Arriving at the beach

We had a breakfast of cold cereal with Dillingers then helped them do their last minute packing before leaving at 8:30 am. We opted to take two cars since the two families may want to do separate things on some days and may even leave on different days.

Sitting area at the Kingfisher Inn

The drive through the West Virginia Turnpike was uneventful. Our EZ-Pass got us through the three toll booths avoiding the $4.50 per stop and saving time. There was little traffic in western Virginia and eastern North Carolina putting us at the Wendy’s in Ashboro, NC for lunch. We had hoped to stop earlier but all of the restaurants in the High Point area were 8-10 miles off the interstate and we didn't want to give up that much time.  Because of a miscommunication regarding Interstates 73 and 74 in Ashboro, we were unable to have Rex and Natalie join us for lunch.  Despite having few customers, this Wendy's was very slow.  In addition, the automated soft drink dispenser was out of many drinks.

Rex at the Kingfisher Inn

We arrived at the Kingfisher Inn before 5 pm and took care of the check-in process with Kevin at the front desk. He gave us a lot of information on attractions and dining options for our stay. He told us that he had discount fishing passes for the pier although warned that recent excavation had made fishing poor recently. He also had free passes for Huntington Beach State Park available. We would certainly take him up on the State Park passes. Although the Kingfisher Inn permits only one car per unit, he prepared a free parking pass for Dillingers when they arrive.

Bedroom at the Kingfisher Inn

While watching for Rex and Natalie, I got something from our car. An older couple noticed our Kentucky license plates and inquired where we were from. He said that he was originally from Harlan County, Kentucky but has lived in the DC area as a minister for many years. They, like most people we met in the area, recommended some of the local seafood buffets. As a rule, we don’t usually prefer a buffet since we don’t like to eat enough to make it worthwhile. We usually order from a menu and find that the meals are fresh and to our liking.

Bunks at the Kingfisher Inn

Rex and Natalie arrived about 20 minutes after us so we helped them move their things into room 302 of the Kingfisher Inn. We put them in the bedroom while Mary and I took the bunk room which was about 8 feet deep and 5 feet wide with two bunks and a cloth curtain over the door. The bathroom had been recently renovated with tile floors and a roomy lavatory. The sitting area had a credenza with a television, two chairs and a sofa. The balcony off the living area had a great view of the beach over the pool behind the inn. The kitchen was adequate but dated. The full sized refrigerator was new but the range was older with exposed electric coils. The dishwasher was older but functional. The kitchen had all of the cookware that we expected to need. The Garden City Pier was directly adjacent to the Kingfisher Inn and the downtown area of the town was only a few blocks in size and had very little traffic.

After we got moved in Mary scanned restaurant ratings and decided on Southside Grill which was only a few minutes away. The restaurant owners were Pittsburgh natives with a great sense of humor making us feel right at home. Everyone but me ordered the grilled grouper with mango chutney. I had a seafood sampler platter. Everyone’s meals suited them perfectly and were well prepared and served. We planned to return here later in the week since they were only open from Wednesday through Sunday evenings.

After returning to the Kingfisher Inn, we changed clothes and took a walk on beach. We walked under the pier and continued south along the water’s edge until we were ready to head back. By then, the sun has set and we rinsed at the inn’s outdoor shower before going up to the room and relaxing before bed.

Leaving for Myrtle Beach

We spent the day on Friday mowing and packing for our time at the beach. Unlike most West Virginians, I had never been to Myrtle Beach. However, my friend, Larry has had a timeshare at Garden City, between Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet, that he wasn’t using for his week so he let us rent it from him. Neither of us are really all that into the beach but we enjoy seeing new places and eating seafood so we decided to give it a try. We invited our friends, Rex and Natalie Dillinger to join us since they enjoy the same kinds of things that we enjoy and they have traveled to this area many times and are familiar with the attractions.

Rex had recently been involved in a legal issue involving a traffic ticket in Alleghany County, Virginia. He had passed a police car on I-64 and, in the officer’s opinion, didn’t move far enough into the left lane. He has secured an attorney to challenge the reckless driving charge to an offence with fewer points on his driver's license. In addition, he has had a health scare following a tick bite resulting in a diagnosis of ehrlichiosis. He had been very ill until starting a course of antibiotics that will hopefully prevent any chronic health problems. We hoped that the beach trip would be a pleasant diversion from his legal and health issues.

We really didn’t know what to pack since we hadn’t been to the area before and hadn’t really taken a “beach vacation” other than as a stop on one of our visits to Florida. We packed more clothes that we thought we would need despite knowing that our lodging, the Kingfisher Inn, would have a laundry. We packed a good bit of food since we planned to eat breakfast and lunch at the condo. We took water shoes and camp chairs as well as fishing gear to take advantage of whatever the area offered.

We turned the water heater and under-sink water heater off, locked the doors, set light timers, security cameras and the entry alarms. We were on the road by 4 pm. Although the shortest and most direct route for us would be by taking I-75 through Knoxville but we opted to spend Friday night with Dillingers in Milton then we could leave from there taking the West Virginia Turnpike avoiding most large cities. We ate our dinner of cold cut sandwiches along the drive arriving at Dillinger’s before 7 pm. We enjoyed catching up then turning in to bed before 10 pm.