The three of us (with Winston in tow) decided to go on a mini-road trip that will take us up the eastern seaboard – visiting some areas we have never been to before.

We start our trip heading east until we run into the ocean.

Our first stop was to Magnolia Springs State park in GA.  I made a slight detour to hopefully give us a chance to hike about and see something new and interesting.  Unfortunately, it was simply too hot and too flat to interest anyone.  We did manage to do a small loop of less than a mile, but no one was impressed and everyone was anxious to get back into the car with the AC running full blast.

During the Civil War this location was known as Camp Lawton.  It was a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp constructed in 1864  to alleviate overcrowding at the notorious Andersonville prison (about 100 miles away) and was designed to house over 10,000 Union prisoners. At the time, it was one of the largest prison camps in terms of physical area, spanning more than 40 acres. However, the camp was operational for only about six weeks, from September to November 1864, before it was hastily evacuated as Union General William T. Sherman advanced through Georgia during his infamous “March to the Sea.”

What you see above is all that is left.  I fear this isn’t enough to even get Arge out of the car when southern Georgia is doing its 90+ degrees, 90+ % humidity afternoons.

On to South Carolina.

Our Myrtle Beach visit has been a bit disappointing.. most of it is my fault.  I used some accumulated hotel points to allow us to stay free for two nights in the area, but it’s not near the beach.  Most of the beaches here only have private access and there is nowhere to park.  This is a weekend – and so everywhere was crowded and the public areas were simply “closed” due to too may people wanting stick their toes and butts in the sand.  After several failed attempts, we did manage to get near the water, but the shore was crowded with people in both directions.  Leash laws are pretty strict here between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so there isn’t a chance to let Winston run free.  In the end, we hit two separate beaches, walked around a couple hundred yards and then headed back.

During this walk my cheap shoes started to fall apart.  We hit the WalMart to buy super glue for my shoes (keeping it classy) and so Josie could buy herself a new, cheap pair a bit more suited for future beach walking.

“The Spice & Tea Exchange” is a chain of small specialty retail shops that sell premium spices, loose-leaf teas, salts, sugars, and custom blends.  They are mostly located in high foot-traffic tourist areas.

Josie has worked at one of these locations in Newport over the past 2 years while she has been going to College there.  Running into one of these stores here in Myrtle Beach gave her a chance to snoop and compare/contrast features.

Bored selfie waiting for the women to get ready to head back out.

At dinner time we hit the main beach here to get in a quick walk (cooler weather, nice breeze) and find some food (the restaurants here are mostly dog friendly).

Our restaurant was out on one of the piers; sea food, live entertainment and a chance to walk along the pier and take some shots of the other people enjoying their Saturday evening.