So the EG put me up at Camelot by the Sea, which bills itself as "Myrtle Beach's only theme resort." I asked Slusher if he chose it for the kitsch value, but he said it was because they didn't require a two-night stay.

Anyway, the only thematic elements visible were a suit of armor stuck behind some plants, along with a tapestry and a mural in the small lobby, some Ren Faire shirts on the check-in crew, and a sign in the garage saying that parking rules were "by order of the King." I felt a little short-changed, or short-cheesed.

But I was given a 17th-floor room, from which I enjoyed a moonlit view last night and shot this today before taking an extremely nice walk on the beach. There were kids in the cold water at 8 AM and a few more people around than I expected, but the whole town had that sleepy off-season vibe, which I liked very much.

We talked at the conference about creating communities and discovering new ones and I confessed that I was a member of the community of middle-aged people who bore others with reminiscences of boyhood trips to Myrtle Beach when the Patricia was a weatherbeaten old building instead of a highrise and the town was not yet Branson-by-the-Sea (a previous flare-up of the syndrome here).

Comments

[Joan]

Thank you for joining us and making it a great day!