NFL Football, Caching & Not Much Else 10/19-23/2008

Well it has been awhile since I did the blog so here goes. Sunday was of course NFL football day as I set the lineups for my fantasy teams in the morning and then watched the games in the afternoon. Mom went to Wal-Mart for some groceries and other than that there wasn't a lot going on.
Monday was another day of not much going on as we stayed around the house and cleaned, worked on our crafts and watched TV.
Tuesday we went caching in and around Myrtle Beach. Our first cache was at a Kangaroo gas station in a bush, second was in the woods near the future site of a new church, third was in a new housing development on a dirt road back of the houses in the woods (take a look at the pictures of the small lake we found as we were turning around at the end of the road), fourth was in Myrtle Beach at the former site of Chapin's Department Store in a bush along the road. Chapins was an interesting art deco department store that opened in 1928 and was noted for extending credit to local customers during the Great Depression and other hard times. The department store was owned by the Burroughs and Chapin Company, which owns numerous properties around Myrtle Beach today. Among other businesses occupying spaces in the building was Delta Drug Company, which sold a series of Myrtle Beach postcards by the famous photographer Bayard Wootten. Chapins finally closed its doors in 1992. Fifth cache was at a Baptist church behind a fence, sixth was at the former site of Myrtle Beach Skateland which was open from the 1950s until the 1980s. It was a popular location that featured good clean fun for area children and teenagers. Events that were scheduled every night were couples dances (on skates), the Hokey Pokey, skating clockwise, among other things. This rink closed in the mid-1980s and was re-opened by a country bar. Seventh cache was along Grand Dunes Blvd behind a large electric box and out eighth and final cache was behind NASCAR Park way up on top of a ridge in the woods under a huge grass pampas. After we finished caching we stopped at Sonic for lunch and drove back to the house and Mom did our logs and I watched TV which was the extent of the day.
Wednesday was another hang around and piddle around the house day working on crafts, cleaning and watching TV.
Thursday we went caching again in and around Myrtle Beach. Our first cache was close to home and was a multi cache where the final stage was hidden in a beach access, second was a puzzle cache hidden in the woods off of 76th Ave, third was a light post cache in a small shopping center out past, now defunct, Hard Rock Park, fourth was a cache in a tree at a busy intersection also near Hard Rock Park, fifth was in a tree adjacent to Hard Rock Park, sixth was in a palm tree at the Visitor's Center put up to accommodate Hard Rock Park, seventh cache was down on the old Air Force Base, which has now been turned into Market Commons an upscale shopping and condo development, and the cache was back in the woods in a very unique container (see picture), eighth was acache outside a Starbucks Coffee Shop, ninth was a cache in the parking garage for Market Commons, tenth was a puzzle cache, which had to do with cereals that are no longer made and that cache was in a sign post on a dead end road, eleventh was a cache under a bush at the former location of Haunted Harbor. "Haunted Harbor" a.k.a. Pirateland. This park is commonly referred by locals as "Haunted Harbor" here's a brief history why. The park originated as a pirate/swashbuckler theme park. It had pirates with sword fights in the streets,
carriages, a steam locomotive ride, and many other rides and attractions. This was back in the early-mid 1960s. There were several deaths at the amusement park when one of the rides overturned and it closed soon after that because of bad publicity. Another business group bought the park and turned it into a more traditional type of
amusement area with classic rides. This too turned to tragedy as a worker at the park, broke into the park managers office shooting him with a gun while robbing that day's money take. Again, the park changed hands and the company that owned "Blackpool Pleasure Beach"bought into the park. A lot of money was spent turning the
old grounds into a Great, New European Themed British Amusement Park. One of the biggest Ferris Wheel's in the world was added as well as a Log-Flume, Teacups, a steel Roller-Coaster called the "Black Witch" while all new buildings and midways were created. It was truly a beautiful place as it was located above a lake with a
campground (still in use) on the other side of the lake. The grounds were thickly wooded and the grounds had several man-made lakes centered around a games area. A Sky-Ride carried park patrons to and from an island located on the lake. Once again, a dark cloud appeared as a young women stood-up on the "Black Witch" coaster and
was nearly decapitated, she died. The park had struggled to make it and this only caused more people to refrain from visiting. Blackpool wanted to pull out and again, the park grounds and buildings were put up for sale, the rides removed and sold off. The grounds began to take on a sinister look for several years. Senior Citizens from the local RV park used several walkways in the park to exercise while the water slides in the parking lot were operated by a local person as a separate attraction. But the grounds looked just like a Haunted Town. In the mid 1990's, a Carnival Ride Company took lease of the park grounds. They put in several portable rides like a Sky Diver, Sooper Loop, Himalaya while the buildings and grounds were spruced up and given a new coat of paint. The former Pretzel ride building was converted into an
Arcade though. The "New" park opened to great fanfare and fireworks on Memorial Day Weekend, but without Major Theme Park type rides, attendance soon went downhill. After two months, several rides were taken away to go to a large State Fair up North, by the end of the season, all the rides were gone, the lights turned out for the last time. The city, realizing that the buildings were a fire hazard, bulldozed everything the following year. "Family Kingdom", in Myrtle Beach now has the top of the famous Lighthouse Steeple that used to grace the parks parking lot. The grounds still remain vacant, awaiting a new beginning or another use possibility? Or yet
another tragedy? It's no wonder while locals refer to the park as "Haunted Harbor". Our last cache for the day was at the Welcome to Myrtle Beach sign on the south end of the beach and was under the I-Beam that holds the sign up. Then it was off back to the house and we had lunch and again Mom did our logs and I worked on my cross stitch and watched TV.
We have been taking 2-3 walks on the beach a day with Muffy and Raggs and really aren't bored at all as we are working on some new caches that we are going to put out in conjunction with another cacher here in Myrtle Beach and are staying quite busy. Well time to say until next time and we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad


Picture List: 1,2-Small lake at the end of a dead end road where we found our "Blue Lagoon" cache, 3,4-"Geronimo" cache and the cache container, 5-Old water tower, 6,7,8,9-The roller coaster at the now defunct Hard Rock Park.