Doggie Day Care in Myrtle Beach

On our trip to Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago we took our 11 week old puppy which turned out to be a problem when The Company put us in a hotel that did not allow pets. We could sneak him in over night easy enough but getting him out during the day was difficult as the temperature seemed to climb higher and higher each day we were there. We tried to board him but being so young he did not have his rabies shot and so was not even allowed to walk through the door at most kennels. Finally after much searching we found Canine Command Center. Only a few miles from the hotel off of highway 707 it was a great location and best of all they were willing to take him for doggie daycare considering he was too young to receive his rabies shot they logically did not make it a requirement. You would have thought someone at one of the many kennels and boarding facilities I talked to previously would have figured this out but the nice people at Canine Command Center were the only ones willing to work with us. We dropped our little pug puppy off with them everyday around 8:30 am and picked him up just before 6:00pm when they closed. He played and had a wonderful time. By the end of the first week he was running into the building to say "hi" to the staff, we could tell he really enjoyed his time in doggie daycare.
I had heard of doggie daycare programs before we placed our puppy in the one at the Canine Command Center but it always seemed like they were trying to reach out to people going to work or school all day who left their animals home alone. This never made much sense to me for multiple reasons but a big one is the cost as an everyday expense, when your animal could be happily lounging in his own home but in a situation like we were in doggie daycare turned out to be a Godsend. This experience opened up a whole new world of places to travel with our pet. I encourage anyone and everyone to look into doggie daycare when traveling with your pets. Many kennels offer some type of animal daycare program. If you are ever in the Myrtle Beach area checkout Canine Command Center, they have a great facility full of friendly people and lovable animals. Two thumbs up, way up.

one thing not to do in Myrtle Beach

Ok we just discovered one thing not to do in Myrtle Beach. Go to the Children's Museum. I do not know the situation that puts the Myrtle Beach Children's Museum in a strip mall next to Office Depot but I do know that the items they have inside are not worth paying the $7 per person charge to get in to see them. We come form a big city, New Orleans with a really great children's museum which is one of the few children's museums I have ever been to and definitely the only one I have been to repeatedly so I fully admit that I am not an expert on museums for the kiddies but I do know one thing very well. We pay $7.00 to see three floors of play area in New Orleans with a separate toddler room and here in Myrtle Beach we paid the same price for three rooms, no separated toddler area, old equipment and a bunch of sandboxes which although enjoyed by kids are a breading ground for germs especially when you have a bunch of kids playing in the same sand all day.

Now lets move on to the good stuff. Although I do not recommend spending your hard earned dollars at the Myrtle Beach Children's Museum just yet I do want to tell you to keep your eye on them. The Museum has a new facility in development and from the sketches I saw it looks like the new place will definitely be something you will want to check out. Before you go check out their website here.

I hate to tell people not to visit local museums but on this one I would wait for the new facility to be built and if you live in Myrtle Beach then by all means get out there and donate funds or time or whatever you have available to make your local children's museum all it can be.

Stayin' at the Hampton Inn

So we have been staying at the Hampton Inn on 75th Avenue here in Myrtle Beach. It is a nice location. We are just two blocks from the beach, great walking distance. I like being off the beach when staying in a town like Myrtle Beach, there is too much crazy tourist foot traffic when you are right on the beach. On top of that when you are on the beach the extra sand that gets into your things is hard to manage sometimes. Also, we are a couple miles out of the really touristy area which I also like. We are close enough to have anything we might need but not so close that we are over run by crazies. My might notice I think of your run of the mill do everything brochure tells me tourist as a "crazy tourist" by crazy I mean they do everything they do at home (yell at the traffic, shop at the mall) but because they are in a new location they expect a different outcome. This is more like insane but I like the way the word crazy rolls trippingly off the tongue.

Little Parks - Myrtle Beach

When traveling with a family especially with a really little one, like, say...a 19 month old little boy it can be hard to find things to do that do not cost an arm and a leg. Sure you could spend a bunch of money taking him to an amusement park (Hard Rock Park) or fancy dinner theater (Medieval Times) but if they are not old enough to really enjoy those things then do not waste your money. When in a new place I want to get the most out of my money and my time while really getting to know the area I am visiting. I get the feeling that people think this type of traveling goes by the wayside when you have children but that is simply not true. One of the best places I have found to meet local people is in a neighborhood park these can usually be found on the local government's website such as this one for the City of Myrtle Beach's recreation department. So, far we have visited two local parks and these I found from just driving around, no website needed.
The first park we visited is at the Oceanfront and 54th Avenue. This park is known as the Myrtle Beach Woman's Club Gardens By The Sea and was built by the local Woman's Club. It is a great little park with a playground and landscaped walkways including a boardwalk to the beach. Baby, Puppy and myself enjoyed this park I think the baby enjoyed walking back and forth over the boardwalk to the sandy beach most of all then digging in the sand with some of the shells he found. Since it was after 5pm we took the puppy too. Animals are not allowed on the beach between 9am and 5 pm May through September. I also got the opportunity to talk to a local mom for some recommendations on what to do in town.
We also visited Chapin Park on Highway 17 business at 16th Avenue North. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed when streets do not have names but only numbers however it is actually pretty easy to get around here since the numbers actually work the way they are supposed too and by that I mean go up as you drive out of the city center. This park has a large playground area surrounded by a World Wall for Peace and lots of shade. Along two sides of the park there are front porch style swings hanging in the shade which is where I spent most of my time while the baby and the puppy ran around. While here we talked to a couple guys that looked like they spent a lot of time in the park. They were very friendly and reminded me a lot of New Orleans.
Pic 1 - Children's Walk at Myrtle Beach Woman's Club Gardens By The Sea.
Pic 2 - Peace Wall at Chapin Park.

Myrtle Beach

We arrived in Myrtle Beach last night and checked into our hotel. A Hampton Inn on business 17 not US 17 or 17 bypass but business. Having all these 17's in such close proximity does not help the visitor get around and you would think that would be a priority here considering everything is so spread out. It's like Florida here and that is no surprise since the word on the street or more accurately the word with the people who actually live here is with the housing market the way it is and with Florida at the low end of the slump that Myrtle Beach has become the new Florida. We here people who move to Florida (snow birds) and them move up to Myrtle Beach are called Half Backs. As in they went from Ohio (or somewhere else in the North) to Florida and then they have come half way back up to South Carolina. From the look of things I believe it although we have only explored a few areas so far I see people I recognise all over the place. Really old people who wait till they are up to the register at Walgreens to find their pen which has become wedged at the bottom of their purse so they can write out a check for their Ben Gay and Depends and the floral print shirt wearing camera toting tourist families each child being equally ignored by their parents and forced to walk faster. I do not know these people personally of course but being born and raised in Florida means I know the type. Scott is working in town so he was off early today so the little one and I were off to entertain the puppy and ourselves. In looking for something to do with the puppy we visited the local Petsmart and had him bathed. While he was happily occupied we went in search of a local kennel. We found one not too far from the hotel that will take care of him from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm M - F so that will be perfect. He is going to start going on Wednesday and probably everyday they are open till we leave on the 7th it will just make things so much easier. After we picked him up from the groomer we grabbed some lunch at Mickey D's and headed back to the hotel for nap time.
As you can see we have not had much of an opportunity to tour the area quite yet but with all the driving around we did today so far we are learning our way around. We will be able to do more exploring after nap time then a lot more after the puppy starts daycare on Wed.
I found this photo on Flickr since I have not been able to take many photos yet either. It was taken by alan2onion.