Monday, October 28, 2013

Inaugural Girls Trip: Myrtle Beach

I am finally getting around to recapping my girls trip to Myrtle Beach that was now over a week ago!  The idea of this trip was born over Easter weekend when I was spending one last weekend with my family before moving to Charlotte.  I think in an effort to cheer me up a bit, someone said - 'hey we'll come to Charlotte and do a girls trip in the area!'

And thus, the idea of a trip was born!  I have to say, I am pretty amazed that we pulled this off as it's not the first time we've talked about doing a girls trip.  The husbands were equally skeptical - but so happy when we actually booked our trips, reserved our hotel, and made it happen.

Myrtle Beach was chosen as a location as my parents have a time share which had an ocean-side location in Myrtle Beach.  To be quite honest, I had not heard the best things about Myrtle Beach (I had been told it was tacky/touristy/etc), but I will say it totally surpassed my expectations. We were there to spend time together, eat fresh seafood, and spend time by the ocean so for what we looking for Myrtle Beach was just great.

I'll let the pictures (mostly) do the talking!

Abby was the first one to fly in, so went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Cabo Fish Taco, which has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  I love their fish tacos!


The rest of the family flew in late Wednesday night, so after I picked them up we went directly to my apartment and straight to bed as we had a full day ahead of us!  On Thursday morning, we hit the road and arrived in Myrtle Beach around 2 pm.  After lunch, we hit the pool and beach!

The views of the ocean were amazing and it was relaxing for me to walk along the shore

On Friday morning, we woke up without alarms which is the best feeling ever.  I have been struggling with sleep lately, but luckily slept really well on this trip.  I started each morning with a workout in the hotel gym and then we had a leisurely breakfast on our balcony where we enjoyed this view!!


On Friday morning, we drove down to Pawley's Island which was just south of MB for some shopping.  I found some awesome olive oil and balsamic vinegar there so was happy with my purchases.  Abby and I found these hammocks so relaxed for a bit while the others wrapped up their shopping.


We had lunch at this cute bistro called Bistro 217.  A friend had recommended it to me and it did not disappoint!  It was one of my favorite meals of the trip!

We finally got a picture together!  On the left is my mom, sister Abby, and me.  On the right is my sister Emily, SIL Julie, and SIL Emily. (Yes, I have a sister AND SIL with the name Emily!)

We spent Friday afternoon relaxing on the beach, reading and walking along the ocean.

There are few things more relaxing that having your feet in the sand a good book in your hand
A storm started to blow in so we headed back to the room and got ready for dinner.



Since we were on the coast, we enjoyed a lot of fresh seafood.  It's tough to pick a favorite meal, but one of my favorites was this seafood muddle that I had on Friday night.  It has mussels, clams, scallops, and shrimp in it.  Yum!


On Saturday morning it was overcast, so we did a little shopping, had lunch and then hit the pool when the cloudy weather had passed.

Abby and my 2 SILs - who are really more like sisters

On Saturday night, we had one last seafood dinner out before retiring for the night.  We knew we had an early morning on Sunday so we were in bed fairly early.

On Sunday morning, I snapped one last photo of the view from our room and we headed back to Charlotte as my mom, sister, and SIL had a 3 pm flight.


All in all, this vacation was really relaxing and wonderful.  It was nice to wake up without alarms and see where the day would take us.  I really enjoyed all the walks on the beach and hearing the crashing waves of the ocean. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of memories were made.  I'm sure we'll be telling stories from this trip for years to come!

I hope this is the first of many girls trips.  We are going to try to plan one every 2 years and select destinations where my parents can swap out their time share as that makes it a very affordable vacation for everyone.  Right now we are tossing around the idea of Miami in 2015!

Do you do girls trips with your family or friends?  My running trips that I tend to do almost yearly are definitely girl trips and they are so so fun. 

19 comments:

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

The beach looks absolutely beautiful :) It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun and I'm so glad you got to do it. Eric did not have the best experience at Myrtle Beach but he was at a bachelor party so I'm sure he saw the trashy side! I think it was also what he had to do that he didn't like rather than the place haha. He liked the days hanging out at the beach with his friends :)

I have actually gone on very few girls trips. In college, we did one spring break that was all girls and one that was girls and a few of our guy friends. I preferred having the guys around because they calm some of the girl drama ha ha. Plus at the time we were going out at a lot at nights so it was good to have guys with us to help ward off some of the sketchy guys. Eric and I really enjoy traveling together so I don't go out of my way to plan them now. The only ones I've been on recently have been bachelorette parties and I'm not a fan of travel bachelorettes because then I have to pay a lot of money to hang out with someone elses friends lol.
That being said, I may need to embrace the girls trip now that I am going to be a mom- if I want to travel without the baby, I'll probably have to leave him with Eric haha.

abbi said...

What a great getaway and all of the food sounds amazing...well, the company too! :)

Abby said...

Love this recap!! It was such a great trip! You got some awesome beach/water pictures! Love!!!!

I am so behind on reading and blogging. It's crazy!

Jeanie said...

I love Myrtle Beach -- we go pretty much every summer (didn't the past two years) for Rick's trade show and stay down near the convention center so we can walk. I don't know if that's anywhere near you. Yeah, it IS touristy, but in a fun way. And really, between the beach and eating -- well, you can make your own rest of it!

I loved the photo of all of you at the table. All those happy smiles! It sounds like a terrific idea and a hit with everyone!

Marlys said...

In my opinion, it was the perfect "girls get-a-way! I, too, loved waking up without an alarm, sitting on the deck in our pj's, sipping morning coffee while listening to the waves crash on the shore! It was a slice of heaven to be with all my girls in such a beautiful setting!

Nora said...

Looks like a lovely time! I haven't been to MB before either, but have done Duck Island (I think it's in North Carolina) and Kiawah island, too.

I love girl trips! the last time my mom and I did one was about seven year ago to St. Thomas. We had a blast, though. I have done a bunch of friend trips, including blogger get togethers, Vegas with some of my friends, and bachelorette weekends, too. Miami in 2015 sounds like a great time!

Amber said...

Looks amazing and so fun! I'm so glad you guys were able to make this happen and I think doing it every two years is an awesome idea especially if you have a time share you can take advantage of! I do girls weekends pretty often. I had about 4 this year! Two were related to Jen's wedding and then two running ones, one in Chicago and one in Vancouver in May! I do really love girls weekends and plan to continue doing at least once a year - preferably a running one! :)

Leigh said...

Beautiful pictures! Looks like you had so much fun and glad that you were able to spend time with your family :)

Stephany said...

I don't do too many girl's trips, though I guess you can count every time my mom and I vacation together as such. Ha. My upcoming weekend cruise will be my first, I think! I'm really excited about it - and hopefully, we can do this sort of thing on a yearly basis.

This sounds like a really fun, relaxing vacation and I'm glad you all were able to make it happen!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

Looks like a blast ometimes go away on overnights with my BFF but just like once a year or so. I did a few girls road trips when I was in college/younger 20s and one since I got married but not to super fun destinations. Just to where someone else had moved ha. Sometimes I want to do them with my mom and my bffand her mom and sometimes I think about my sils too but ehhh. Anthony's sister can also say that she has a sister Emily and a SIL Emily. ;P

Becky said...

What a great trip! I actually haven't done a girls trip in awhile - I like it when all parties go to a new location instead of just visiting someone - it seems more like an adventure that way!

Unknown said...

Wow! So awesome in so many ways! I am so glad you were able to spend time together in such an incredible location!

Raquelita said...

Your trip sounds so nice! I haven't done a girls' trip in quite some time, but it would be really fun to do one.

Carolina John said...

How cool! So glad you enjoyed MB. Kelley loves going down there too and she thinks my hatred is unreasonable.

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

I've never heard of a "muddle" but holy hell, does that look good!

Charis Faith said...

Your sisters, by family and marriage are adorable and I am delighted that your beach trip was such a huge success!!!

Shoshanah said...

I looks like you guys all had a blast! The pictures all the look gorgeous and the seafood look delicious.

As for a girl's trip, my senior year of college a bunch of us went down to the Florida Keys for Spring break. We had a blast, although fairly low key for spring break, but besides that I'm not sure of an other girl's trip I've taken.

Elizabeth said...

This sounds amazing and totally restorative. I can imagine it was much needed and fulfilling ;) Time with female loved ones is so empowering. I love when I can get together with any of my groups of gals.

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

That looks like the perfect weekend! It's so nice that you get along so well with all of your SILs! The beach there is beautiful! My grandmother goes to Kure beach every year and I keep meaning to join her one of these years! Your photos really make me want to make more of an effort to get over there!