Back from Greenville......Review (Charleston, Myrtle Beach: hotel, home, neighborhoods)

[Seattle_PT]

Well, my wife and I just got back from South Carolina.
Heres the rundown.


Firstly, the state is beautiful.

Our journey began in Myrtle beach. Unfortunately for us there was some biker festival going on. There were people smoking pot, blasting their stereos, walking into traffic, fighting, drunk, and thousands of motorcycles cutting in and out of traffic. A nightmare !

We quickly left. Taking a hit on the pre-booked hotel right in the center of the action. A rough start.

From there we drove out to Greenville.

In Greenville we stayed at the Embassy hotel. It was a really nice hotel.
We looked at some neighborhoods mainly off of Woodruf street.
Its a very appealing area with lots of new development.

We tried downtown Greenville at night.
Very active nightlife.
An interesting mix of families and undesirable characters.

Next we saw Greenville by day.
Beautiful downtown.
The park was great.
We witnessed a very disturbing incident though, which was a major turn-off.

There were kids playing down in the water, with parents watching nearby.
One of the parents flicked a finished cigarette into the water only feet from the children.
No one even took notice, it seemed so natural. The other parents said nothing as the cigarette floated downstream to rest up against some nearby ducks.

Like I said major turn-off. For me, it gave me an uneasy feeling about the type of people I would potentially be interacting with.
It was only one bad apple out of hundreds...but still.....disappointing.

We ate at Sticky Fingers BBQ. Absolutely awesome food.
Loved it. 5 of 5 stars .

We had dinner at Irishai, a Japanese restaurant just outside town. It was voted #1 by some list we found online.
My wife is Japanese and we wanted to see what they had to offer.
2 out of 5 stars for sushi I'm afraid.

We spent one day exploring the Caesars Head park area.
Fantastic area.
It was funny. We signed the guestbook at the ranger station....and the name above ours was from Seattle also.

After that we headed back to Myrtle beach for some beach life, and explored the Cape Fear are of North Carolina.

Overall the SC upstate is beautiful and inviting. But we did not fall in love with it, and cannot see moving all the way there.
On the upside we really liked the NC coast, and will be researching that area.

We met some fantastic people and really enjoyed our visit. Thanks SC !!!

[Summering]

I wonder if you would have loved more the Pawleys Island area, Litchfield beach. SC
More quiet........no one there would dare throw a cigarette........
But, Yes..........the area in lower NC is quite nice too.

[g-man430]

Where's my cheesecake summering?

[staywarm2]

Bike Fest

Originally Posted by Seattle_PT

Well, my wife and I just got back from South Carolina.

Our journey began in Myrtle beach. Unfortunately for us there was some biker festival going on. There were people smoking pot, blasting their stereos, walking into traffic, fighting, drunk, and thousands of motorcycles cutting in and out of traffic. A nightmare !

We quickly left. Taking a hit on the pre-booked hotel right in the center of the action. A rough start.

We almost had the same thing happen to us last year. Luckily we arrived in North Myrtle Beach the day AFTER the bikefest. We met some bikers on the way up there and they told us we had "just missed the action"!! The experience taught us a very good lesson--always check on-line about what is happening in a city/area before booking the hotel!!

Sorry you had such a bad experience!

[g-man430]

Myrtle Beach is awesome during bike week. You get girls, music, party, beer, etc. What could be better?

[GP2GP]

I had the misfortune of scheduling my kids first Disney trip during G&L week. I have always done my research since.

[christopherinsc26]

Well sorry you did not have a great time here. But over all sounds like you did not have a totaly bad time. You should go to myrtle beach near the 4th of july when bike week is really going on crazy then.

[AcadianIrish]

Hey it's me, the gal living in Seattle......
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your trip as much as you'd hoped!
Did you find it a bit of a culture shock, coming from over here in the Northwest?

That whole cigarette thing is a pretty big turnoff........but I've seen my share of those "types" around here too.
Ever visit a Washington State Public Beach on a hot day??
They come out of the woodwork!

Well, good luck on your new ventures! Hope you find somewhere that is at least gonna give you more sunshine than here in the Northwest! (which shouldn't be too hard! haha)

I'm counting down the days till I'm gonei.......June 17th......."I'm leavingggg onnnn a jet planneee.........don't know if I'll be backkkk againnnnn......"

[p2y2r7o]

Well, Myrtle Beach isn't exactly the best coastal town in SC. It's just a tourist attraction with beach shops, restaurants, and water parks. If you want a more relaxing time at the beach try pretty much anywhere else along the coast...such as Isle of Palms.

As far as the cigarette incident goes...that person is an idiot. That's all there is to it, really. Don't think it's something that happens all the time or that people don't notice it, because it would have disgusted me too.

Anyways, glad everything else was alright! Come back again, and make sure to visit Charleston too.

[Seattle_PT]

The trip was not a total disappointment by any means.

I will be visiting the area again in the future, I'm sure. I would love to see Charleston too.

For us, coming from Seattle we would be giving up alot, going to the Greenville area. The only thing we would gain really is less traffic and more affordable home prices. Oh ya, and sunshine .

I was surprised to see that gas prices were actually the same as in Seattle.

Overall, a wonderful area....just not enough reason to move all the way there, when there may be more desirable places *for us* .

LOL, and ya Myrtle beach is very touristy ....but we enjoyed that aspect for a day.....I dont think we would relocate there.....
but close by is always an option.

I'll try to post some pictures if I can figure out how.


AcadianIrish, I hope you have a good visit. It really is a great area.
Check out Woodruf street for some nice neighborhoods.