Day 3

07.22.2003 Tuesday

We arise from bed to eat our Cheerios and decide to head over to Barefoot Landing, which is a big slew of stores and restaurants on this swamp filled with alligators and dragonflies.
We walk around some shops at first, and we purchase a pair of sunglasses. I'm not really a fan of wearing them, but you really needed them down there. It was awfully hazy.

We continue in search of Alligator Adventure, which is a zoo-type place filled with bears. No seriously, it's filled with alligators, but they kept advertising this bear show. Huh? We pay for tix, which were an economical $12 each even after my trusty coupon. The place is very uneventful, as every alligator, crocodile, and turtle were dead to the world, because it was hot as balls out. We took pictures of a bunch of immobile reptiles. We saw 2 albino alligators, which were outstandingly creepy. We then went over to the bleachers at 12:45 because they were supposed to feed the reptiles at 1 pm in a show. So we wait and wait. Then this employee struts over and says "uh, the feeding is taking place at the main boardwalk today." Well, that's nice to know now. We unemphatically trudge to the main area and immediately turn around for the exit. I believe everyone in that place was huddled over the fence to watch the feeding, so we had no chance of seeing a glimpse of anything. We flee.

Hungry. We are relatively close to the House of Blues. I wasn't even aware they served lunch, but Kim guessed they did. Luckily, she was right. It's pretty cool inside. I had never been to one before. I had this pulled pork bbq sandwich with sweet potato fries. Good stuff. In the process of eating, I pull out the map of the area, and we decide we should give it another chance and hit the shops across the lagoon thing. After lunch, we drove around to the other side and walked around a bit, and realized that indeed, this place did suck. We left.

I have no recollection of the late afternoon. I remember we tried to go to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner, but found they had a 55 minute wait, and there was a line of people wrapped around the perimeter. Oh crap, let's go elsewhere. We get in the car and fade into the horizon down King's Highway as the rain begins pelting our windshield. Everywhere had a line, so we hit good ole' Pizza Hut. No wait. We're in.

Everyone stares at us. I stare back and give some really evil looks. We eat half sausage/half plain stuffed crust pizza. I have to relieve myself of the 3 iced teas I have. On my way to the restroom, a weasel-looking lady in line seems reluctant to move and stares at me. I pass through and on my way out I encounter the rodent woman again. "Excuse me please." No movement. I burst through her and give her a glare. "I said excuse me."

It's still raining, so we can't do anything outdoors, like swim in the pool or play some mini golf. I say, hey let's try the mall by our hotel. It's Tuesday, and the new 311 cd came out today. We enter and see a FYE store-"For Your Excrement." This store sucks. I hate the ones up here, so I know I'll hate this one. I ask the plump clerk at the counter if they have the new 311, since it was nowhere to be found on their new release shelf or in the section. "Three-leven?" "Nah, the only new releases we gawt are Now thirrrtain and (some other crap I don't remember)." Wow, you've been a help. Bye. We continued through the mall to find NOTHING of interest. We leave.

Back to the hotel room. We drink some JD and eat pretzels and peanuts and watch Road Trip on TV.

Tomorrow we'll try the Outlet stores. There's a whole mess of them, and at night I have tickets to see the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a minor league baseball team. See if you can find out what will go wrong.