By The Beautiful Sea

Faithful readers...in posts past, you have read much and often about my Happy Place...AKA: The Beach. Hooray and hallelujah, I made it! And Mr. T and Missy M are here with me. Who could ask for anything more?

Here is the view from our balcony, where I am writing this post:

We arrived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, just as the sun was setting yesterday afternoon, after driving from HPNC in the rain much of the way. And even though the GPS (fondly known as McGee) in Mr. T's ride had difficulty finding our hotel's address, we eventually tapped into our memory banks, recalling our stay here just last September, and made it on the third try.

This Hampton is really quite a gem, having all oceanfront rooms with balconies and porch-rockers, and one of the cleanest, freshest beach properties we've ever encountered. But we were thrilled to open the door to our eighth-floor room and find that the Hilton Honors Diamond Desk had upgraded Mr. T to a two-bedroom, two-bath suite with a kitchen! Wow!! It goes a long way toward making all that travel he does and all those nights he spends in a hotel worth it.

Today has been just gorgeous here, although we can see evidence of storms out at sea. After breakfast, we headed to the beach...a very short walk indeed! We have these neat folding chairs that have their own shade-covers attached, and we staked out our spot on the sand. Missy M didn't waste any time getting into the surf, while Mr. T and I took a little stroll down the beach. Then I joined M, while T took a tan. Later, we convinced him to get wet, too.

Tonight, we're visiting The Sea Captain's House (a favorite for long-time MB vacationers) for the first time. Since we have always stayed in the Pawleys Island area until last year, we are newbies for many of the MB-area eateries. Of course, we'll have to head to some of our favs in Murrells Inlet before we go.

Tomorrow's prediction calls for rain...but we simply don't care. The three of us have wanted...no, needed this trip for so long, and we refuse to be bothered by precipitation. Unless there are gale-force winds (NOT predicted), you will probably find us right here on this balcony...reading, writing, chatting, or napping. And enjoying every peaceful moment. Ahhhh...

Cheers!