Editor’s note: This is the first in a series about South Carolina’s low country.



Expecting sunshine and kitsch, I checked out Myrtle Beach for a mini holiday in August. What I got was a hurricane and high-quality entertainment.

Have you been there recently? My last time was a family beach holiday at least 15 years ago when some miniature golf and the small water park were about the only extras beyond the beach.

Last summer I drove right through on Highway 17 enroute from Charleston, S.C., to Wilmington, N.C., and pegged it as an uninteresting destination, what with Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner and show and Alligator Adventure Barefoot Zoological Gardens having the biggest billboards. That’s where I drew my conclusion that this town is all about kitsch — attractions for tourists who are not very choosy.

Wrong. First things first. Myrtle is a beach and you can slip right into it. No wondering here which is the private part and which is available to you. This beach makes you feel welcome, whether you enter through the little park on Ocean Boulevard, or the back yard of any of the oceanfront hotels.

It doesn’t work like that at my native New Jersey beaches. I know because even though I stayed two blocks west of the ocean at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, I tried lots of entryways to the water; I’ve been to other beaches where I felt like a trespasser (and maybe was) but Myrtle welcomed me. Guess that good, welcoming feeling happens often because 12.7 million others tried Myrtle Beach in 2003.

From the heart of town, this beach stretches as far as you can see with Crayola-color umbrellas lining the center space: bold red and blues, yellows and greens in a near-perfect row.

The dune grasses are pretty and easier to pass by than on some beaches because they’re on flat land. Lifeguard stands are close together here, so you feel safe as well as wanted.

Good thing for me I went swimming the first afternoon because Hurricane Charley hit two days later. Without the rain, I might not have discovered all the other pastimes here. Myrtle is more than a beach. An explosion of experiences has taken place.

Ripley’s Aquarium educates while it amuses. I hope the one coming together in Atlanta will be this much fun. Set aside all expectations of kitsch and anticipate quality science lessons in a painless style. Wouldn’t you think another Titanic exhibit plus the Ripley (“believe it or not”) name would mean a hokey experience? Not here.

This Titanic story — created only for Ripley’s Myrtle Beach and Gatlinburg locations, and only for one year at each place — is superb. The video is a don’t miss because it ties the sinking-of-the-ship story to pertinent environmental issues. So do the displays.

Outside the Titanic exhibit is a full day of aquarium fun. Ride the moving sidewalk and look sideways, front, back and overhead to see sharks, stingrays, tarpons, snappers, eels and more. Stick your hands in the water elsewhere and pick up a live horseshoe crab or touch a stingray gliding by; little kids weren’t the only ones doing this.

Pop in the marine classroom every 30 minutes to learn something new. Marvel at a leafy seadragon. Big stage shows at night and matinees for kids lure you off the beach and into the 2,700-seat Palace Theatre, built in 1997. I overheard folks booking “I-want-to-come-back-again” tickets the night I saw Broadway! — a troupe of largely British, fabulously costumed singers and dancers presenting high-energy renditions of your favorite show tunes. Once again, I went there expecting mediocre and I found top-notch.

Other choices if you claim Myrtle Beach for a week include Spirit of the Dance and the story of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, The Rat Pack. Check the schedule for special Christmas shows and national touring productions, including Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Les Miserables.

Golf is a big Myrtle Beach experience with 121 courses. Tag along with a golfer and book yourself at a resort with great courses even if you don’t play. That’s me — and I found a perfect holiday at Sea Trail golf resort and conference center at Sunset Beach, just north of Myrtle Beach, across the border into North Carolina.

The three championship courses seemed to please the golfers in my group, and provided beauty in every direction for the non-players. For the non-golfers, like me? Easy-access ocean, spacious pools indoors and out, yoga on land and in the water, a spa with herbal body wraps, full body paraffin and hot stone massage for starters. Those feel lovely after an eco-tour or bike riding on the 2,000 acre property whose staff seem to delight in tending to the details which please travelers.

Broadway at the Beach gets you off the beach and onto the boardwalk. Nighttime is fun with 20 restaurants and nightclubs, including the music-filled Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville, 16 movies and an IMAX, plus fireworks on Tuesdays in the summer.

Daytime works there too, perhaps choosing lunch, libations, miniature golf, interactive fountains, Pirates of the Caribbean adventure ride and arcade, or just ambling along.

This 350-acre site is where you find the Aquarium and Palace Theatre. Even the Hunley is here with an interactive exhibit of the world’s first successful submarine, built during the Civil War. Raised from the Atlantic in 2000 after 131 years on the ocean floor, the Hunley eight-crew submarine is now in Charleston, but well explained here as a testimony of American inventiveness and ingenuity. Portions of the proceeds support the work of Friends of the Hunley to continue excavation and restoration

It’s tough to find the time or wherewithal to get to the Napa Valley or France’s wine regions, but you can do some vineyard visiting at North Myrtle Beach. Calling itself La Bella Amie, this 40-acre vineyard is a former tobacco plantation owned by the Bellamy family since the late 1800s. Tours and tastings with Vicki Weigle, the proprietor-descendent of the original family, are available and music festivals on the green happen every month except December and January.

Shopping at Myrtle Beach?

Sure. This is America after all. Crystal Grand opened this March with major department stores, specialty national retailers and more than 100 other shops. Of course you’ll look for bargains, but look up and around occasionally because Crystal Grand features art and regional motifs.

Tabby on the outside lets you know you’ve arrived in the Low Country; that’s stucco embedded with millions of oyster shells. Palm trees, hurricane shutters, beach glass chandeliers, lots of lattice work and rattan chairs make this Myrtle Beach mall experience different from others.

Art is available in museums too at Myrtle Beach. In fact, right now through Oct. 31 you can catch the Ansel Adams masterworks in Burroughs-Chapin Art Museum on Ocean Boulevard. Admission is free. These 48 spectacular black-and-white photographs of our country’s natural sites are among the 73 which Adams said represent the best of his work.

What about that Alligator Adventure?

Curator Jamie Baker still has his first dinosaur book and says he’s been studying about their closest living relatives — alligators and crocodiles — ever since he was a little boy. He emphasizes science, not superficial displays.

I can’t tell you first hand how scary — or how fun — the Myrtle Beach helicopter rides are. That was on my list of “maybes” but the winds preceding Hurricane Charley canceled that. For $24.95 each, you can take a five-mile chopper ride along the coast, over a golf course and circle back to the airport. That route gives you an overview of what locals call the Grand Strand, meaning the whole stretch of their community.

I only experienced Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. Next, the South Carolina story will be the rest of the Grand Strand: Conway, Georgetown, Pawley’s Island, Litchfield Beach and Murrell’s Inlet. Think I’ll wait for hurricane season to end before I go back.