We recently took a cross-country road trip which included driving through parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina to get to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It took one-and-a-half days. We would have preferred flying there, but couldn’t know for sure when we’d be able to actually go on the trip–we’d been planning it for more than two months, and several unexpected problems popped up, including my husband’s knee surgery and my kidney stone.

Anyway, we were excited to finally get started on the trip. On our first night on the road, we started hunting for a hotel around 6:30 PM, just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Four and a half hours later, after stopping every time we got to an area with hotels and finding them full, we finally found a hotel. We were exhausted.

The next day, around noontime, we arrived in Myrtle Beach. We were eager to see the ocean, but checked into a hotel first, ate lunch (after which I passed my stone), and then strolled through one of the Tangier Outlet Malls. The following morning, we got to see the ocean and beach. We even stayed a couple of nights in beach front condos. Beautiful views!

o1005125E

o10051251

o10051262

o100512BC

The Myrtle Beach area has so much to offer–an amusement park, shows, a Medieval Times Dinner Show, gardens, zoos, an aquarium, beaches, boat rides, every imaginable kind of restaurant, bars, two outlet malls, two regular malls, movie theaters, several outdoor malls filled with souvenir shops and assorted restaurants, a water park, lots of miniature golf sites, and more regular golf courses than just about anywhere else in the U.S.

o10051276

o10051273

o10061447

o100512DA

o10061451

o1006142A

o1006141F

o10061416

o100613EA

o10061396

o100613E1

o100613C6

o100613EE

o100613D7

o10061403

We didn’t have time or energy to see it all, and our visit got cut short because I caught a bad cold, but we will surely go back again. If you ever want a relaxing vacation with tons of activities available, Myrtle Beach is worth checking out. I hope you like my photos!