Myrtle Beach's Broadway at the Beach packages fun, but really isn't on the beach

On two previous visits to Myrtle Beach, I hadn't come upon Broadway at the Beach a mile or so from the beach. Broadway at the Beach is a sprawling entertainment center packed around a modest man-made lake. There are chain restaurants (Hard Rock Cafe, Joe's Crab Shack, Paula Deen's Family Kitchen), ice-cream and refreshment kiosks, rides on the water, a 16-screen movie complex and amusements for kids of all ages. A family could be entertained there for a while day.

Lee Ann and I actually drove past the complex on our last visit. We had a finite destination, and while we noticed the attraction along the side of the road, I don't think either of us realized how large it was, or its novelty.

On Sunday, we made a one-day trip to Myrtle Beach. Again, we had a finite objective -- to drop off Lee Ann's daughter at a resort where she was to meet another family member. Because this was not planned to be a real getaway, I didn't bring along my DSLR camera, so all of the photos in this post were taken with my iPhone X. But as we prepared to leave and return home, we decided to hang around for lunch there. We'd heard TV Southern cooking celebrity Paula Deen had a restaurant there, and having enjoyed our three visits to her The Lady and Sons eatery in Savannah, we decided to seek it out.

Our Maps app led us to Broadway at the Beach (which is a misnomer; it's not on a beach), and sure
enough, there was Paula Deen's Family Kitchen and store. This Paula Deen's is monstrous (see lead-off photo) in comparison to the better known restaurant in Savannah. It has two floors; the shop is on the bottom level, and the eatery on the upper.

The Savannah restaurant's big attraction is a buffet spread; at the Myrtle Beach eatery, for the same $18.99 per person, diners eat family style -- they get a choice of two of the entrees (we chose fried chicken and meatloaf) and four sides (we chose coleslaw, mac 'n' cheese, green beans and poppyseed salad (a salad with poppyseed dressing). A photo showing the complete spread appears immediately above.

Servers bring you small portions of everything at the start, but gladly bring you more when you run out. I'll say that our server was extremely attentive -- and didn't make us wait long to refill our chicken, salad, beans and coleslaw portions. I was disappointed when our server told us their eatery's bar doesn't make the Savannah Lemonade cocktail that Deen's original establishment makes. But when I gave him the recipe from a picture I took of the Savannah eatery's recipe, he offered gamely to ask the bartender to replicate it. He brought the beverage you see at the right. It wasn't nearly as good (it was kind of weak) as the one I remember in Savannah. He brought me a shot of vodka to kick it up a notch!

I don't mean to spend too much time on food; there are other photos to present here. But I can't leave Paula's without sharing a picture at left, one of the products on display for purchase in the store portion of the complex.

I'm not even going to even try and explain it ... and no, I didn't bother to ask any of the store employees about it. (OK, feeling guilty, I just went online to see what I could learn, and "Hoecake" is described as a "cornbread made minimalist." So there.

After dining, we decided to check out a little of the rest of Broadway at the Beach; we did not make it around the entire lake.

The first photo below is something ... well, let's just leave it at that. It's something. No, I didn't go inside. But I did check out the store's website, and I found it humorous that the business didn't bother to offer an "about" tab to explain itself like most business web pages. However, it did describe the store as having "novelty products and apparel" and said that the Stupid Factory is "where boys are made!" No elaboration. So your guess as good as mine as to what that's supposed to mean. The store's Facebook page also offers no text to explain it under its "About" tab, but there are ample pictures of products there, and I guess you could say the photos speak a thousand words! If you visit the Facebook link I provided above, you'll see what I mean.

A full gallery of images from this shoot can be found at the link in this sentence.

Elsewhere on the boardwalk, you'll find the popcorn vendor above, with a closeup of the bagged popcorn appearing below.

Having been to Key West, my interest in the Key West Grill was piqued when I saw it (above). Below is a closeup of the statuesque figure in the right of the above photo ... composed to include a slice of more boardwalk storefronts on the right.

I also did not go into Rooster's (above), but I did get close to grab an illustration of the novel idea for plant planters (below). 

Hard Rock Cafe has a key location on the corner of one of the pedestrian intersections (above). After stepping back from my vantage point above, I can include the fountain you see below.

Above: Another kiosk.

Water plays an important role in Broadway at the Beach's aesthetics, as illustrated in the photos above and next six below. I'll provide context in the photos below where I deem it appropriate or necessary.

I don't know for sure, but I'm presuming the large objects floating on the water above are a ride or amusement of some kind. But I didn't anyone in them while I was there. Below, I managed to catch the wake of a motor boat that I'm presuming was taking customers on a ride up and down the lake.

Above: Fish in the lake apparently are accustomed to feedings from visitors standing on the bridge three photos above. I was in awe of how many of the fish gather -- and the visual of all those gaping fish mouths. 

Above and next five below: Shots of the pedestrian mall, including a variation of the fountain (first below) shown previously.

Deck project begged for photo creativity

In the previous post, I alluded to how there would be pictures coming in this post exploiting leading lines and patterns.

That's true, but I also approached the content of this post as trying to be creative to illustrate the stages of construction on a deck built by Lee Ann's son-in-law and grandson last week. When we bought the house outside Raleigh a year ago, there was a deck there already. But it had not been well-maintained; it was in need of replacement because the flooring center point was soft and sagging, and the underside was caked in mold.

We tried to persuade the owners to take care of it because it deteriorated on their watch, but all they did was agree to have flashing installed around the floor base (there had been none, which is how water so easily compromised the underside).

We tore apart the deck within a few weeks after moving in, but the money we hoped to use to rebuild it ended up needing to go elsewhere, so we had this big hole behind the house that finally got to both of us this spring.

Matt, Lee Ann's son-in-law, worked in construction for some time and recently added a very nice deck on his own home in Fishers, Ind. If you are a regular visitor here, you might remember Matt from images I took of his wedding four years ago at Indiana Dunes. We talked him into coming to North Carolina and doing the deck -- with the help of Lee Ann's 20-year-old grandson Justin -- and knocked it out in just about a week, working long days in mostly hot weather. Matt even worked a full morning and early afternoon in a light rain during that span; he said he was glad to be able to work when it wasn't so hot and humid.

I spent the week documenting the build progress in pictures, many of which zeroed in on lines and patterns presented by the wood framework of the deck and stairs and from the pergola beams ... and of their shadows. One example is in the image leading off the post -- you get patterns, shadows and reflections (in the window), as well as the non-deck lines from the chairs and ladder and house siding panels.

Other examples appear below, but not all the images about lines and patterns. Some are simply attempts at creativity. They represent a mix of shots taken with my iPhone X and my Canon 6D equipped with a Canon 24-70mm f/2.0L lens.

(Above) On the day it rained lightly, Matt worked through it to enjoy the brief respite from heat and  humidity. I lingered in the house ... and came across this reflection composition.

The shots above and below were taken from a living room window looking out at the deck. The window is clouded with remnants of condensation (it needs to be sealed better), but I felt the image below -- taken from a much blurrier spot in the window than the one above -- offers a perspective you won't see many photographers show you. Maybe this photographer shouldn't have, either.

Above and next three below: Various perspectives of a patterns and shadows composition from the deck frame's underside. In the above photo, that's Matt (right) and Justin on the left tending to other matters of the deck.

Above and next two below: Variations of perspectives of the stairs framework.

An overhead of Matt (above) and a floor-level shot of him (below) sweeping debris off the deck at the end of a work a day.

Until the deck work started, we had an awning above the door leading from the deck to the house. When Matt and Justin went to take down the awning to make way for a pergola beam, they discovered a wasp's nest up the inside of the awning. Above, Justin bravely sprays the nest with Raid's hornet killer solution. 

(Above) Matt applyies a trim to a board. If you look close, you can see the sawdust flying off the saw.

Above: This shot wasn't set up. These were exactly how the wood screws appeared when I came across them on the paver, and I thought it was worth a patterns composition (of sorts). 

Variations of a similar pergola beams shot under shade conditions (above) and mostly sun (below).

Another stab at a lines, patterns and shadows composition (above), and a side view below, loaded with lines (wood, ladders and lower door facade).

Above: Matt relaxing at the end of his last day of work on the deck.

Morning sunlight play in the yard

A brief (somewhat, anyway) post to share pictures I took this morning of sunrise light playing with foliage, wood posts and window reflections around the house.

All of these were taken with my iPhone X about 10 minutes after sunrise. Because of the fleeting nature of dawning sunlight, I didn't want to risk losing time -- and missing the shots I was envisioning -- while scurrying to put together my 6D, a lens and a battery.

I lead off with the one in the batch that my eye keeps returning to. It was taken from the front doorstep of my home.

The photo above was taken at the same time the lead-off image was captured. I just moved slightly to see what I would get if the sun were blocked.

On the backyard deck, the sun was casting selective light on a pergola beam (above and next two below), which I capture from a couple of perspectives, starting with the reflection of a house window above. 

The closeups of spot lighting on tree foliage  (above and below) didn't turn out in pictures as dramatic as I remember seeing it. In the photo above, the light was glancing off the tips of the leaves at the bottoms of the branches in front. You can see the difference in color from the lighting in the foliage in the center in the image below, but the fact that I had to zoom in so close with the iPhone unfortunately cost me some sharpness.

Above: The tree heights juxtaposed with the backyard swing set gives you an idea just how tall those trees are.

Above and below are two views of the backyard crepe myrtle trees and colors up the foliage in summer. This is the same tree you see often coming between me and my photo subjects in my "View from the Office Window" series. The image below also gives you a slice of the backyard deck.

Above: An illustration of shaded morning light on a portion of the pergola beams. Technically, it also serves as an example of patterns and leading lines. In the next post, there will be more examples of those featuring the deck pergola and framework.