Due to M losing his job a few months ago, our original plan of going to an all-inclusive resort in Florida had to be cancelled. The poor guy then spent hours on the computer looking for a Plan B that we hoped involved the ocean, but he wasn’t very lucky on his own. So we settled for a few days in a cabin in Gatlinburg. That is until a co-worker sent me a link to a place in South Carolina that I promptly forwarded to M and then promptly forgot about it.
So flash forward to our wedding, and there were quite a few people who knew where we were going…except for me. See, M told me he changed plans and we were no longer going to Gatlinburg, but he wouldn’t tell me where exactly we were going–just to pack a good selection of clothes for 70-degree weather. Sunday, after cleaning up the farm where we had our wedding/reception and sending our families on their way home, we hurridly drove back to our house and unloaded the car and truck of wedding supplies, unwrapped gifts, and then packed for our trip. (Mom and dad were gracious enough to take the pups with them for the week and our friends down the road were watching the cats for us.)
We set on down the interstate, with me constantly prodding M for information about where we were going. We ended up driving about 4.5 hours and stopped in Asheville, N.C., for dinner and for the night. Monday morning we set down the road for the rest of the trip.
As we got off the interstate somewhere in South Carolina, I started really pestering M for answers–it was rainy and gross and there wasn’t much else to do. I even started following us on the GPS on my phone…until he took it away from me for “cheating.” When I started to see signs for Myrtle Beach, I said, “We’re going to Myrtle Beach.” M: “No, we’re not.” Me: “Yes, we are, I see the signs, where else would we be going?” M: “Not Myrtle Beach.”
So flash forward a few more hours and we finally pull into this little town and in front of this hotel. I have to admit, at first I was a little skeptical about the hotel and the area. But as I waited for M to check us in, I told myself to not judge and to just wait and see.
We loaded up all our stuff and went up to our room on the second floor. M went in ahead of me…the room was very nice. We had a king suite with a little kitchenette with a full-sized refrigerator and washer/dryer, couch, king bed, and then the best part of it all… M walked up to the curtains and opened them up, announcing “Hey babe, take a look…” as he opened up the curtains. My jaw dropped. In front of me was the most gorgeous view I could have asked for (well, I had an even more gorgeous view when it wasn’t raining…)–the ocean was right outside our balcony! We had a nice private balcony that looked right out on the Atlantic Ocean.
It might have been a dreary day, but this was still a beautiful first view of the ocean from our room!
After unpacking, I made M go to the beach with me. Even though it was gray and chilly out, I wanted to go out to the ocean–I wanted to take it all in immediately. See, this was my first time ever seeing the ocean and ever being on a beach. My family didn’t really do vacations when I was growing up–our “vacations” were horse shows and rodeos. I didn’t mind, I loved it, in fact I miss it.
I made M roll up his jeans and do a “toes in the water” photo with me as soon as we got to the beach the first day.
I know M was quite proud of himself for making this such a surprise and trying to make it the trip of a lifetime for me.
Corny? Yes, but I’m sure every couple does it when they get to the beach!
In my next post I’ll share some of the fun activities we did while in South Carolina!
