Myrtle Beach & Grand Prix 2004

September 19-22, 2004
Myrtle Beach, SC
Photo Album

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For many years Myrtle Beach was my favorite place to visit for vacation. It had everything I want to do; roller coasters, swimming, restaurants, night life, you name it. As a kid my family went every year. My most recent visit had been in 2002. As it was late in the season, it was much different visit than I was used to but I had a lot of fun. I decided to take some time from my new job and head to the beach with my family. Because of a previous engagement, we would be leaving for Salisbury, North Carolina on Friday, September 17 and staying the nite.

Because of Hurricanes Charlie, Francis, Ivan, Bonnie, and Janeen, I was very afraid we were going to be rained out as it started raining late Thursday evening at home, and continued thru our trip to NC. I was happy, though, to see beautiful blue skies when I woke up Saturday morning. We left Salisbury around 4:30 pm and headed south. It was about a 4 hour trip including our stop at Pizza Hut in South Carolina for dinner, but we made it to the Holiday Inn (now Sea Crest) Hotel we were staying at around 9:00 pm that evening.

After checking in and taking our luggage up to the suite, I promptly changed clothes and headed out for a nite on the town. I hadn’t really been out since moving back home, so I was happy to finally be getting dressed up for a reason. I cruised around downtown for a bit which, though it was the off season, was still fairly active as it was the weekend. I didn’t want to arrive at the club too early, so I cruised some more around Myrtle Beach. Then at around 11:30 pm I headed for Club Kryptonite, the hot new club at Broadway at the Beach. I forgot my flyer to get me in for two bucks, so I ended up paying $10. It was “Coyote Ugly Night” so there were loads of girls on boxes and up on the bar dancing and pouring drinks. The DJ was great, loads of good music, and the crowd fun. Getting back to the room, I took a shower and went to sleep.

Myrtle Beach Pavilion 2004

BANNER

Myrtle Beach Pavilion | Photos | Videos

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September 19, 2004
Myrtle Beach SC

Since the park was closing early today I thought I’d better get there around opening, get my arm band, and ride rides. I woke up a little after 1pm, changed into my swimming trunks so I could do the water rides, and headed down town. It wasn’t very crowded and the park was in its usual post-season state of deadness. Everything was up and running with the exception of the Carousel and the Top Spin. This is the way all parks should be ran, however, when it comes to cleanliness. There were more handymen around sweeping and cleaning than there were park goers! And as far as I can remember it’s always been that way.

I love a nice, relaxing day at a sea side park. There was a strong ocean breeze and some of the ops were running the rides like crazy since it was so dead at the park. My first order of business was that big heap of steel and wood that is known as Hurricane Category 5. There are a lot of people that said this is the worst there was when it came to roughness. Yes it is rough, but not roughest by far.

The Pavilion staff does a good job at keeping their rides up and running at capacity for the time they are open, but this was the park’s first wooden coaster in many years, and I think they just don’t know how to maintain it that well. That, and those trains suck.

Myrtle Beach 1999

Myrtle Beach | Photos | Videos

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June 9-13, 1999
Senior Week ’99
Myrtle Beach South Carolina

On Friday, June 4, 1999, I finished my high school career at Mt. View High School by graduating 69th out of a class of around 300. It was a very hectic week. Since I was in the Art Honor Society, as well as on the Project Graduation Committee, I had a lot of work to do to get ready for the party after graduation, and was one of the only Seniors allowed at the school for the entire week. Unfortunately, the telemarketing firm I was working for abruptly closed in the middle of the week, so I was out of a job and getting ready to go on vacation, all on top of graduation, one of the biggest life events for anyone.

This left me in an odd position. I had originally planned to go to Myrtle Beach for the latter part of Senior Week ’99 as I was not able to get off of work until Wednesday. But now I had the entire week (and longer) off, but with no reservations until Wednsday. Should I try to go earlier? Stay home and enjoy some down time? Ultimately I decided to be lazy at home for the first part of the week.

By Wednesday I was getting excited. This was my first trip to the beach without my family. I was finally 18 and going on vacation by myself! My aunt & uncle were planning to visit North Carolina and also leaving on Wednesday morning, so my plan was to follow them down as far as Salisbury, then head the rest of the way by myself. So around 8 am Wednsday morning I packed my car to head south towards the beach, an 8 hr trip from home. Unfortunately, my aunt & uncle were running way behind, so I made the command decision to head down by myself. I’m still very proud of myself for getting there safe and sound and only getting slightly off course in Columbia, SC.

I arrived in Myrtle Beach around 5 pm and checked into my room. I stayed at a small motel by myself called the Chip Inn, right beside one of the amusement parks in the area. On Tuesday I had called some friends of mine that were at the beach already, so after getting checked in and cleaned up I headed to their hotel down the street. Sara, Nick, and Dorthy were happy I had arrived since I had my own car. Though they drove down,they were forbidden to drive their parent’s truck once they arrived. I headed to their motel to pick them up before we went to Broadway at The Beach for a few hours of shopping, eating, and hanging out. While we were there, we checked out Ripley’s Aquarium, one of the more interactive aquariums I’d been to. The rest of that evening, we cruised down Ocean Blvd. before going back to their motel rooms for some much needed rest. Eventually I made my way back to my room.