South Carolina, you were good to us, as good as you have ever been. When we needed sun and warmth, you delivered. When we needed quiet time to study the GRE, edit my book, and read other books, the sound of silence was all we heard. When we asked for miles of hard-packed sand on the beaches and miles of sidewalks in the neighborhoods, you laid out the red carpet.
For all this and more, we thank you South Carolina, and especially you, Myrtle Beach. Some people may put you down, saying the only thing you offer is miniature golf, buffet restaurants, outlet malls, and crowded pools and beaches. What they don’t know is that few people leave their cold confines in the more northerly states to visit you in the winter, when the only habitants there are the permanent Snowbirds who too have discovered your secrets. The coastline is downright desolate, roads are no longer clogged with minivans or SUVs, and there is no need to partake in tourist activities, if they are even open that far past Labor Day.
I admit I was wrong about you. While I still have no desire to visit you in the summer, when everyone else is willing to bake in your humid oven or prune in a pool to accommodate the heat, I’ll be found elsewhere. But, I have no qualms about joining the real retired people during the winter months in a Southern state like South Carolina, where I’m not bound by the weather and can still run in shorts in the middle of January.
So long, South Carolina. Thank you for your accommodations; they allowed for some major work on our to-do list. We’re on to your sister states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi, to see what they too have to offer for winter living, and to run a lot of miles.