#MyrtleBeach DirtyMyrtle SouthCarolina

[karmagoround-blog]

Night is falling on the city, city by the sea. Life in Myrtle beach after dark.

[recordofmyreverie]

Valentine’s Day Tour of South Carolina (February 2017)

Since I had no plans of wanting to stay in one place, I thought I’d explore what weirdness my home state of South Carolina had to offer. What were my options? Well, there was a button museum, a topiary garden, and a Mexican-themed gigantic pit-stop in-between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach called “South of the Border.”

It was Valentine’s day, and I had two days off in a row. I made my south through Lancaster County to Camden, SC to eventually Bishopville, SC where I discovered that people in small towns must be really, really bored. I stopped by a small house on a wide stretch of land where a sign pointed to “South Carolina’s Famous Button Museum.” 

I drove up to the airplane hangar where the museum was kept inside, and I looked around to see no other cars around. I entered the museum which was free-entry and apparently unlocked all the time with nobody there. There was a mannequin man at the entrance wearing all buttons, and then two cars covered with buttons, a toilet, a bathtub, and various musical instruments also decked out with buttons. 

An old man known to Bishopville’s residents as “The Button King” created this museum on accident. I read the stories taped on the wall about him in the newspaper, saw photos of him with celebrities and talk-show hosts, and then there was an excerpt from the bible next to a shrine dedicated to him and his wife. He was an old man with insomnia who was trying to pass the time before he could be with his wife who passed away before him. Near the bible excerpt, there was another note which read “I will not sleep or stop sewing buttons until I am with Ruby in heaven.”

The Button King died in 2015, but his legacy of insomnia-inspired creativity lives on. It was a bit of a sad story, but sweet, nonetheless. I’m glad he gave me and other weird people like me something to see in his small town. 

Another landmark of the unexpectedly quirky town of Bishopville was a topiary garden which I didn’t expect to be in someone’s back yard. I felt like I was intruding when I was walking around and taking pictures of it, so I didn’t spend much time there. I went onward to see what I thought would be the grand finale of roadside attractions. 

South of the Border was a huge rest-stop with gas stations, motels, campgrounds, a reptile lagoon that was locked, an abandoned theme park, an arcade, and at least 5 gift shops all the size of warehouses which all contained similar junky souvenirs. I’m sure this place was probably hoppin’ back in the 1970s or something, but it seemed like a ghost town when I went there. I didn’t know such a place would exist in my own state, and I was so incredibly alone there that I expected zombies to come from the abandoned park any minute. 

The only human interaction I had there was with people who worked there when they’d be surprised someone was actually walking through their store. I don’t know how they’d even stay in business, especially with most of them selling a lot of the same things. 

Then I had a really awkward interaction in the bathroom before I left. I was about to try and see if I could get to the top of the sombrero tower through the arcade, but the elevator was broken. I went to the bathroom located in it’s own separate building, and I saw a row of stalls. I entered each one of them and none of them had a toilet. Then a girl comes out of the utilities closet and says “If you’re looking for the toilet, it’s around the other side. Those are all changing rooms.”

What? How long have you been in that closet? Is this your job to tell people where the actual toilets are?

After I flush the toilet, I go to wash my hands, and look for the paper towels or anything that will dry my hands. The girl came back out of the closet holding a paper towel and a tip jar. So I dried my hands on my pants, and I left. 

I drove to the most touristy place in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach. 

I figured that I could entertain myself by people-watching at bars on Valentine’s Day, but when I got there, even the bars were pretty dead. It was off-season for the tourist town, so that’s probably why. I wanted to people-watch, but there weren’t really any people to watch.

I even tried going to Derriere’s Gentleman’s Club, thinking that there would at least be interesting people at the strip club, and when I showed up in the parking lot, the building looked to be condemned or something. Nobody was in the parking lot and there were wooden boards on the windows. Damn. So much for danger. I guess I had to be safe.

I ended my night out in a karaoke bar where I found the jackpot for drunk and lonely people. I sat through a bunch of country songs, and one oddball who liked to sing screamo versions of every song he sang. I managed to sing “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion and then left right after. 

I spent the night at a guy’s apartment who I booked through Airbnb in my own room that was decorated with seashells. He said that his dog, Cameron, I know, another one, had stomach problems because she liked to eat whatever she could find, so I had to keep my stuff on top of the dresser. I at least got to spend Valentine’s Day with Cameron, but it was just a farting dog version. 

[thecollectivelens]

Get Home Safely #thecollective • • • • #travel #travelpics #southcarolina #dirtymyrtle #myrtlebeach #palmettostate #beach #sunset🌅

[redhedfrecklface12]

#throwbackthursday to when all my dad's dreams came true 😂 #wahlburgers #ae #markymark #donnie #paul #wahlberg #dirtymyrtle #myrtlebeach #southcarolina (at Wahlburgers Myrtle Beach)