Before retiring to the Coastal Carolinas from New York City, Myrtle Beach was one of our regular destinations when we wanted to play golf, swim in the Atlantic Ocean, and enjoy a variety of seafood restaurants. If the hotel had tennis courts, we took our rackets. With over 100 golf courses to choose from, you can play in the morning and swim in the afternoon or vice versa. And, of course, shop at Tanger Mall for bargains. This last trip was a road trip. We usually fly, but thought it would be fun to drive.
Visiting Myrtle Beach just after Labor Day is ideal since it’s not crowded, noisy and usually the weather is still summer-like. Plus, kids are usually back in school and there is a more adult crowd, which means quiet. We had driven there once before and the 11-13 hour trip is not bad, if you stop off about halfway and spend the night at a hotel. Normally, we fly to Myrtle Beach, but dragging golf bags and luggage through airports can be tiresome – checking in, screening, waiting, renting a car, plus paying extra for the golf bags can be all the more bothersome. Therefore, driving was not a bad way to go. Sharing the driving and stopping off to spend one night at a hotel each way, makes for a comfortable journey. However, after this last trip, once again, we are leaning more towards flying. The two days spent driving and staying at hotels to and from, meant more time could have been spent enjoying Myrtle Beach.
Saturday: Our departure from NYC was at 10:20 AM. The route taken was the George Washington Bridge to the New Jersey Turnpike south through New Jersey, (I-95) through Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and arriving in Smithfield, North Carolina close to 6:30 PM. We made sandwiches, in order not to buy anything to eat along the way, but stopped twice to buy water and gas and use the rest rooms. Driving time from NYC to Smithfield is approximately 8 hours.
We recommend staying at the Comfort Inn. It is conveniently located directly off of I-95 in Smithfield. The hotel is clean, quiet and provides free full breakfast, WiFi and parking and is less than $100 a the night. The non-smoking, spacious room with a king size bed had a rather large bath. Having stayed at this hotel the first time we drove to Myrtle Beach, we were familiar with the service and room layout. The hotel is located in a mall which has about six other hotels. We suggest doing some research to find out what deals may be available, when you intend to travel. After checking into the hotel, we strolled over the Texas Steakhouse located in the mall. Since it’s a steak house, we ordered a rib-eye steak, baby-back ribs, vegetables and sweet tea. Water is our drink of choice, but when in the South, sweet tea is a must!
After dinner, it was great to just walk back to the hotel. CNN is the channel we watch while away from home because on many of our trips, we found out that something unpleasant was happening in our country or in some part of the world that kept us glued to the TV.
Sunday: The next morning after a sensible breakfast of raisin bran, banana, yogurt, apple and boiled eggs, we packed up and drove out of Smithfield around 9:20 AM. Our arrival time into Myrtle Beach was just after 12:30 PM. Check-in time at the Hilton Ocean 22 Hotel was 4 PM, so this gave us time to stop off at the PGA Golf and Tennis Center to check out some new clubs. One of the reasons for taking this trip was that my husband wanted to get me a new set of clubs for my birthday, but I felt I had the clubs I needed. I though a hybrid would be interesting since many people are using them to get greater distance for intermediate range shots. After trying out a few hybrids, I was torn between a Ping and a Callaway, but ended up with the Callaway. By the time my husband got two of his clubs re-gripped and I practiced hitting some balls with my new club, it was going on 2 PM. We called the hotel and found out we could get an early check in around 3 PM.
Hotel/Hilton Ocean 22: This is a handsome looking hotel on Ocean Boulevard with 24 floors. The navy blue and white makes the hotel stand out from the others. It has a clean, sleek, sophisticated look. Check-in is on the second floor lobby and parking is across the street. It would have been better if parking was right on site, but the short walk across the street was not too inconvenient. We tried two types of one-bedroom suites at this hotel. There were no ocean-front rooms available at the time we made the reservations, so we settled for a room with an ocean-view for 3 nights and 2 nights in an ocean-front. Our first suite on the 19th floor, Room 1904, had a North-East ocean view from the floor to ceiling windows in the living room which was right next to the balcony offering panoramic, spectacular views of the beach, ocean and far inland! The unit was spacious and had a nice flow throughout. All units come with washer and dryer which were very quiet and tucked away in a closet; dishwasher; modern appliances in stainless steel and black; and very good quality kitchen utensils and dishes. The large living room with an L-shaped sectional couch was perfectly built for two. This allowed us both to spread out comfortably to watch TV, and look out at the beach and ocean. The balcony offered privacy which was important to us since we don’t like to see other people on either side of us.
The other two nights were spent on the top floor, Room 2409, in an ocean-front, one-bedroom suite, thinking we would have one of the best rooms in the hotel. In hindsight, it would have been better to have stayed in Room 1904. The bathroom was not connected to the bedroom – you had to walk down the hallway to get there which was somewhat of an inconvenience. The sound of the elevators could be heard every time an elevator stopped on a floor, and the layout of the suite felt closed in and didn’t have the flow like the suite on the 19th floor. There was no L-shaped sectional couch, rather, there was a small couch and a side chair. We were terribly disappointed. The ocean-front view was spectacular, but so was the view from the 19th floor. So take heed when booking a room at this hotel. It’s pretty pricey for a one-bedroom ocean front – close to $300 per night, so consider the side ocean view room, like Room 1904 on the 19th floor, which will be less money and the rooms are more spacious.
After checking in, we went to the Concierge to arrange for tee times. We were offered a round of golf each day free of charge, but did have to pay for the golf cart – $25 each. An excellent deal, especially, if you’re playing the Legends Golf Courses. We scheduled tee times at Legends – Moorland, Parkland and Heathland, but ended playing at only two because of the rain. Yes, rain….
Sunday Night: Well, we just had to go to Captain George’s Seafood Buffet on our first night in Myrtle Beach. The Alaskan king crab, prime rib, scallops, oysters, were calling to us all the way from New York. We figured we would work it off our meal the next day playing golf and swimming, so we had fun trying a variety of different dishes.
Monday: We had an 8:15 tee time at Legends on this morning, playing Moorland. This happens to be one of our favorite courses in Myrtle Beach. It has a haunting feel to it and reminds us of the Moors in Scotland. The weather in Myrtle Beach that week were scattered showers with splotches of sun here and there, so golfers were out this Monday morning, trying to get some golf in before the rain came which was scheduled for the afternoon. Very much like playing in Scotland.
We finished our round of golf close to 2 PM because the course was backed-up. As we drove out of the long driveway out from Legends, we realized we were starving and decided to lunch at TGIF. Cobb salads were perfect and would hold us until dinner. Since we chose to eat in this particular evening, we stopped at a local supermarket, grabbed a rotisserie chicken, a head of broccoli, some baby carrots, and a few other food items for breakfast and lunch on Tuesday. There was a slight drizzle, but, surprisingly, the sun came out when we got back to the hotel. We decided to take a swim around 4:30 – the water was still warm at this time of year, but the waves were pretty rough and not the best for swimming. So, it was back to the hotel for a swim in the pool in order to get some additional exercise.
Monday Night: Later on that evening, we chilled, had dinner on the balcony and watched TV until we fell asleep.
Tuesday: It was a good day to stick around the hotel since the sun was trying so hard to come out and we were determined to get some sun. We got out to the beach around 9:30 AM and got back around 1:15 PM with the sun coming in and out of the clouds. A warm shower, lunch and rest on the couch got us ready for our shopping spree at Tanger Mall.
Tuesday Night: Shopping can make you tired, so we stopped off at Caramba’s Italian Grill for dinner then headed back to the hotel.
Wednesday: We had an 11:48 AM tee time at Legends – this time playing the Heathland course. Yup, rain was in the forecast, again. There were a handful of people out playing golf that day because the clouds were dark and heavy. We finished 18 holes by 4:30 since we pretty much had the course to ourselves and we even took 2 and 3 shots at some holes. Canadian geese were our only company, just strutting about as though they owned the course. The sprinkling of rain was not too bad. However, as we drove out from the long road from Legends back to Highway 17, the rain started to come down. We had finished just in time!
Back at the hotel, we were ready to check out from the room on the 19th floor so we could move to the 24th floor. As stated previously, we should have stayed on the 19th floor. Ah, well, just two nights, so we made the best of it.
Weds Night: We decided to eat in again. Grilled salmon, kale and carrots and some quinoa.
Thursday: Golf is out of the question – it’s raining off and on today. We did some laundry, went to the beach when the sun popped out briefly, watched TV and decided, why not head back to Tanger – perhaps we missed some other good deals. So, we shopped during the afternoon.
Thurs. Night: Should we do another seafood buffet again, or go to Australian Outback? Well, we liked the TGIF salads which were healthier, so we headed there and along with some wings, had dinner and called it a night.
Friday: We checked out of the Ocean 22 Hilton at 10:20 AM – check out is usually at 10 AM. We were now heading back home with a stop-over in Richmond, Virginia with a stay at the Marriott. The Marriott chain, as with Hilton properties have accommodations that are consistent in quality. And, speaking about the Marriott; if you want to stay at a swanky place in Myrtle Beach, stay at the Marriott Dunes Villas. This resort is private, tucked away and looks absolutely luxurious.
We departed Myrtle Beach with the grey clouds hanging over around 11:30 AM, arriving just south of central Richmond, Virginia around 4:45 PM. If you are planning a car trip from the New York City Metro area to Myrtle Beach and back, consider stopping in or around Richmond since it’s about half way between both locations. And, for more stress-free driving, take I-40 in both directions through North Carolina. The highway cuts diagonally across the state, there’s very little traffic and the speed limit is 70 MPH.
Saturday: After a free breakfast, we were back on the road again shortly after 9:00 AM for the 5-1/2 hour drive to home-sweet-home.
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Take a look at the view from Room 2409:
Take a look at Room 2409:
Check out this double rainbow from Room 1904 – Room 1904 Video
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