Post 30 Myrtle Beach SC, Durham/Raleigh and Goldsboro NC

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 Myrtle Beach SC, Raleigh/Durham and Goldsboro NC - April 21-29

We were warned about the touristy vibe at Myrtle Beach but we rented a campsite at the MB State Park which was a delightful surprise! Great shaded sites, decent bathrooms/showers and great staff. A very relaxed vibe. 




The park owns about a mile of oceanfront property away from the resorts and high tourist area. The beautiful beach was just a 5 minute walk across the road and across the dunes from our site.








The weather was perfect, bright sunshine and mid 70s. It was so nice, we didn't move our van for 3 days.

We walked the beach, went to the fishing pier to see what people were catching and ordered up scooped Hershey's ice cream at the camp store. Yum, the ice cream, not the fish!

We did a little hiking around the park to see if we could see something other than an armadillo, since that seems to be all we see on hikes.  We saw maybe a squirrel or two and birds. Their little gem is a Nature Center, not just for kids. The young woman ranger there has recently implemented some great new displays and interactive exhibits. We could tell the she truly loves her job!



Surprise!  We were sitting around our campsite one afternoon with all the van doors open, as usual.  Anne was standing outside next to the sliding door where the refrigerator is located and suddenly, the fridge door opened!  She reached over to close it, and when she did, a raccoon was peaking around the corner of the fridge!  He had come in the back door and opened the fridge! The brazen masked intruder ran back out and into the woods. Truth be told, there were signs around the campground warning us to keep our food stored away or the raccoons would make off with it! No food was out in this encounter......


Our only complaint about this great park was having the airport as our neighbor.  At least there were no planes at night!


After 3 days of rest we headed to the Raleigh/Durham area to visit some UU church friends from Massachusetts.  They moved to Durham about 10 years ago.  As always on this trip, it's been great for us to visit with friends. We miss friends and family and it's nice to be able to re-connect with people we have a history with. We had dinner with them, caught up and went to a service at their church the next day. And, as usual, finished up with a brewery stop.




After our visit to Charleston last week, we began watching Ken Burns' Civil War mini-series. As we were starting to find ourselves in more places with Civil War history, we thought it might be a good idea to learn a bit more to better put things into perspective as we visited places. From Fort Sumter to Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga to the battlefield in Goldsboro, our Civil War education has expanded. We'll finish at the end of our trip with 4 days in Gettysburg. That will be intense.

Our next stop was Goldsboro, where an important Civil War battle was fought.  We walked the battlefield and learned about what made Goldsboro an important location.  As often is the case, it was a major supply route for the Confederate Army so the Union worked to destroy bridges and the railroad lines there.





While in Goldsboro, we stayed at the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. It was a nice, quiet and fairly newly renovated campground. The visitor center is a Leeds certified building. There were many hiking paths to explore and its location was close to Goldsboro. 






Located in G'boro is the Wayne County Museum. We paid it a visit one morning. Quaint might describe it, as there was much local history displayed there. Apparently, Andy Griffith was a music and English teacher there when he first stepped into the national spotlight. Mayberry was based on his experiences in Goldsboro. Who knew? 


The museum building was a USO center and houses many collections of local WWI and II memorabilia, historical local business collections, a farm produce exhibit - including an ode to Mt. Olive pickles! Evidently we missed the Big Pickle Festival the weekend before. Darn it! 









For now, we're heading back to the beach as we make our way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Hatteras here we come!


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