes 8 to 10 hours.

  
Our campground; Myrtle Beach State Park, was established in 1935, and has just under a mile of Grand Strand beach and is a prime location for swimming, hiking, biking, and fishing. We are away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the park has lovely treed camp sites that are 5 minute walk to a beautiful private beach.



  The Myrtle Beach State Park also has it's own pier. People come from all over the area to fish the pier, or enjoy the beach. We went onto the pier and talked to a few people and were told that their are 8 ft long sharks all along the pier as they are attracted to the fish. We have also been told we came to visit this area at the right time of the year, as they are now entering their low season and a lot of restaurants and businesses are closing down for the winter. In the summer time it is completely crazy and busy with tourists.  We were very happy to hear that this is the ideal time to come and visit Myrtle Beach as it is much quieter this time a year with far less tourists.

 

The weather here has been absolutely beautiful. Temperatures have been hovering in the high 70's to the low 80's. We went for a walk on the beach at sunset and it was beautiful.