This is a favorite vacation spot. My husband and I both went there as children. We continued to go after we married. As a couple, we have been there 15 out of the 24 years we've been married; I think it is safe to say the two of us have been to Myrtle Beach more than 30 times over our lives.
We had not been for the last three years, however. We found many things changed.
The Pavilion, an amusement park and arcade, had been demolished (click here for a YouTube video about, or check out the others there, if you want to see what it looked like). The fun ended in 2006 and it made headlines.
Some of the rides have moved to Broadway at the Beach to the Pavilion Nostalgic Park, but it isn't the same.
We knew about the Pavilion before we left, of course.
We didn't know that the Myrtle Beach Grand Prix parks had been torn down and replaced by a shopping mall:
Another arcade park that we enjoyed, on 17th Avenue, had also been torn down, leaving us with no place to go to kill a few hours playing pool or video games.
We had expected to eat at our favorite restaurant, The Outrigger:
Instead we found this:
With the Outrigger gone, we didn't know where to go for a good meal.
We ended up at Bennett's on Tuesday night and Friday night. We tried Preston's on Wednesday night and The Farmer's Daughter Thursday night. My husband, especially, was so dismayed at the quality of the food (The Farmer's Daughter in particular was pretty terrible) he was afraid to try another new place on Friday and opted for the one that was at least palatable.
Aside from the obvious beach-sitting and swimming, Myrtle Beach has now become a place for golfing (including miniature golf) and shopping. The fun things, like arcades and rides, have diminished in favor of the things that bring in the most cash, it seems.
Change - love it or go someplace else, I guess.
Next up: Day-by-day.
Welcome home! Maybe you can enlighten me to what the Calabash style of cooking is. When we went to Ocean Isle Beach two years ago we went to Calabash and ate at the most horrible place that everyone recommended. All the fish tasted the same, fried and gross. After that whenever we saw "Calabash style", we would snicker and say Calatrash and make sure we avoided such a spot.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, Calabash is just deep fried. I prefer my fish broiled so it's not something I pay that much attention to. I am sure Calabash must mean something - maybe someone else can enlighten us both.
ReplyDeleteOh, the changes are too bad. When I went to Mexico this year I was surprised at the changes. I knew a major hurricane had hit since I was last there but I did not know the place had been totally Americanized. Outback Steakhouse? The Gap? McDonald's also gave birth. It's MEXICO for goodness sakes!
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