Vacations Blog

Iron Maiden torture chamber at Ripley's Believe It or Not!

I loved the Ripley’s Believe  It or Not! cartoon as a kid.  Learning about  Robert Ripley’s weird and wacky discoveries around the world was always intriguing.  So there was no way I’d pass up the strip of Ripley’s attractions on Ocean Blvd in Myrtle Beach.  I grabbed my reluctant 12-year-old and headed to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. I wouldn’t recommend it for children under 10 because the museum is filled with creepy and eerie artifacts. Once you walk past the  photos of the 8″11 tallest man of all time and the Egyptian barge made from toothpicks, the offerings grow scarier. There’s a whole wall devoted to medieval torture  devices and a gruesome “Iron Maiden”, a wooden, female -shaped, cabinet equipped with 13 spikes to pierce the eyes, throat and heart of religious heretics.  Read More »

Swirling Hurricane at Margaritaville

You don’t have to be a Jimmy Buffett fan to be captured by the zaniness of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Jimmy’s pseudo-tropical, off kilter tunes but I forgot all that as I nibbled jerk salmon and conch fritters.  The sprawling, two-story restaurant anchors the popular Broadway on the Beach shopping  district and tops the list for Myrtle Beach  family friendly activities.  Jimmy Buffett fans are called Parrot Heads and the first thing you’ll see are tons of people roaming around in balloon parrot hats. You’d think this was a draw for the kids but you’ll spot more adults wearing them.  The other spectacle that greets you is a swirling hurricane, complete with sound effects and weather forecasts. Read More »

Digging in the dirt at the Fossil Fair

October 31st might signal Halloween treats to you, but for South Carolina science fans it’s also a day of archeological fun at the South Carolina Fossil Fair hosted at the Ocean Lakes Family Campground’s Recreation Building in Myrtle Beach.  The day-long event features a mock dig site, PCS Phosphate Mine, a fossil hunt and lots of bones.  Experts from the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History will dust off your discoveries and identify the fossils.

Start at the mock dig site where a museum specialist will illustrate how to create a plaster cast to move a specimen from the dig site to a museum.  You can observe how the fossil is removed from the plaster and prepared for display. The fun part is that you get to help clean the specimen. Read More »

Sculpture of Roman Goddess Diana surrounded by a pond

Revel in nature’s fall colors at Brookgreen Gardens Harvest Home Festival on October 24-25.  Enter the scarecrow building contest, try pumpkin painting or opt for hay rides, basket-weaving and pottery demonstrations while listening to live bluegrass music. With the lush Brookgreen Gardens as the setting, your fall vacation will be filled with beauty.  Covered with palmetto trees, hydrangeas and expansive lawns, Brookgreen Gardens resembles a swampy Garden of Eden.

Nestled between Myrtle Beach and Pawley’s Island, the 9,200-acre outdoor museum and National Historic Landmark boasts sculptures, gardens, fountains, marshes, swamps, an aviary and a zoo.  This place is so massive that admission tickets are good for seven consecutive days. I recommend devoting a day to the Harvest Home Festivalactivities and another for the sculpture garden and lowcountry zoo. Read More »

Walking Dixie Land Jazz Band

The quaint Little River Waterfront

As the weather cools and the crowds head home, the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area continues to supply lots of fall cultural activities often unexpected in beach communities.

Kick off your autumn fun with flavorful food and music on October 10-11 at the Shrimp & Jazz Festival in nearby Little River, SC.  Relax on the historic waterfront that once harbored Captain Kidd and Blackbeard and catch sounds like the rollicking Voodoo Flute or follow a strolling Dixieland jazz band.  The music is free flowing and contagious, so expect to see as many people dancing and bopping their heads as you do sampling the seafood goodies.  Read More »

Heaping piles of chicken bog are a festival highlight

Chicken Bog

They say that chicken bog is to South Carolina what Brunswick stew is to North Carolina, which is to say, an intricate part of lowcountry life. Dating back to 17th century Charleston, chicken bog is a savory stew of chicken, rice, onions and sausage spiced with lots and lots of black pepper. The name is supposed to refer to either the lowcountry swamp bogs that the rice grew in or the fact that the dish is bogged down in rice. Read More »

Camping in South Carolina is a lush and welcoming experience for travelers of all ages. Born and bred in California, my experience of camping was almost exclusively dry, hot and sandy/dusty. That’s what you get when you camp in a desert, beach or arid landscape. Camping in South Carolina, however, is nothing like that. Lush greenery, dense forests and a very different beachfront experience from any in California await you in this beautiful place. In addition, the camping experience itself is as lush and inviting as the landscape.

Myrtle Beach camping, for example caters to family travelers with camping resorts such as Pirateland. At Pirateland, you can choose from a vacation rental or a campsite, with options to meet your budget. Their amenities redefine camping in a more luxurious and easy style. From full Laundromats and a senior room to a summer time aquatic complex, you can leave your boyscout roughing it badge at home. This is camping anyone can do!

To me, the beach camping is the most inspiring, however opportunities for camping in the many lush forests and landscapes of South Carolina abound as well. There are 6 KOA (Kampgrounds of America) campgrounds sprinkled throughout South Carolina, with many located nearby to popular tourist destinations , ensuring that you’ll be able to find something interesting to do no matter where you end up. If you’re looking to rough it a bit more, there are several National Parks and Historic Sites in South Carolina that are administered by the national parks service.

Wherever you end up camping when you visit South Carolina, you’re sure to find a world of possibilities.

**Thanks to the National Parks Service for the lovely winter photo of Congaree National Park in South Carolina**

Before we start naming names, answer  these two questions:

1. What’s a family vacation need that ‘other’ vacations don’t?

2. What’s a family friendly hotel got that a cookie cutter hotel does not?

Answer these, and you’ll be left with a handful of suitable destinations, and at most 1 or 2 good hotels at each of these destinations which you can deem  good enough for the sacred family vacation.

If you’re wondering what the heck this has to do with anything, consider why exactly the Dunes Village Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC has been voted by TripAdvisor users as the most family friendly bargain hotel in the entire nation.

That is because:

1. The resort is located in an extremely family friendly location. Myrtle Beach has about 14 million annual visitors who tend to come with family, has miles and miles of sandy beaches, entertainment, shopping, restaurants, theater, cruises, scuba diving and other water sports, and all sorts of family friendly activities centered around the Grand Strand. Not to mention hot new theme parks like Hard Rock Park.

2. The Dunes Village Resort is a mini-attraction all by itself, with an indoor water park, including a 250 ft long river water ride, a massive swimming pool with water volleyball and basketball, a variety of hot tubs, kiddies’ wet deck with Silly Submarine and a kiddies’ play pool offering a delightful selection of games and slides.

3. The resort offers bargain basement prices, with 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom suites for the entire family at rates starting from $87 (plus taxes). And these are oceanfront ocean view suites for the full family we’re talking about. That’s cheap even compared to other Myrtle Beach hotels.

What all this means is that you can take a family vacation which you can brag about at the office cooler when you get back, and you can do this on a decent budget. While on vacation, you can leave the kids having fun under adult supervision inside the resort, while you hit the shops, or snooze on the beach or do whatever it is you want to do on vacation. Plus, all of you can enjoy the thrills and rides like the hair-raising Led Zeppelin ride at Hard Rock Park. And that’s what a family vacation is all about – you love it, your kids love it, you all remember the shared memories and it doesn’t break the bank.

Info: 5200 North Ocean Blvd. Myrtle Beach SC 29577; (877) 828-2237; www.dunesvillage.com/ ; Photo copyrights – Dunes Village Resort Myrtle Beach