Ah vacation! When we last left off I was telling you about our fun trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to visit Greg’s parents. I believe I also had an ice cream cone dripping down my arm. Ahem.
So yes it was hot hot hot but we still found plenty to do! When we weren’t have a grand ol’ time hanging out with Greg’s folks, we were on the hunt to stay cool in the 116 degree humidity. Yes, I said 116. Can you tell I was obsessed with the heat?? I can’t stop talking about it.
day and night pool
Golf is a HUGE part of Myrtle Beach culture and miniature golf courses are all over the place—which makes me very happy because we love to play! In the middle of our game was a huge rain and thunderstorm. We kind of loved it (although we got soaking wet, it really cooled us off!). This is from before the rain hit:
And finally
We tried to stay outdoors whenever possible but the heat simply made this tricky. One of our first days in Myrtle Beach we went to Broadway on the Beach (an outdoor mall/family center) where we stumbled upon a blessedly air-conditioned place called MagiQuest. What is MagiQuest, you ask? Friends, it’s THE BOMB. MagiQuest is bascially an indoor, wizard-themed scavenger hunt. It’s geeky and cool and really, REALLY fun. Wolfie, our little Gryffindor, was so smitten with this thing, lemme tell you!
The entire place is built like a castle—there is the castle library, there is the dungeon, there is an area where the knights train, even a village where pixies live,  etc etc. Each child (or adult) gets a wand and then chooses a special “Magi” name (Wolfie’s was THUNDERWOLF). Throughout the place are hidden motion sensitive items. You wave your wand to open treasure chests, make paintings speak, collect items and reveal clues on various “quests”.  In between challenges you go back to these “home base” screens, wave your wand and a different character speaks to you to let you know where you need to go next and encourage you (the second-rate actors who perform the little videos killed me….but Wolfie ate it up!).
It starts out easy, but gets progressively harder and dangit if Greg and I didn’t start to get into the whole thing too. Here is young Thunderwolf waving his wand to collect his clues and then checking in at the home base.
When you complete a challenge you get to go to various special areas (like to the Duel Master or the Princess) to receive bonus “magic” on your wand. Here is Wolfie visiting the Pixie Queen after he has completed his challenges. The crystal next to her glow green when you are ready to “talk” to her….they are red if you still need to find certain items.
Eventually you work your way up to battling goblins and dragons. Some parts made our young Magi a tad nervous….but mostly he was SO into it. The whole adventure is timed. You get 60 minutes to do as much as you can (and of course there is no way to finish it all in 60 minutes…you can “add” more minutes on etc) so there is a fun sense of urgency as you race around finding clues. At one point I remember hollering, “Quick Wolfie! To the unicorn!!” Words I never imagined uttering to my child!
We don’t have one in California, but it was really fun and I know Wolfie will want to return for sure. The wand “remembers” all your information (you will notice that he is not wearing the same outfit in all the photos because we went back TWO more times!).
After a rousing round with The Ancient Book of Wisdom, we wandered outside. And sweat. The expression on everyone’s face there was exactly like Wolfie’s…..kind of this squinched up pained look as sweat poured rolled down your temples and back. Blech.
They have a great outdoor fountain for kids to play in and after CARRRREFULLY wrapping his wand in his t-shirt and tucking it in my bag (with strict instructions NOT to let it get wet) my little Thunderwolf cooled off happily!
Our trip to Myrtle Beach was SO fun! Wolfie misses his Granny and Poo Paw (the name he gave Grandpa George at age 3….hah!) and we can’t wait to see them again! After lots of hugs, we packed our bags and were ready to hit the road. Next stop on Grandparents Tour 2011? MICHIGAN!