The Step Out the Door: Celebrating our Independence in..... Myrtle Beach!!!

So here we are, Brianne and I, in the East. A couple of West-siders, living in the East. In one of the original 13 colonies I've read about in history books and always knew was somewhere on the other side of this vast country. As it turns out, there are a lot of really neat places over here, being backed with so much history and also bordering an ocean! But half of the people who follow this blog already know this all too well, since they have had opportunity--twice in the past 10 years or so--to take a few months to tour the country to visit many of these historical and otherwise important and interesting places (lucky...)

So where does a young and adventurous couple decide to spend a few days vacation (and over the 4th of July no less) with so many options within a few hours' drive? To Washington D.C., our nation's own capital, with the Smithsonian Museum and countless other attractions, which Brianne tells me a week isn't even long enough to do justice? To Williamsburg, Virginia, where we can walk back in time and see what folks were up to on July 4th in 1776 (oh, just the year we declared ourselves an independent nation)?!

Ultimately, Myrtle Beach won out. It was a tough decision, but Myrtle was closest, cheapest, and we had already been longing for some time just on the beach.

I have such a great wife! Brianne willingly got up with me at 4:45 on the morning of the 4th to begin our grand adventure!

After being on the road a couple hours we saw a sign on the freeway "Revolutionary War Site". It was still only like 7:30 a.m. so why not pull off and check it out? It is the 4th, after all.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Brianne gained a greater appreciation for my job as her ankles became swarmed with fire ants.

I was a bad boy.

Hmm. Prison's not so bad . . .

That is General Cornwallis' home whilst he had possession of the city of Camden. This was evidently an important city, being on the frontier of our young nation.

Baron deKalb was mortally wounded on this spot. At Battle of Camden Aug. 16, 1780.

Ah, here we are! Ignore the mouths full of cheesecake and behold the view you may have seen on so many travel brochures: the white sands, the blue skies, the endless line of hotels on the beach (which were completely booked, by the way), the giant ferris wheel above my head!

Thanks for the cool new shades, wifey :)

This is us in line to go on the giant ferris wheel...

And this us IN the giant ferris wheel :D

View from the top

Free live concert! And these guys were good, just upbeat, entertaining and talented! This was warming us up for Myrtle's 4th of July Fireworks

which you can see in the background.

Less than a year ago on our honeymoon we watched a sun set over the Pacific near San Fransisco. Now here we are catching the sun rise over the Atlantic. From sea to shining sea.

Breakfast in Paradise! I love going out for breakfast!

Oh this was so cool! We got to ride... in a golf cart!!

...to a helicopter!

First time in a Helicopter!!!!!

Flying over the ocean!

Hahaha see all those little dots in the sand? Yesterday that was us.

The yellow dot in the middle right is a paraglider.

As for Brianne... well she grinned and giggled and stomped her feet like a giddy little girl! :)

Italian ice!

Who doesn't like parfait? :D

What better way could we cap off our celebration of throwing off the oppression of England than to enjoy a kingly feast?

Dinner and a show in a large, Medieval arena. The pictures unfortunately just don't do this night justice. Brianne and I were thoroughly impressed, it was an awesome experience.

Um the feast was so tasty I forgot to take a picture of it until it was in my tummy. But here is the plate and the mug! And you'll notice, true to medieval dining, there is no silverware. The menu is pretty simple: Vegetarian or non-vegetarian. So they brought us each a huge, greasy chicken leg, ribs, and a potato. And a pastry for dessert. All eaten with our bare hands (sorry Mom!)