Cumberland Gal: Myrtle Beach Vacation -Spring 2021

Heirloom parrot gladiolus blooming at Brookgreen Gardens

Myrtle Beach Vacation -Spring 2021

May 22 -28, 2021

Kenny & Dana Koogler

Adam, Crystal, Michael, & Tessa Lindsey

Joe, Bethany, Averie & Walter Lindsey

Mike & Renaee Lindsey

Ty & Jennifer Gentry & Family

It was a Whole Fam Damily Vacation!

Myrtle Beach Pix Here

It has been twelve plus years since I have been to Myrtle Beach. Here and having a great time. As rough as 2020 was 2021 has been that much better. Love it! Lots of photos and experiences to share. Brooke Green Gardens is amazing. It feels awesome to bring my grandchildren to the beach where we used to bring our kids when they were so little! It has been three years since I visited Mother Ocean. She never gets old. I'm my spirit I will always be that little tow headed girl wearing a red white and blue swimsuit and a Cecil the Sea serpent float. I remember getting a souvenir t shirt that has a little girl on it with googley eyes...that reads I Got Sand In my shoes at Nags Head North Carolina.

Pirateland splash pool

Tessa in splash pool

Pirateland lazy river

Beautiful landscaping at Pirateland.

I drew most of the ride down. Coping strategy #1

The photos and initial paragraph of this report are the first time I've ever tried composing a mini trip report from the field. I was still at the beach at the time. I am learning how to do so with my phone or tablet. If I can perfect this it will be way cool. I am leaving it, but adding to it the rest of the story which is considerable.

Pirateland Campground

Our son-in-law Adam is very athletic. He plays on a softball team. Early on in 2021 he and Crystal finally bought a camper. They let us know they were headed to Myrtle Beach to Pirateland Campground. They asked us if we wanted to go? We immediately said yes! We used to take family vacations to Pirateland when our kids were very small. We'd gather up my whole family and go and have fun. The last time we went was twelve or thirteen years ago. Kenny, Jared and myself rented a cabin at Pirateland. Priot to that, the last time we went to the beach was Clearwater, Florida three years ago. We were eager to go as a large family group now that the covid pandemic is letting up.

We went as a group of five campers and Ty's mom and nephews and cousin went and rented a cabin. It was awesome! Our daughter, Crystal, laughed at one point and said it was like living in the trailer park! It was fun being together and running from one camper to the next. Mike and Renaee even brought Abi the dog along!

The ride down took around eight hours total. I did pretty good on the trip. I am not a fan of long periods sitting still in a vehicle, but I took along my sketch pad and colored pencils. I drew a lot. I used my phone to play a video game some. I took a nap for awhile. It went by pretty quickly. We arrived Saturday afternoon around two-thirty. We got checked in and set up camp.

We went to the nearby Wal-Mart to buy groceries and all the stuff we had forgotten. If you don't go to the beach very often it is easy to forget stuff that is necessary or at least makes the beach more fun. We had forgotten sunscreen, sand toys, and a beach blanket. I got a great beach blanket made of parachute material that doesn't attract sand for $9.97 and it is tie-dyed!

Once we'd gotten that over we took a nice evening stroll down to the beach to wade in the surf and pick up shells and enjoy the sunset.

Above: when you are on the east coast you cannot get a good sunset photo from the beach.

above: Crystal telling her Daddy a story of some kind. She is gesturing a lot with her hands just like he does! haha!

Above: Tessa is good to smile for photos, but here she looks like she needs to pee.

Tessa and Michael.. Michael being goofy

Michael and Tessa finally posed in some reasonable fashion.

Looking up the beach toward Myrtle Beach state park.

our daughter Crystal

Kids playing in the surf

Looking southwest down the beach from Pirateland's private beach.

Tessa is happy

Kenny and Michael looking for shells.

Palm trees on the horizon

Waves

I am going to get this photo printed. Tessa plays in the waves with the penumbra of the earth in the background and the moon coming out above!

Brookgreen Gardens

Twelve years ago when we last visited Pirateland and Myrtle Beach we had our then sixteen year old son along. Poor Jared came down with mononucleosis so the trip was not the greatest for any of us. It was pharmacies, urgent care center and lots of rest. Kenny and I got him settled and one of the few things we were able to do back then was take a brief trip down to Brookgreen Gardens. It is down at Murrells Inlet. I enjoyed it so much I had long wanted to return for another, longer visit. It is the Winter home of wealthy philanthropist Archer Huntington and his sculptor and artist wife, Anne. They lived on an old plantation on the South Carolina coast. They lived in Atalaya , a home that was based on the real Atalaya Castle in Spain. It is Moorish -style architecture. It is across from the gardens at Huntington Beach State Park. We did not visit that today, but just spent our time fully at Brookgreen. It was a marvelous experience.

Above: Atalaya from a previous visit.

A paid admission of $18 per adult is good for seven consecutive days. During that week you can come and go as much as you like! What a bargain! They have three places to get something to eat, a zoo, sculpture and art gallery and garden after garden of beautiful sculpture and landscaping. Brookgreen features mostly American sculptures.

Below is a view of the statue of Sampson and the Lion from the Bible story. The

flowers in the foreground are giant orange bromeliads and a mist of pink biennial gaura.

Below is a front photo of the statue up closer.

Below is a stand of heirloom parrot gladiolus. They are very striking.

They are native to Africa. They were first brought to Europe in 1600. This type gladiolus was used to create hybrid varieties. They were very popular in the early 1800s when they came to the United States. They spread and naturalize easily.

Below is one of my favorite spots of the day... the Pegasus statue in the fountain with all the beautiful water lilies!

Above: pale pink variety of water lilies

Below: vibrant lavender water lilies.... these had gorgeous foliage as well. Kenny's favorites.

The Diana fountain.. Diana is the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Fountain of the Muses... muses are supposed to be the ones who share inspiration for various arts with humans. They draw water from their sacred spring and deliver it to man. Christians know this is not true, but only a myth. All creative inspiration comes from Elohim... the Creator God... and His divine Holy Spirit. But the fountain and the myth are interesting.

Huge magnolia tree in full bloom. This is right next to the Diana fountain. It smelled like the very breath of Heaven. Lovely!

pathway next to the Diana Fountain.. a shady archway

Above: this fountain has a community of ferns and fern allies growing on the side like a spray cliff! It is the fountain that has the Alligator Bender statue.

Above and below are views of the water feature that has Wings of the Morning statue.

Above and below: Two looks at the Don Quixote statue by Anne Hyatt Huntington. It was one of my favorites. She viewed him as a pathetic, pitiable character in the novel. His eyes are sad. It is hard to see from this photo.

Above is a profile view of my favorite statue.. Time and the Fates of Man by Paul Howard Manship.

Below: is a closer view that shows it better. The three fates are the figures in the statue. the front one Clotho who spins the thread of life, Lachesis who measure it out and determines the direction, Atropos who cuts the thread of life causing death.

They are set up to resemble a sundial which measures time. Overshadowing them are the branches of the Tree of Life. Atropos is hovered over by a raven which is a carrion bird representing at element of death.

Above: a final view of Time and the Fates of man statue from a different angle. From here you can see the fountains on either side of it in the background. From this angle you can see the sundial's shadow. The tree of life and its branches resemble a DNA double helix.

I just liked this mirror smooth lake. You'd dare not put a toe in any of these waters on the grounds for there are alligators and snakes.

Above: This is another statue that I loved.. uniquely American.. an image of two Native Americans hunting. It is titled Call of the Bison by Herb Mignery carved in 1937 in bronze.

Above: one of the prettiest, most appealing things on the grounds of Brookgreen were the 250 year old live oak trees draped in Spanish moss. Nothing else says The South like this.

A glass sculpture on the grounds.

Above: we made a second visit back to Brookgreen Gardens later in the week. Crystal, Tessa and myself went. I saw things I had missed. They enjoyed it also! I missed this little covered bridge and the Childrens Garden and the glass sculptures. I missed several fountains too!

Above: Tessa Grace and Crystal in the Childrens' Garden next to the pink hydrangeas. Crystal loves them.

The day Kenny and I visited Brookgreen and again the day my daughter, Crystal, my granddaughter Tessa and I visited we dined at Austin's Harvest Restaurant there on the grounds. You can dine inside or outdoors in the shade of the patio.

We were hot and ready for air conditioning after hours of walking round. It is lovely and I highly recommend adding it to your visit. The first day I had lunch of a cup of tomato basil soup with tortellini and a house salad made with heirloom carrots and tomatoes and greens. The second lunch I had crab cake on a bed of southern succotash with a lemon aioli. (herbal mayonnaise with lemon). Both days I drank sweet tea with lemon. Their sweet tea is the smoothest I've ever had. The ice water was also good. All the food was wonderful and it was very affordable.

I did not buy souvenirs the first visit, but the day we went back as a girls trip I bought myself a refrigerator magnet to add to my collection. I bought Tessa some modeling clay which she immediately set to work creating beautiful sculptures. See a theme here? My granddaughter is artsy fartsy like me and her mom and brother! She is very talented already and shows great promise. I look for her to be in the TAG program along with her brother who has won ribbons for his artwork. Tessa has not won any ribbons yet, but she has had artwork chosen for display in shows. All this comes from my mother who is very artistic.

I do not often go to art galleries and such, but I used to frequently back in Virginia. Another thing that I grew up with was trips to national monuments in Washington D.C., the Smithsonian, and various art galleries in Richmond and Washington. I took art classes for many years. All but two years of high school.

Then back to art classes in college. I would love a return visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.

Lewis Ocean Bays Heritage Preserve

Something else I had long wanted to do while at the beach was to explore and botanize a Carolina bay. I had planned the last time here to visit either Cartwheel Bay or The Green Swamp. These areas are circular depressions in the ground along the east coast especially in the Carolina's that are from a little less than an acre to thousands of acres in size. They are roughly round or oval shaped with an axis that runs northwest or southeast. The cause of these surface depressions remains unknown. Everything has been suggested from a meteor impact to the washing erosion effects of tides of an ancient sea.

They may be dry or swampy/marshy or filled with water. If they are dry they have a central area where there is a sandy, barren spot. They have a rim of pushed up sand around their edges. The reason for wanting to see it for myself is because of the highly adapted beautiful plants and flowers that grow there. They tend to be places were native orchids, highly evolved flowering plants grow. Carnivorous plants also thrive there in the poor soil. These organisms are adapted to survive life in nutrient poor soil by supplementing their diet trapping and digesting insects.

Last year for vacation really wasn't very fun for me. This year Kenny went above and beyond to help make sure I got to do some of the things I had waited for more than a decade to do. I got to make two trips to the Lewis Ocean Bays Heritage Preserve. It was the nearest to our location as well as being very beautiful. It contains many beautiful things I had longed for.

I ended up seeing loads of the things I sought. The only thing I hoped to see that did not pan out? I failed to locate the Venus Flytraps. I will have to do some more research to learn where to hunt them. My only other regret? I saw an entire POND full of yellow bladderwort plants, but could not get close enough to them to photograph them safely.

Below is a photo of the info kiosk at the entrance.

One of the first colorful flowers I spotted were lots of orange milkwort plants.

Above is a zoomed in close image of one. It is drum shaped. Below is a photo of the larger grouping.

One of the main things I sought were pitcher plants. Above is shown the bloom of a Yellow Pitcher Plant. Below is the grouping of them. They eat bugs by insects flying into the pitcher and becoming trapped. Enzymes digest the bug and the plant absorbs the nutrients it needs. These were abundant in this preserve. I saw so many I quit counting and stopped taking photos of every single patch of them!

Above is another carnivorous plant I found.. lots of pink sundews. Their stick spatula shaped leaves trap bugs and they are absorbed and eaten. I found lots of them in bloom. They have a tiny threadlike stalk that has a white bloom smaller than a pencil eraser. I have not posted any photos of the bloom because they turned out badly.

Fog fruit bloom. We have those around here.

I saw loads of blue bay iris. We have blue flags here in Tennessee, but this is adapted to life in Coastal Carolina.

Above: looking out at the long leaf pine savanna with ferns growing as the forest floor cover. It is easy to spot color in this green environment making it easier to see where something different or special grows. Alligators, rattlesnakes, cottonmouth moccasins, copperheads, bears are some of the area residents to watch out for. I did not mess around streams or swampy areas. I did see the shed skin of a cottonmouth. Below is a photo of the snake skin. It has retained so much of the shape of the snake I had to do a triple take to be sure it wasn't the ole cottonmouth himself. It was indeed just his skin. I figured he wasn't far off so I did not stick around.

Above is a photo of Colic root. It is a pretty flower. I saw lots of them here, but I have seen these in Tennessee and North Carolina in other areas. They are not rare.

Above: First visit .. one of the swampy areas. There are two swamps amidst this collection of Carolina bays.. the Tilly Swamp and Boggy Swamp.

Below is some sort of ladies tresses native orchid I saw lots of this visit. I am unsure exactly which variety it is.

Below: some sort of swallowtail butterfly. I saw a lot of them, but I have yet to identify this species.

Below is some form of Skullcap I wasn't expecting.

Below: sensitive fern. I see this in many areas in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Above and below a second grouping of yellow pitcher plants with a better bloom. A tiny black bug on there who doesn't know he is a meal for this plant.

I got to see my first ever grass pink orchid on this trip. I found so many of them I finally quit counting and quit photographing every single one. They are exquisitely beautiful.

The above pair of grass pink orchids are surrounded by tiny white pips of pipewort plant.

The blooms of the purple pitcher plant above

Below the pitcher plant itself. Another name for this is "Frogs Britches"

Above: fly poison Amianthium muscitoxicum was also abundant in the bay. I have seen it in the mountains many times.

Above: swamp magnolia in bloom. Very small blooms and a wonderful lemony fragrance.

Above: a very poor and blurry image shot while the vehicle was moving. I am including it anyhow because it still illustrates what needs to happen to manage these Carolina Bays or pocosins. They burn periodically in the natural cycle. They can have peat built up ten feet deep in some places. The vegetation here especially the carnivorous plants are adapted to this cycle. The state has to managed them through controlled burns. Long leaf pines and Pond pines both have cones that are "serotinous" meaning they require fire in order to allow their cones to release the seeds inside. Pond pines have some cones that do not require fire, but many of them do need it. The trunks of the trees are resilient and the trees will usually rebound from the damage. The other plants come back from root stock protected down deep in the peat moss. The clearing of the underbrush allows new growth to flourish.

Above: a Spreading pogonia orchid.. another native. I have seen this before many times in the mountains. They are beautiful. There is a species that is Coastal pogonia, but I don't *think* that is what I have here. Jim Fowler and some other sources say the bract is shorter than the bloom. This one is most definitely not shorter.

Black water of one of the streams flowing through this pocosin. I talked to a worker who was spraying non native invasives who cautioned me to stay clear of the streams. He said that morning he saw a nice fat three foot long cottonmouth moccasin.

Below: copper top pitcher plants are a third and different type of pitcher plant I saw. Sarracenia flava var. cuprea

Passionflower was thick along one ditch. It looks like it is past peak or has not fully opened yet.

Above: Roseling .. I had never seen this before. It is unique to coastal carolina.

Above: the sandy center of one of the bays

Large cluster of grass pink orchids

I saw this darker pink pogonia

Above: first time seeing this in real life.. white blue eyed grass

Above: pair of spreading pogonia orchids.

We enjoyed our time checking out the Lewis Ocean Bay. It was a neat experience that I am very happy to have had. I hope that I get to do this again in a different season to see what else blooms. Maybe I will make it to the Green Swamp yet!

More Pirateland and the beach

Other things that were very enjoyable about being at the beach?

We cooked dinner together several nights. Kenny, Adam and some of the family bought Blackstone griddles. We wore them out. They work awesome!

We are hooked. I made a great recipe of fried potatoes using Chesapeake Bay seasoning. Delicious. I'll post it on the blog at some point soon.

We went to the produce stand near the campground and got fresh veggies and fruits. New red potatoes, vidalia sweet onions, a sugar doll seedless watermelon, lemons, fresh tomatoes, pickling cucumber and sweet corn. The only thing that was not good was the corn. It was not mature and they did not allow you to select your own, but picked you out so many ears. We went out to eat a couple nights. Captain George's in Murrells Inlet is the A plus gold star place for seafood. It is expensive, but great. Bubba's Fish Shack in downtown Surfside is not the best. Food was good. Prices fair. The restaurant was hot and humid.

We went shopping. We hit several of those surf shops. I wanted a pair of real leather, good quality flip flops. I got a pair of Sanuks 12 years back and wore them slap out. I found a pair of Olukai flipflops I loved that were 20% off at the Grand Strand Mall. I got those and went in Bath and Bodyworks for the first time in a year... I got Waikiki coconut bath gel and lotion. I got Key West scented lotion. Those were my beach souvenirs.

We enjoyed the swimming pool, the splash pad, and the lazy river at Pirateland.

We laughed a lot and soaked up sun. I never got sunburned the first time, but I got a nice tan. We went to the beach some more and swam in the surf, dug in the sand and built sand castles. Picked up shells. Some of the family went deep sea fishing the day we went back to Brookgreen for round two. It was great spending time together as a happy family. I enjoyed the company and playing with my grandkids. Crystal, Tessa and myself did a lot of drawing and coloring. I napped every day and it was marvelous. Swimming makes you hungry and tired! Michael and I started a journal of mispronounced words Kenny says. It is the Papaw Journal. We laughed so hard about some of the goofy things Kenny says. I hope y'all know before you go.... that Angelo's Italian Restaurant is "Ann-Gee-Los"

shaking my head. 😆

For as rough as 2020 was 2021 has more than made up for it so far.

Perfect vacation. I love my family. I am blessed. We said we need to make sure it isn't another three years before we get back to the beach. We had perfect weather. Few jelly fish and no sharks! I'd come back to Myrtle Beach or go to Florida again in a hurry to the Gulf of Mexico.

We left out on Sunday morning after breakfast. We timed our trip perfectly. We arrived ahead of the crowds. We were leaving the day after they started rolling in. Travel home went smoothly. No problems thankfully. It was great to go and great to get home.