| I've been visiting Myrtle Beach since 1953. The earliest | | | | campgrounds - he rented the very front lots on a |
| picture of me on the beach here was taken in 1954, | | | | year-round basis, so the sound of the pounding surf |
| when I was three years old. It was a picture of a | | | | lulled us to sleep and we woke up with a perfect view |
| carefree young mother (my mother), her sister, and | | | | of the big Atlantic. Uncle Pete was very generous and |
| their children, numbering 3 at that time. I believe that | | | | let his very financially-challenged niece stay for free. |
| picture was taken on the north end of Myrtle Beach, in | | | | He's gone now, too, but I'll never forget his giving spirit |
| a section still called Windy Hill. The two sisters | | | | to a young, broke family of 4 and how he made it |
| eventually had a total of 11 children, so with husbands, | | | | possible for us to vacation in our beloved Myrtle |
| that made a group of 15. It became a little unwieldy to | | | | Beach. |
| vacation with that many people, so I don't remember | | | | After my children were teenagers, we moved to an |
| many joint trips as I grew up. My Aunt is no longer with | | | | island off the coast of Georgia, and we had our own |
| us, and my mother's memory is fading, so when I ask | | | | beach. Trips to Myrtle Beach weren't needed anymore |
| questions about those early years here, I'm not able to | | | | to see the ocean, walk on the beach or listen to the |
| get many answers. | | | | seagulls. I later moved all the way to the west coast, |
| How could I have known my life would take me all | | | | to a little fishing village on the Puget Sound. The |
| around the United States, until 1990, when I would | | | | children were grown, in college, and I had closed a |
| make a permanent move to this beach that had been | | | | large chapter of my life and was now preparing to |
| our annual vacation destination - both as a child | | | | marry again. My future husband, who was an avid |
| growing up, and then as a parent, when I brought my | | | | golfer, planned a trip to - you guessed it! - Myrtle |
| own two children. | | | | Beach, to play in an invitational golf tournament. He had |
| When I smell Coppertone suntan oil or lotion, I can | | | | never been to South Carolina. He fell in love with the |
| close my eyes and the smell takes me back decades, | | | | area, and within 4 months, we had bought a house, |
| when I can remember my mother rubbing it all over us | | | | packed up and moved 3,000 miles - to Myrtle Beach. |
| to prevent the dreaded sunburn that would keep us | | | | We've now been here 20 years, in that same house. |
| indoors for several days. These days, there are so | | | | So, I've come full circle with one of my favorite 60 |
| many choices of suntan lotions and potions, and they | | | | miles of real estate anywhere on earth - an area |
| all smell different. Some are even odorless. But for me, | | | | called The Grand Strand, with Myrtle Beach sitting right |
| I still want to purchase the original Coppertone, just for | | | | here in the middle of that strand. |
| the familiar aroma. We had our little plastic buckets and | | | | I have many family members and friends who like to |
| shovels, and tons of shells we had picked up all along | | | | come visit. Everyone wants a few days away at the |
| the beach. We played for hours in the sand and the | | | | beach! Sometimes, so many of them come at once |
| surf and my already-blonde hair would be bleached | | | | that I can't possibly house them all. So, when I need |
| almost white by the time we left Myrtle Beach. | | | | help, I go to my friends at Oceanfront Vacation |
| Later, when I was an adult and was raising my son | | | | Rentals, and they help me find the perfect, affordable |
| and daughter, we lived in Charlotte, NC, for many | | | | place. They've become like an extended part of my |
| years, and it was only a 4 hour ride to Myrtle Beach. | | | | family. |
| My Uncle Pete owned a couple of Airstream trailers | | | | If you want to visit Myrtle Beach, please call them. Tell |
| that he had parked at one of the oceanfront | | | | them I sent you! |