The Myrtle Beach Diaries - Day 1: The Arrival

Note:  I am trying an experiment which hopefully will work.  I am currently on vacation in North Myrtle Beach SC with my wife, kid, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and parents.  Sort of a family reunion.  We have been coming to Myrtle Beach as a family since before I was born so this is a continuation of a tradition.  These next series of blogs will be about this vacation, but since I don't want to let the world know I am not at my house I am scheduling these entries to post one week from now when I am back home... hopefully it works :)... now, on with the show!

October 2, 2010

Great Falls Mill - Rockingham NC

  We left our house in western North Carolina around 8:30am.  It is normally a 5 hour drive to the coast from my house, however we took 7 1/2 hours so I could do some geocaching along the way.  If you ever wonder why I like geocaching it is because of the interesting places it takes me that I would never see on my own.  This trip provided a perfect example of this as we stumbled across the ruins of Great Falls Mill in Rockingham NC.   These ruins are quite spectacular and remind me of the ruins of old settlements that are found throughout Europe.

Rockingham itself is a very nice small town, and if you ever pass this way I highly recommend checking it out.  We also spent some time exploring the Waccamaw River, which is a river I have driven over many many times on my way to/from the beach, but have never really seen.   Honestly I would rather spend the 7.5 hours driving country roads and checking out awesome views that spending 5 hours on an interstate highway.

Around 4:30pm we pulled into North Myrtle Beach, got checked in, and our stuff unloaded and brought to the rented condo where we are staying.  When I finally got a chance to check out the scenery, I was awarded this wonderful view of the beach, and the Atlantic Ocean.  This promises to be a fantastic week.