This is the day us Stout kids probably made our mark on Myrtle Beach. It was a perfect sunny day, we had great things planned for our afternoon, and this would be the first and last big group event for the trip. But before I get too much into it, why don't I start with the morning.
Alex and I woke up, again, past our hotel breakfast so we needed to improvise for our empty stomachs. We found a nearby Starbucks since I still had a gift card and I am being a smart saver. We drove to this Starbucks located in a hotel and we weren't even gone for five minute and we walked out to find a ticket on our car. For $30.00! Whaaat, come on Myrtle. Way to put a damper on our vacation.
To get our minds off that we decided to go on the beach and get some drinks in us. We wanted yet another relaxing day on the beach and that was the best way to do it. Our friends met up with us again and we all were soaking up the sun. We also were going through our plans for our afternoon. We had reservations for a pedal pub but on a pontoon in North Myrtle. Once it was time, Alex and I went back to our hotel to pick up Sarah and Kallie and went back to Westgate to get in our Uber.
It was about a half hour drive to get to our destination but every second was worth it because our Uber driver was a sweet old man who knew the town quite well and we shared many great conversations with him. When we arrived, we thanked our driver and met up with the rest of the gang already on the boat. (Warning to the parents reading this: we are college students from UW-Stout, we consumed a good portion of alcohol on this short water trip but were safe about it and were just having a good time. Many said this was the highlight of their trip. So just to let you know, we were safe and responsible adults :) okay back to the story).
Our captains of our trip was a young couple that looked forward to having us. They said they've had college kids come on their tours before but never one this big nor a group that brought six cases of beer and two bags of wine on the trip. Plus a case of Strawberitas that we had to go through as well so they knew it was going to be an interesting one. We had them reserved for an hour but not even five minutes into the trip we asked if they could have a drink with us and if we could stay longer than our slotted time. They liked us right off the bat so they said they would have a couple drinks with us after the trip.
So away we go down the canal and our cheers for a good trip! Everyone was peddaling and having a great time. We were passing the bag of wine around and going beer after beer. I was saying BODEN every time I needed another (shout out to the Froeber fam) and they were thankfully right in front of us on the table where four small coolers were installed in the table. How convenient. We filled all four of them with booze and then some outside of the coolers.
It didn't take long for us to start hooting and hollering and just having a great Stout time. People were switching and taking turns pedaling and just living in the moment. It went by so quickly and in no time we were back at the dock with the captains and sharing drinks with them. Even some passing by couples that were entertained by all of us Stouties. Needless to day we all were feeling our drinks and just talking and being friendly Mid-Westerners as we waited for our Ubers to arrive.
In case you were wondering, we finished ALL of our beer we brought on the pedal pub AND the two bags of wine, alongside the Strawberitas...I'll let you guys imagine how we were but entertaining to describe it with the best verb. Our captains said they have never seen a group as wild like us and down that much alcohol in an hour. We took that compliment and headed on our way after thanking them for the trip and tipping them well for dealing with us.
Back at the Westgate we were chilling in their hotel room for a bit till we were getting hungry and needed to calm down after our eventful evening. We walked safely back to our hotel and basically fell asleep shortly after arriving. Alex and I woke up around midnight-one o'clock in the morning and had no idea how we ended up falling asleep. Quickly putting that aside us, we decided we were hungry and made the last of our Mac n Cheese and packed for our trip back since it was the last full day in Myrtle.
Way to end it on a good note too. I had to agree with everyone, it was a highlight of the trip and a fun way to end the day. We headed back to bed around four o'clock in the morning and knew we had to get up around nine o'clock to get breakfast in us and check out of the hotel.
-Friday Morning-
We woke up as planned and got our second and last hotel breakfast and replayed the events of our afternoon/ evening of the previous day. Laughing at the memories we made, we checked out of the hotel and headed straight to the beach to get the last of the sun before our trip back to Menom. We were out in the sun from ten in the morning till two in the afternoon...we didn't put sunscreen on....and we got super burnt. I got the worst of the group but it was totally worth it. Kinda, the car ride back was painful and uncomfortable for the first few hours but I slept it off and was fine by Saturday morning to drive us back through Wisconsin.
We arrived in Menomonie around noon on Saturday which was better time than we expected. Enough time for Kallie and Sarah to bring the rental car back and visit with their family and enough time for Alex and I to unpack, do some laundry, nap and get dinner with my parents at Log Jam, a restaurant in Menomonie. We told my family about our trip and caught up with them which was much needed on my part. We knew soon we'd have to get back to reality so we said our goodbyes to my rents and headed to bed early that night.
Overall, the trip was worth every penny spent and saved. For my first Spring Break trip, it was definitely one to remember and I wouldn't have wanted to spent it with any other group of friends. Thanks to them for making every second of the trip fun and memorable. Till next time Myrtle, and Stouties.