Having Fun in North Myrtle Beach
What do you like to do for fun on a vacation? Shag Dancing?
North Myrtle Beach is the home of shag dancing. It says it right on their water tower.
We decided to learn to shag.
Grab a partner, turn up the beach music and learn to dance the Carolina shag
The hot spot for shag dancing in North Myrtle Beach is Fat Harold’s Beach Club
What is the Carolina Shag?
Southern Living describes the Carolina Shag as a cold beer on a warm night with a hot date and no plans for tomorrow.
Fat Harold’s has free shag dance lessons every Tuesday at 7:00PM
We went for a free lesson, thinking it would be about 20 minutes. WRONG! They take shag dancing very seriously in South Carolina. We were there to learn. The lesson was an hour and a half.
I spent an hour and a half trying to master a 6-step pattern: One-and-two. Three-and-four. Fiiiiive Six. I couldn’t do it. My feet did not hear the pattern. Luckily, there are no photos and no video.
Youtube has lots of videos of fabulous shag dancers.
If you go to North Myrtle Beach, try the Carolina Shag at Fat Harold’s
Do the Carolina Shag until sunrise
North Myrtle Beach has fabulous sunrises.
You can stay right on the beach in North Myrtle Beach
We rented an airbnb right on the beach. There are lots of choices for accommodations: high rises, low rises and beach houses.
Do you like beach volleyball?
The beach is long and wide in North Myrtle Beach, perfect for all ages.
The beach is perfect if you like sun, sand and surf. You can get out your beach blanket, turn up the music and have a party.
Surf’s up
One very windy day, I watched the surfers heading out to catch some waves.
Can you hear The Beach Boys?
Everybody’s gone surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.
You can try surin’ on the shore, like these kids
Gone Fishing
You can pay $3.00 and go fishing on the Cherry Grove Fishing Pier.
Take a drive to Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach is a half hour drive from North Myrtle Beach. It is a much larger tourist town. It has amusement parks, water sports, ferris wheels and of course, a beautiful beach.
These are the most fun pool sculptures I have ever seen
Do you like these bar planters?
I just had to sidle up for a selfie with one of these bar planters
Pour yourself a margarita at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville in Myrtle Beach
After a margarita, or three, you can try mini-golf
Myrtle Beach is the mini-golf capital of the world. There are more than 50 mini-golf courses along a 30-mile stretch of Highway 17, between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach.
We skipped the mini-golf and went to the museum in Myrtle Beach
The art museum in Myrtle Beach is a hidden gem. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The museum is a house, a few miles outside of Myrtle Beach. The current exhibition features local artists. It was fabulous. I particularly enjoyed the installation works by Kate Hooray Osmond:
Charleston-SC-based artist Kate Hooray Osmond shines her artistic light in this exhibition of vibrant, large- and small-scale paintings accompanied by the artist’s playful installation work.
Composed of oil with gold leaf overlay, Osmond’s signature style is architectural in its bold and graphic use of line and color, as well as fresh in its perspective—the artist often employs bird’s-eye views.
A perfect blend of abstraction and representational land and waterscapes will delight the eye and ignite the urge to get out and enjoy the many views our part of the country has to offer.
Spend a day at Brookgreen Gardens
TripAdvisor names Brookgreen Gardens as one of the top 10 gardens in the United States.
Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve. There are more than a thousand American figurative sculptures in the gardens. Brookgreen Gardens is a national historic landmark.
The size is vast: over 9,000 acres. I found the hour-long walking tour of the gardens very interesting.
This canopy of oak trees is one of the oldest in the United States. Spanish moss has a preference for Souther Oak trees. It gets its nourishment from the air and does not hurt the oak trees.
I was lucky to visit Brookgreen Gardens while the azaleas were in bloom
This is a closeup of an azalea flower
The sculptures in Brookgreen Gardens are set against a backdrop of Southern Oak, reflecting pools and flowers
Brookgreen Gardens sits on 3,000 acres of former rice plantations
The tidal waters in South Carolina are perfect for growing rice. Slaves taught plantation owners how to grow rice.
I took a tidal creek boat tour that explained the history of slavery and rice crops. It was very interesting.
We saw an alligator, sunning himself in the afternoon
Brookgreen Gardens is a wildlife preserve
I spent an idyllic hour in the butterfly pavilion. It houses butterflies that you might find in any garden in South Carolina.
The butterflies were very cooperative and seemed to pose on the prettiest flowers
Can you spot the butterfly?
Well, all too soon, it was time to drive back to North Myrtle Beach and pack.
There was time for a sunrise walk on the beach before heading to the airport
Fun for me in North Myrtle Beach was shag dancing, beach walks, a local museum, fabulous gardens, and absorbing a bit of local culture.
What do you like to do for fun on a vacation?
Rose Ann MacGillivray
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Rose Ann, your photography is absolutely exquisite. Thank you for this delightfully beautiful and informative blog.
Hi Cindy. Thank you for the lovely comment. It’s fun to take pictures of azaleas in bloom and a sunrises on North Myrtle Beach.
What a fun travel blog of North Myrtle Beach, Rose Ann!
Your photos are always exquisite, making the subject come alive.
I suggest that you and Adele hit the Antigonish local bar on St. F.X.’s President’s Dinner week-end and teach ‘shag dancing!’
Maybe a margarita or two, like the size of the blender at Jimmy Buffet’s, before hitting the dance floor would help! 🙂
My favorite things to do on any holiday are walking trails, visiting Botanical gardens, markets and churches, eating where all the locals hang out and seeing a play or concert.