AT THE BEACH

We crossed from Georgia into South Carolina. Our first stop was in Pendleton. We were only a few miles from Clemson, so we drove around the campus of Clemson University. The campus is very pretty and we saw Memorial Stadium, where the Clemson Tigers play football. The stadium was built in a valley on the western part of the campus in 1942. It is known as "Death Valley" and has a seating capacity of 81,500. The downtown area of Clemson had some charm but it didn’t float our boat. The overwhelming sense was that too many buildings were splashed in orange and purple. And, too many businesses were Tiger this, Tiger that, Tigerpaw this, and Tigerpaw that. Of course, we are fans of Bulldogs, so it was all rather off-putting.

Our next stop in South Carolina was in Fort Mill, which is on the southwest side of Charlotte, North Carolina. Metropolitan Charotte includes both North Carolina and South Carolina communities. The city of Charlotte is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population of the city was 874,579 in 2020, making Charlotte the 15th-most populous city in the United States. The locals call the metropolitan area Metrolina, which is a sixteen-county market region with a 2020 population of 2,822,352. Between 2004 and 2014, Charlotte was ranked as the country's fastest-growing metro area, with 888,000 new residents. Charlotte is home to the corporate headquarters of Bank of America, Truist Financial, and the East Coast headquarters of Wells Fargo. Along with other financial institutions, this makes Charlotte the second-largest banking center in the United States. Charlotte?

On our next travel day, we woke up to rain. There was a massive storm moving up the coast from the south and we had front row seats. It rained on us almost the entire way to Myrtle Beach. The park where we stayed is massive - it was right on the beach with over 1200 sites. The site which we reserved was at the end of a road next to the beach, but that whole section of the park was flooded. So, the management put us in another spot. We had a small window of clear weather to set up the trailer and then the rains and wind started again and lasted through the night. Pretty hair-raising situation for cats in a big aluminum box on wheels.

We toured downtown Myrtle Beach, which means we drove for miles. The towers of condos along Ocean Boulevard go on forever. The boardwalk area reminded us of Las Vegas on the beach. Lots of kitsch. Restaurants, show venues, amusement businesses, and beach gear stores. Myrtle Beach is located in the center of a continuous 60-mile stretch of beach known as the "Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. Its year-round population was 35,682 as of 2020. Myrtle Beach is one of the major centers of tourism in South Carolina and the United States. The city's climate, miles of beaches, one hundred golf courses (give or take a few), and 1,800 restaurants attract over 20 million visitors each year, making Myrtle Beach one of the most visited destinations in the country.

The Myrtle Beach metropolitan area is the one of fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, with a population of 551,126 as of 2020 census. More than 104,000 people moved to the area during a recent eight year period, representing a nearly 28% growth in population. The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk opened in 2010 and has been recognized as the nation's #3 boardwalk by National Geographic and one of the best US boardwalks by Travel + Leisure magazine.

With so many golf courses, this is your spot if you love to play golf. We aren’t old enough to play golf yet.

At The Beach is a song by the Avett Brothers. We like this band a lot. According to the Wiki, the Avett Brothers combine bluegrass, country, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, indie rock, honky tonk, and ragtime to produce a novel sound. A review in the San Francisco Chronicle described the band as having the "heavy sadness of Townes Van Zandt, the light pop concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles, the raw energy of the Ramones." That’s a pretty good description.

Sleepy.

Betty and Buster

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