Back in 2012, I flew down to North Carolina to meet my good friend and pro party buddy Lauren. We’d been inseparable in Northern Ireland, and I was excited to road trip around with her for a week. I’d also always wanted to visit the Carolinas.
Not only did Lauren live in North Carolina, but my friend from home, Britney, did as well, so we were going to stop to see her in Jacksonville, head down to Wilmington (dream destination for me), and then finally into South Carolina for Myrtle Beach.
Day 1 Greensboro
I had to connect through Detroit flying out of Cleveland, and I didn’t land in Greensboro until 7:30 in the evening. Lauren came to meet me at the airport, and we drove to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with her parents. We dropped our things off at her house afterwards and got ready to go out.
This was a point in my life where I was really into nightclubs. It was not a scene that my most of my friends at home were into (imagining some of my hippie friends in a club is hilarious), but I had gotten used to clubbing while in Europe, so I was looking for an excuse to get dressed up and dance having now been stuck in Ohio for a couple years with very little club frequenting.
I totally forgot how much clubs suck in America though. We went to this one downtown called Syn & Sky, and while the setup was cool with a rooftop bar, the music was awful (how do you dance to rap?), and the people there were exactly the kind of bros who go to American clubs. Pass.
Day 2 Jacksonville
We drove a few hours the next morning to the coast. It’s a military area with lots of army boys and their wives. Britney was living with her sister and her sister’s husband who was a marine. Britney took us to her favorite beach at Emerald Isle, and it was really pretty.
The water was warm, and we spent time jumping waves and drinking vanilla Cruzan. Everyone headed to dinner together afterwards then hung out at someone’s house for the night. It was just a chilled out day catching up.
Day 3 Wilmington
Lauren and I had some time to spare in the morning, so we went back to Emerald Isle to relax for a bit before taking off down the coast.
It took about an hour to reach Wilmington, and my dream to see the town where Dawson’s Creek was filmed had finally come true. It was a beautiful moment!
Wilmington is adorable, and so was our lodging at Stemmerman’s Inn on the main street in the historic district.
We basically had our own downtown loft apartment for two nights. We were in suite #2 with a living room, kitchenette, and bathroom downstairs, then a lofted area with our beds up above. The wall facing the street was all brick. It was so cute and I loved it.
Wilmington’s historic district is so nice. There are shops, restaurants, and bars everywhere, all little privately owned places.
The docks are right there with pretty views and boats in the harbor. I may or may not have spun around singing Paula Cole overlooking the water like a huge nerd. All of the houses in the area are also gorgeous and old-fashioned.
Lauren and I had dinner at an Italian place before hitting up the oldest pool hall in America, Orton’s. We played four rounds of pool and had a few high percentage beers before heading next door to a nice craft beer bar. I had a sour cherry ale and a Viking mead.
By this point, we were more than tipsy, and we of course had to go into an Irish pub that we were walking past. Around there our night devolved into an Ireland-reminiscent shitshow. Some drunk guy bought us Irish car bombs, we told anyone and everyone in the bar that we had, in fact, actually met in Ireland, we ran into some dude from Belarus the following day who showed us photos from the night we didn’t remember, and we left after I decided to have a pensive moment by myself outside (I was in the midst of a breakup at this point) sprawled against the light post which caused the bouncer to send Lauren to come to my aid. Lauren and I literally ran down the street to get home, grabbed the carpet off our floor, and ended our night sledding down our stairs singing “Magic Carpet Ride.” There is a video and you are not allowed to watch it.
Day 4 Wilmington Hollywood Tour
The morning was… rough, to say the least. I took some ibuprofen, drank three bottles of water, and had a delicious goat cheese omelet and hash browns at a diner for breakfast, and I still thought at multiple times that I was going to faint during our daytime tour.
We met our group by the docks for a walk around Wilmington seeing all of the spots where TV shows and movies had been filmed. I was there obviously for Dawson’s Creek, but there were a lot of One Tree Hill sites and some alleyway from A Walk to Remember.
Our tour guide was extremely eccentric, and my biggest complaint about the tour is that he did more talking than walking, so we probably could have seen more if he’d cut out some of his million anecdotes. He felt it necessary to tell us about every single celebrity encounter or sighting he’d had in the city, including about a ten minute story about the time he danced with Sophia Bush. He also had a tendency to reenact scenes from the movies or shows he was talking about. What I did enjoy was the way he talked about fictional characters as if they were real life people which just endlessly amused me.
Inside Capeside High
The tour lasted an hour, and we hit a lot of spots from Dawson’s Creek. We saw the restaurant used as Leery's Fresh Fish, the spot where Pacey and Andie had their first dance, the location of the old Icehouse, the wall that Pacey bought Joey (!) although it is unfortunately now covered in a patio (but like seriously season 3 was the best season, right, Pacey & Joey for life), Capeside High interior (now a market), a wall signed by a bunch of celebrities including Josh Jackson, the exterior of the theater used in season 4, Tamara's loft, and Hell's Kitchen in its entirety- it is actually a restaurant and those scenes were filmed inside, not on a set, so it was exactly as in the show. Also Dawson’s wooden canoe was mounted on the wall in there! I was beside myself to see all of these things in person. I wish it was the 90s again.
Dawson's boat!
The only negative was my hangover, especially in the beating hot sun. All of my energy was focused on not passing out. Due to this, we took a break in the room following the tour, picked up food at Target to cook for dinner, and just took a walk around in the evening to hit some shops and enjoy the town. We both took a night of rest.
Day 5 Myrtle Beach- Barefoot Landing & Sky Wheel
After saying goodbye to our lovely little room, I had Lauren drive around the nearby neighborhoods for awhile in search of a place to park and walk the actual creek. Unfortunately, all of the assholes living in the area had up rude signs like "No Trespassing" and "Dawson Does Not Live Here" as if they didn't want random people wandering through their backyards. So much for southern hospitality, right?!
This is as close as I got to nostalgic television greatness.
We made the two hour drive south to Myrtle Beach, making a couple stops on the way to stock up on food and alcohol. Our hotel was called Holiday Sands North and was not even comparable to our Wilmington room, but it served its purpose. One thing that Lauren had insisted on was spending a little extra for an ocean view, and I’m so glad that she did. We were on the 8th floor with a little balcony facing the beach and pier, and we spent so many hours out there.
Perfect way to start a morning.
We drove to Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle for dinner. It’s a boardwalk area with lots of shops and restaurants.
I had never been to a Dick’s Last Resort, so Lauren took me there after warning me what to expect. Well, I had a blast. Just walking inside I had a staff member call me easy and another tell me that I had on the most white trash outfit he’d ever seen. It was my kind of place.
Our waiter, Shaw, was actually fairly nice (especially compared to the waiter at the table behind us who was absolutely screaming in the faces of every single one of his customers). He made us our condom hats and wrote his number inside of mine (then I texted him and he was a total sleaze, so no thanks). The food there overall sucked, but like Lauren told me, you’re paying for the hostile atmosphere.
We got some ice cream afterwards then drove back to our hotel. We were right down the road from the strip, so we walked over to ride the Sky Wheel which was all lit up for the night.
We had a rum fishbowl at a bar across the street to end the night, and Lauren couldn’t stop laughing at my reaction to Myrtle Beach. It was all just so… trashy. I’m not sure what I’d imagined. I guess since it’s such a popular family holiday destination (at least for Ohioans), I had thought it was some nice, wholesome beach town. It was NOT that. Teenagers drinking in hotel rooms, bottle rockets being shot off balconies, tacky souvenir shops, drunken chaos and traffic everywhere. Dudes were cruising up and down the streets flashing laser pointers around which Lauren informed me is what they do to pick up chicks (just potentially blind your intended lover). Who doesn’t find it romantic to be summoned from your room by laser pointer, right? It was all just so far off what I’d expected!
Day 6 Parasailing & DJ Pauly D
We decided to go parasailing on our second day, so we walked over to the pier, paid at a stand, and went into the ocean to hop on a banana boat to take us out. I had never ridden on one of these things before, and it was pretty intense! Lauren and I were by ourselves, so we were flying. I didn’t realize how much effort it takes on the part of the rider just to stay on. Lauren fell off… twice. Once when we were halfway out, and then again when we stopped to get on the actual boat and she fell in between the two. The guy had to circle all the way back around to pick her up.
Once we were all safely aboard, they strapped us to a parasail and had us sit at the back of the boat. The boat took off, and we just flew backward and up. It was a cool experience! We were flying so high above the water with great views of the ocean and shore. It was so peaceful and relaxing up in the sky. They even dipped us down in the water near the end.
We took the banana boat back to shore which I swear was faster on the return journey. I kept being thrown forward, but I survived with no injuries until of course I had to get on my feet back at shore when I completely lost my balance and was stabbed with a collection of tiny shells until my legs were bleeding.
We sat on the beach awhile waiting for our photos to be ready, and I learned my lesson about sunscreen. I figured I’m half-Italian, so I didn’t really need sun protection. What I did not consider is that I’m also ghostly white the majority of the year. By the end of the day, my entire stomach, upper thighs, chest, and face were bright red. Every time my clothes brushed against me it felt like Satan was rubbing me down with sandpaper.
We had dinner in the hotel room, pregamed on the balcony, and headed to Broadway on the Beach, another boardwalk area but this one full of bars and clubs, for a night out. So, I wish I had an excuse for how we ended up at a Pauly D concert, but it was entirely intentional. Presale tickets were sold out, so we weren’t sure we’d be able to get in, and Lauren understandably did not want to sit around for three hours before the concert waiting when we had so much alcohol already in our room.
Plus, we could use three hours to get ready.
We compromised by heading down there at 10. The bouncer at Club Boca (where Pauly D was playing) told us there were no tickets available at the moment, but if we paid admission to the adjoining club there and hung out until 11, they would announce if they could let anyone else in. We paid $5, realized how expensive the drinks were in that club, and went to another bar. Nothing too notable happened here except we ordered two cherry bombs and were provided with plastic cups holding literal cherries that had been soaked in alcohol. Odd.
During this time, I came up with my simplistic and full-proof plan to get into the concert. We’d go up to the main door (not the one at the other club) at 10:55 so we’d be first in line, and we’d get in. I know, I know, I’m a genius thinker. Well, sure enough, they let in 50 more people at 11:00, and we were at the front. They even subtracted the $5 admission we’d paid off our ticket and overcalculated so we paid less than we were meant to! Nice. I guess bouncers don’t get into their line of work with their math scores.
We walked in, got a drink, and we were stuck. It was jam packed. We started trying to weave our way forward, but we didn’t get very far. On top of that, the crowd was just full of the worst kind of people- the people you would expect to see at a DJ Pauly D concert, anyway. Pauly D came out at about midnight after what seemed like the longest build-up of all time. He actually put on a surprisingly good show though! He played fun music, we could smoke inside, we managed to make it all the way up to the rail for a good view, and at one point, he soaked the crowd with a champagne shower.
On the downside, I had zero personal space, we could not leave the crowd to get drinks, and my feet were in severe pain from wearing heels (I went barefoot halfway through the show). Thankfully, the screaming girls rapidly dispersed running after Pauly D as soon as he left the stage, so we could move again.
We spent some time next door in Malibu, but we were tired, sore, and sober at this point, so we caught a cab home with our new favorite driver, Tommy, fairly soon after.
Day 7 Broadway on the Beach
We had a pretty low-key day lying on the beach before heading back to Broadway on the Beach for dinner. We hit up Margaritaville which had some cool décor.
I enjoyed wandering around the boardwalk afterwards too. It was huge! They had so many tacky tourist traps. I wanted to spend all my money. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Lauren didn’t have the cash to waste, so we just headed back to the hotel after our walk.
Because nothing says rock & roll like an iced latte.
We had been planning to go to this “Russian techno bar” that opened at 2 AM which Tommy had been telling us about, so we sat out on the balcony for a few hours drinking. Sadly, Lauren passed out around 2 while I was still wired, so I annoyed my friends with drunk dials for an hour before running out of ways to occupy myself and going to bed.
Day 8 Fair Rides & Clubbing
Lauren left me on my final day in Myrtle Beach, but Britney drove down to take her place. I was feeling slightly braindead after the previous night, so Brit and I sat on the balcony to have a few drinks and some Rockstar which cleared my head up.
I was all beached out at this point, so we walked down the street to the little amusement park instead. We went on the Music Express ride and the little wooden roller coaster.
We walked back along the beach, and it was the prettiest it had been the whole week. The sky was sunny and clear, and the water was so very blue.
We tried to stop at the nice Pierview restaurant, but they wouldn’t let me in due to my skanky green tube top. We headed down towards the Sky Wheel instead and had lunch at a place called Moe’s which was really good. Afterwards, we sat on the lawn out front to listen to a reggae band playing beside the ferris wheel.
We spent a few hours on the balcony drinking at the hotel and getting ready before calling my cab hookup Tommy to take us to Broadway. We hit up a club with no entrance fee, and it was fun! They were playing old school music, and I was very intoxicated. We danced until closing time, then we went out front to wait for Tommy to pick us up again. By the time he showed up, we were just in the middle of starting a drunken fight with a Lebron fan, so it was best we left.
This photo is here basically because check out my dress.
Finally, we had a chance to check out this so-called Russian techno bar. I honestly never even found out what this place was called which is highly disappointing. Doing a Google search, my best guess is that it might be Club There (advertised as an after-hours European club), but I can’t guarantee it with any certainty.
At any rate, it was mind-blowingly awesome. I felt like I had stepped straight back into Europe. The atmosphere was perfect. It was full of foreigners, they were playing great club music, it had a casual vibe, and it was packed wall to wall. I had the best time I’d had on a night out in ages- it’s easily the most fun I’ve ever had at a club in the USA. We were dripping sweat in 10 minutes having a blast. I saw this one guy tearing up the dance floor and grabbed him to dance with me, and we caused a huge spectacle with him literally swinging me around and dipping me all over the place. He was a pro! I thanked him for the fun time before he left.
Brit and I stayed until 4 AM, got to chatting with some cute Ukrainians outside, made plans to meet them at the beach, then got back to the hotel exhausted and realized cops were actually kicking people off the beach, so we just went to bed. So happy. What a great night.
We drove back to Jacksonville the next morning where I caught my flight home out of their tiny, two-gate airport where the security staff had so little to do that four women gathered around to watch my bag go through the scanner. I caught a connection through Atlanta and was back in Cleveland late that night.
Overall, it was a fun, beachy, slightly white trash experience, and I get to take so few vacations with friends that I loved all of it. I’m not sure that Myrtle Beach is a place I would return to (except maybe for that club), but Wilmington I recommend wholeheartedly. I hope to plan some more US road trips in the future!
Bonus: Charleston, SC
As an add-on to this entry, I have since been to Charleston, SC, which would be an easy continuation of the above road trip for anyone who wants to keep on going.
You can walk around the historic city center which has a street market, pretty buildings and homes, and the waterfront park with pineapple fountain...
...party at Folly Beach and its very walkable bars...
...see the swamp scenery and wildlife- as well as live peacocks at the onsite cafe- at Magnolia Plantation & Gardens...
...and rent a kayak (we went to Nature Adventures at Shem Creek) and row around the dock areas, open water, and back through the marshes. We even saw dolphins swimming right alongside us!
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