Weekend trip - Myrtle beach

The next weekend after our Washington DC trip, we went to Myrtle Beach. This trip was much more planned. The weather was beautiful that weekend. It was perfect weather for a beach trip.

We started on Saturday morning, a little after 7. It is about a 3 hour trip. We had packed some breakfast to eat on the way. I made vegetable patties or puff (whatever you call them) and zucchini pineapple muffins. For the puffs, I used frozen puff pastry and filled them with a samosa type filling of potatoes and peas before baking them. I used this recipe for zucchini bread but made it in a muffin form. Muffins are easier to travel with and eat on the go. We also had some good ol' chai in a thermos. Our friends got potato masala sandwiches.

After our tea and fuel break, we reached the hotel around 12 in the afternoon. We went straight to the beach which was about 2 blocks from the hotel. When the daughter first stepped in the sand, she was uncomfortable with the sand sticking to her feet. After a while when she saw everyone walking around with sandy feet, she got used to it and then she went all out playing in the sand.

getting water for sand castle	Playing with sand toys
in the water	flying kites

I forgot to pack her beachwear partly because I was pretty sure the water would be too cold to go in. But turns out, the water was not all that cold. She really enjoyed splashing in it and jumping over waves. She also enjoyed looking for shells, which is also one of my favorite things to do at the beach.
We just ate the leftover puffs and muffins with some biscuits and bananas and called that lunch. We went back to the hotel after 4:30 to clean up and go out for dinner. I had brought a small cooler full of food for the daughter. After her stomach episode last week, I did not want to risk her eating out. She ate her "soup bhata" (dal and rice) before we left the hotel.

Being in a group with mostly vegetarian people makes it hard to choose where to eat. The Market Commons which is a shopping + restaurant complex with nice landscaped gardens, was very near our hotel. We had planned on PF Changs which had the most options to suit everyone in the group. But it being dinner time (6 pm), there was an hour long wait. We decided to go around the block to Nacho Hippo which is one of the so-called "hippie" places serving, u guessed it : nachos, tacos and the like. They have really huge plates of nachos which are good but they definitely need to be shared between 3 people, because for me nachos with so much cheese is best as an appetizer in small portions. The server did tell us to share them between two people. We shared the tree-hugger nachos and a lobster taco with a spicy mango margarita. We usually don't drink margaritas and the like but being in vacation mood we decided to try it. It was great with a spicy kick. The daughter was fast asleep on the way here and slept through the dinner. The service was pretty slow but all of us enjoyed the food.

After dinner, we decided to go check out the Skywheel. It is one of the biggest landmarks in Myrtle Beach. After parking in a public parking garage, we walked down to the Skywheel. There were some other amusement park type rides on the way. But they were not suitable to ride on after dinner. We went on the Skywheel which has climate controlled gondolas. The wheel goes very slowly stopping many times, presumably to load people. The main purpose is to get a sort of birds eye view of Myrtle Beach. We saw the lights and buzz of activity on the very busy street.

the skywheel

reflected on a glass building

After that we went back to the hotel for some much needed good nights sleep. The next morning we checked out of the hotel and went for brunch at around 11 to the nearby Woodhaven Pancake House. These kind of Pancake Houses are all over Myrtle Beach and most of them are packed in the mornings. We had a big brunch of eggs, waffle, french toast. Then we headed to Broadway at the Beach which is a big complex built around lake Broadway with lots of entertainment and dining options. We went to the Mirror Maze which is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. The daughter loved feeding the huge fish at the lake with the fish food stations on the bridges. The fish are a little bit scary and always seem so hungry for food. One of the friends tried ziplining across the lake.
We left Myrtle Beach around 4 in the afternoon after a round of Ben and Jerrys icecream. We reached Charlotte after 7:30 and went for dinner at a very nice Indian restaurant "The Blue Taj". It was the rare occasion when the restaurant was practically empty, maybe due to it being Sunday. We had our usual order of Chole Tikki, Shahi Paneer and Naan. Everything is just so good there.