This is a story that I really love that I think about sometimes and can’t believe I really did! We had so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat, honestly!
In early 2022, I got a new-to-me Jeep Cherokee that I was IN LOVE with! It was the nicest car I had owned to date, and was everything I could want and more; panoramic sunroof, heated/cooled leather seats, heated steering wheel, built-in navigation, back-up camera. Basically, it was the perfect vehicle for me and I was itching to drive it. One day at work, I was talking about wanting to take a road trip to the ocean so I could take my dogs (Rebel’s favorite thing is the beach), and my co-worker, Katie (not her real name for privacy), had mentioned she had never seen the ocean. I told her she was missing out and the two of us could totally go if she wanted! After some thought, she agreed so we started planning! Her birthday is in July so we planned to go during that weekend to make it extra special for her. We decided that Myrtle Beach would be a good spot, since neither of us had been, and it seemed pretty dog-friendly. We found the perfect cute and pet-friendly Airbnb, not too far from the beach, and anxiously anticipated our adventure.
Myrtle Beach is approximately a 12 hour drive from my house, so we left around 6pm on July 28th (a Thursday), so I could pick up Katie. The plan was to drive through the night so we could be at the beach for sunrise! My coworker actually drove first, and I think we switched around the time we got to West Virginia. I had never been to this part of the country before, and I was excited. But I will be honest, driving in WV stressed me out waay more than I thought it would. I don’t think the fact that it was getting dark helped, and my windshield kept fogging up. Katie ended up switching me back around midnight I think, and actually ended up driving the rest of the way, which I felt bad about. It took a little longer than anticipated to get there, so I think it was about 10am when we finally pulled into the parking lot on the main strip in Myrtle beach.
We couldn’t check into our Airbnb until 2 or 3pm, so we had the dogs with us for that stretch of time. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart for food and some things I forgot at home, we checked out the beach, tested out the water, and kind of just hung out for a while. Rebel loves water, but Sadie is afraid of waves, so it was interesting 😅 We got lunch at the LandShark Bar and Grill, where they let us sit at the outdoor bar with the dogs. They even gave me some paper bowls with water for them. The dogs were on their best behavior, despite being in the car for as long as they had been ❤️
When we got to our Airbnb, we were happy to find it actually was as cute as the listing! It had a small kitchen, a daybed that we decided I would sleep in so the dogs could sleep with me, a loft with a bed for Katie, a small kitchen, patios, and a washer and dryer. There was a cool accent wall that was made out of himalayan salt blocks with lights behind it! To date, it’s probably one of the coolest Airbnb’s I’ve ever stayed in (definitely top 3). We got all our stuff set up there and left the dogs so we could go to dinner. We went back to where we had been earlier in the day, but we went to Moe Moon’s, where I honestly couldn’t tell you what I ordered to eat, but got a Pina Colada in a frozen pineapple 🍍 that was perfect! We also went to the Gay Dolphin, which is a MASSIVE gift shop on the main strip. I literally think its like 5 floors of random stuff. We actually spent quite a while there, just rummaging around looking at all the things. We didn’t stay out too late, since Katie literally hadn’t slept since before we left and I didn’t want to leave the dogs alone for too long.
The next day, we slept in a little bit. Katie and I went to the beach for a couple hours. While we were swimming, Katie actually got stung by a jellyfish! It was minor, but it really sucked that this would happen to her the first time she actually swam in the ocean. We relaxed on the beach after that for a while, until it started to look like it would rain. We packed our stuff up and made it back to the Airbnb as it started thunderstorming. We made some lunch and ate on the front covered patio while watching the rain. Afterwards, we decided to nap to wait out the storm. Sadie is afraid of storms, so I didn’t want to leave her alone in an unfamiliar place while it was doing so. We had planned for this night to be our nice night out to dinner, so after our naps, we got ready to go again. We went to an Italian place that wasn’t far from our Airbnb, but I don’t remember the name of it. I do remember it being good, though. I want to say we also didn’t stay out late this night either.
We also slept in on Sunday, since we would be leaving on Monday to go home. Katie walked to Starbucks while I stayed and slept a little longer with the doggos. When she got back, we went to the beach for a few hours again. It looked like it would rain again around noon, so we packed up our stuff and went back to the Airbnb, and made it back just in time for it to start storming. We had some leftovers from the night before and napped again. We took the dogs to a restaurant called The Sneaky Beagle for lunch, which was great! We sat outside on the patio, where they had rings to hook the dogs leashes to, and our waitress brought them bowls of water with our glasses. They even had a dog specific menu, and of course my girls got a pupcake to share (pictured ⬅️). That night we had a sunset dolphin cruise booked in North Myrtle Beach, so we got ready to head out for the evening when we got back. I will admit at first, the cruise seemed a little… Sketchy. There were bugs. Large bugs 😳 and neither of us were particularly comfortable sitting. But when the cruise got underway, we had a great time. They actually took us out into the ocean for a while looking for some dolphins, but all we saw were a bunch of small jellyfish. When we got closer to land, in an area that was still close to the ocean but not so open, the captains did find a dolphin that we observed for a while before heading back to dock with a beautiful sunset. On our way back to the Airbnb, we stopped for pizza at what I think was Ultimate California pizza in a strip mall for dinner. We sat outside to eat, and watched late night speed boat rides on the pond next to the mall. We also stopped at Pepper Palace so I could pick out a fun new hot sauce for Nate. When we got back to the Airbnb, it was actually close to 11pm, and we discovered that one of my dogs had broken a window pane in the door at our Airbnb. Neither of them had any blood or visible scratches on them, but I felt so bad when I had to call the owner of the Airbnb to temporarily fix it so late at night. Thankfully, he was super nice about it.
For our last morning at Myrtle Beach, we wanted to see the sunrise over the ocean. We even took the dogs! In the area we were, dogs are allowed on the beach until 9am I think. I was able to walk them through the waves, and let Sadie off her leash for a while (she is too chicken to go far) and took Rebel into the ocean without being tethered to Sadie on shore and scared of waves. I also had booked a horseback ride on the ocean for myself in North Myrtle Beach before we left, so I left the dogs with Katie to mark this incredible activity off my bucketlist! I didn’t realize that Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach are actually about half an hour apart, but you have to learn somehow, right? 🫠 I went to Inlet Point Plantation, which is a beautiful barn in the woods. They then took us to a location with some temporary stalls to get acquainted with our horse and actually do our ride. The actual ride lasted about an hour and was 2.5 miles of mostly beautiful beach and some thick woods. I was able to get my horse into the water more than any of the other riders in our group (thanks, UF 🤠). We got some pictures and saw some turtle nests while we were on the beach. While I loved everything about this whole trip, this was probably my favorite part and would 100% do it again!
Unfortunately for me, I had gotten the timing horribly wrong. We were suppose to check out of the Airbnb at 11, but I think it was almost 2pm by the time we actually left. The owner was really nice about the whole situation, despite the dogs having broken his window the night before. Our ride home was mostly uneventful, and we made way fewer stops, even though it was nice to see where we had driven at night during the day. This is probably when I fell in love with West Virginia, even though it still scares me a little. I do remember it started raining by the time we hit Ohio. I think I ended up dropping Katie off at her house around 2am, and made it home myself around 2:30am. Overall it was a great trip, and I’m so glad Katie and I made it happen!
