PALS Stitching at the Beach - Part One

I was due to be at the airport by 5:30 on October 16th.  That meant I had to get up around 2:30am so I could drive 45 minutes to catch the bus and get to Chicago O'Hare airport.  I went to bed at 8:30 the night before, slept 2 hours and was up for the rest of the night into the next morning.  Ugh, of all times to get insomnia!

The flight was uneventful and I arrived to overcast skies in Myrtle Beach, SC.  All I wanted was to get to my room and take a nap before my roommates arrived.  After checking in, I wandered around Springmaid Beach Resort for over 15 minutes looking for my room.  The desk clerk wrote the number on the keycard folder.  It was supposed to be 564 only the 6 looked like an unclosed zero.  Being tired and grumpy, I finally found someone who worked at the resort to help me find my room.  He thought the 6 was a zero, too.  Turns out there was no room numbered 504, LOL (I can laugh about it now).  I was really happy to finally get to the room.

I dozed for about an hour or so and decided to do some exploring.  Our room was on the 5th floor and we had a great view of the ocean and pier.

 

Not only was there an indoor pool, there were four outdoor pools, too.  Two could be seen from the balcony of the room.

 

I took a short walk on the beach and in the surf.  The taxi driver who drove me from the airport to the resort told me the water would be 80F.  Uh, no.  Even though the air temps were in the 70's, the water was cold!

 

View of Resort from Beach

 

Under the Pier

View of Beach

The pier was a popular place for resort guests and fishermen.  In the early morning hours every day, we observed people dragging their gear to get a good fishing spot.  One night, I walked to the end of the pier.  I saw one guy proudly showing off his catch.

One morning, I was able to see the sunrise.  It was over in about 30 seconds due to the overcast skies.  I did manage get a photo of that sunrise as well as some sunset photos.

 

Some night shots of the resort:

 

Clouds, sun, clouds, rain, sun, and more clouds.  Ominous clouds rolled in on the last day of the retreat.

Stay tuned for Part Two!