Day 7 -- Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Wednesday 7/4/2001
Today is the 4th of July which is one of the really special days here at the Lakewood campground. Our plans were to just hang around here for most of the day. We got up and ate breakfast outside. It looked like we were going to get a break in the weather today and not get rain in the morning like we'd had for so many days now.
After breakfast we got ready and parked some chairs near the ocean front drive, about 100ft (30m) from our trailer, to watch the big parade. Along with us were 100s of others. The street was lined with golf-cart. The parade was supposed to start at 10am, but it was probably as hard this year as when we were here before to get everyone to line up in time. At around 10:45am we could hear the first noise and saw lights from a fire engine further down the street. After that the parade vehicles kept coming. There must have been at least 100 units in it. There were quite a few golf-carts that had been decorated. Some just a little bit while others were completely covered over with plywood to look like something else. One of the more amusing things was a full size pick up with a tarp in the bed, filled with water and then two guys riding in the water in the back. The sign read: Red neck hot tub.
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A few pictures from the parade; click on pictures above to enlarge
One of the nice things with the parade, at least for kids, is that they throw out candy. Each of our kids had a cup to collect things in. After the first car passed, Karl only managed to collect a number of Tootsie rolls. He was all upset. We told him that there would be more. By the end of the parade, they all had their cups full to the rim. The parade lasted for about one hour. Once back from the parade, the kids swapped candy at the table outside the trailer.
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Several happy candy swappers: Paule, Isabella, Pascal, Erik and Karl
By the afternoon we all walked down to the beach. The waves were strong. Someone had made a large double dragon in the sand. It was very detailed.
A large sand sculpture on the beach
After playing in the heavy waves, we got back to the trailer and ate dinner. We prepared spaghetti carbonara, something we came to appreciate a lot while we lived in the south of France.
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Making dinner
After dinner it got time for the 4th of July fireworks. That is something extraordinary down here, because fireworks are so easy to come by. There are stores everywhere. Vincent and Per bought a few this afternoon so that they could satisfy their boyish curiosity for things they used to do.
Fireworks for the "big" boys (Per and Vincent)
The whole beach, going on for miles in each direction, is out on the beach shooting rockets and setting off assorted fire crackers. People have their lawn chairs with them and are just sitting back, watching, while some bring their own gear down. We stayed for a bit over two hours, but the fireworks kept on going after that. We bought sparklers for the kids. They enjoyed them a lot.