The Not Virtual Working Vacation

With this post, I’ll feel fairly up to date on my blogging. Myrtle Beach is both work and play for us every year, as we head down for the Mid Atlantic Well Drillers Jubilee Convention. (There might be a link somewhere, but you don’t really want it, do you?!) In between classes, the trade show, other convention type commitments, we hang out with Mark’s aunt and uncle, and my brother inlaw, his girlfriend, and some of her family. (Yep. Drilling tends to be very much a family business.)

We had two highlights this year. The first, was Saturday night at the House of Blues. The company my brother inlaw and his girlfriend’s brother work for had the main area for their guests only, and the house band put on quite a show. I wish I had pictures, but I was too busy sharing the fleece zip-up Mark went to purchase for me from their gift shop with our almost niece. Seeing Auntie and Uncle snuggled up and bobbing along to the hits from their dating years was special.

The other highlight was the little cruise we went on, en masse. Rover Tours puts on a great event, if you’re ever near Georgetown, SC, which is less than an hour from Myrtle Beach, if you aren’t caravaning with nine other people, none of whom eat or potty on the same schedule.

While our hosts paid for the tickets for our brood, we took in the sights at the docks. Auntie’s mom was along, and she has a thing for pelicans. They truly were nonplussed by humans, and it was a treat to see them so up close and personal!

The mate on our boat was a wealth of information. He was a local, with a degree in history, and if he didn’t double major in marine biology too, he’s surely earned an honorary degree there. We heard stories about the places we passed on our way to the island where we collected shells on the beach for nearly an hour, and on the way back, the same guy wheeled out what I know as a food service cart, loaded with shells and such, and I learned that what I’ve always called a conch is a whelk. Mark found three good specimens, and one is about as close to perfect as it gets. I picked up a starfish we thought was dead, but when his little tentacles wiggled, I walked him out into the bay and hoped for the best.

On the way back, we got as close to the lighthouse as one gets. It seems the government isn’t too big on tourists in and around lighthouses anymore. Pity. I’ve climbed a couple. The views are remarkable, and the historic structures are treasures I’d like to see and touch. However, I suppose that all that live and in person touching doesn’t do much to preserve the lighthouses, so I respect the restrictions.

We also saw some turtles and young birds in the water around the Barefoot shopping area. Mark always enjoys feeding the fish, turtles, birds and whatever else comes to the surface for the little brown pellets you can buy there on the walkway. I had the devil of a time getting a shot that didn’t have too much glare from the sun, wasn’t half under the dock, etc. Those little fellas swim fairly fast!

Not bad for a working vacation, eh? Of course, I didn’t have anyone take a photo of me knitting in the workshops, but trust me, I did just that. Sock #1’s toe decreases were done almost entirely in a contract workshop…