The Myrtle Beach Diaries - Days 2-4: Beach Bum & Defenders Of The Realm

Debbie on the beach at night, striking a pose.

The past few days I have been on  vacation in Myrtle Beach SC with my family.  For the most part we have been doing typical beach things - swimming in the ocean, lying on the beach, looking for dolphins in the surf, enjoying the hotels many hot tubs and pools, and taking long walks with the wife watching sunsets over the ocean.

On Monday while the girls went shopping I went geocaching with my dad and spend the morning exploring parts of Myrtle Beach that we have not seen before, despite our bi-annual visits to the area.

One of my planned activities for this trip was to go to Medieval Times.  For those not familiar with the place it is a dinner theatre set in the 1100s, and contains live action jousting, sword fighting and other pursuits of knights and kings.   My parents had offered to babysit Zeke for an evening so I had the perfect chance for a fun date night with my wife.

A falconer and his Falcon named Lady Athena.

Tickets to the show are >$50 each, so when I was offered the chance to get free tickets in exchange for a timeshare demo I was intrigued.  I have heard of similar tours in the past but never qualified (not living in the US was the main issue).  Now that I do qualify I figured I'd give it a chance.  So on Tuesday morning at 9:30 my wife, kid, and I headed over to the sales office to get our tour.  3.5 hours and a sales pitch later we left without a time share, 2 free nights in a hotel, and most importantly, two free tickets to Medieval Times.   This evening we ate and entire roast chicken meal with our hands (cutlery not being invented yet in 1100AD) and watched a very entertaining show full of drama, suspense, action and cheering ourselves hoarse.  Good times had by all :)

Great Big Sea

Great Big Sea is a high energy maritime folk rock band from Newfoundland Canada.  Last night they played the McGlohon Theatre in downtown Charlotte NC.    Luckily all the details (getting last minute tickets, lining up a babysitter etc.) worked out and my wife and I were able to head down to Charlotte and check out the show.

We have been fans of Great Big Sea for 10+ years, and it was a real treat for a couple of Canadian expats to spend an evening enjoying some amazing Canadian music.  We were not dissapointed.  GBS was in top form as they played a double set of their classic hits and some tracks off of their latest record.  The sound quality was almost perfect, and the audience interaction was fantastic.  The energy in the room started out high and didn't come down until the end of the last song.

If you are not familiar with GBS, their songs range from the serious to fun to extremely fun, and all celebrate the maritime culture that defines Newfoundland.  I managed to grab the following bootleg video of GBSs performance of a comedic song called Charlie Horse, which is a song about friends rescuing a horse who drowned in a lake.  It is a perfect example of how GBS songs often make light of the events surrounding the often hard life in traditional Newfoundland and Labrador.  Please forgive the video quality.  I only managed to grab one video before I was told "pictures were not allowed in the theatre".  I hope you enjoy it.