We took Little Red down to Myrtle Beach State Park last week and it turned out to be an awesome campground! I wasn't really expecting much but hubby had faith. 😃 We had not seen this one in many years and I have to admit as younger tent campers our expectations were very different. Also we were camping with kids back then and activities for them ranked high on our list.
We arrived after dark in the wet and cold so set up was a little challenging but hubby did an amazing job. I stood outside with a flashlight beamed on the tree that lived very close to the hookups and he was able to line up perfectly. 😅Unfortunately this site was not level and we have not purchased anything to put under the tires to level up so we were leaning a bit but it wasn't bad. We had a full hookup along with picnic table and fire ring. We found all of the sites to be fairly good size and clean. We were on number 29 and it was roomy with grass and we could have set up a tent with no problem. Also there were a good many campers in that particular area of the campground which was nice. We weren't sure if many would be there for cold weather camping.
This was our set up and even though it was too cold to spend a whole lot of time outside, we still enjoyed it. This campground has a boardwalk that runs from the entrance of the campground all the way to the beach. It's awesome and makes the walk such a pleasure. It is also really good for dogs - helps get their little paws all free of sand by the time you get back to your camper. Lucy really enjoyed the beach and visiting with other dogs and walking the board walk. I am sure this state park is very popular during the summer.
Another really neat thing here is that they provide horse rides on the beach for a fee. They bring them in each day and it looks amazing. We didn't try it but we so enjoyed watching them glide across the sand...it was magical. Of course Lucy thought they were big dogs and she was none too impressed.
We went Christmas shopping a couple of days on this trip and found some great deals and loved the decorations. At Bass Pro Shop Santa was visiting and they invited us to bring Lucy in for a picture. She loved walking through the store and sniffing things and talking to people. Of course she got lots of attention too. This is she and Greg waiting in line with a reindeer in the background. We always visit this location when we are at the beach. We also checked out Red Robin for lunch and it was delicious. I know lots of people say it's over rated but we truly enjoyed it. Lucy loved the burger bite we took back to the car for her. It was very cold that day so she was fine waiting for us there and she was wearing her jacket. 😁
The campground was very clean and updated with wireless throughout the park. It was a little weak in some areas but worked well on our phones to save us a little data. The full hook-up worked really well and we didn't make many trips to the bath houses. However they were very clean and looked like they had recently been updated. The shower stalls were large and included a place to hang towels and clothes. Greg took a couple of showers there and said the water was nice and hot.
There is also a legendary pier in the park and it is pictured on the left side bar as well as on the state park
web site. There are trails to walk and both the pier and the registration area have stores that include all sorts of t-shirts, mugs and other goodies as well as necessary staples and camping supplies.
Our son gave us a Star Shower for us to take with us to decorate our campsite. We so love it. We had seen these at Halloween when we camped at Devil's Fork and during the summer at Hunting Island. For this trip we used the red and green lights and it was very festive. I wish we had been able to get it to show up on camera. You can find them on
Amazon and at
Target as well as lots of other places. It looks like you put up hundreds of little lights and it only takes a minute. We have them set up here at home too. The campground was festive as lots of other campers had decorations and lights.
So on our list of campgrounds this one goes up at the top end of the list. It was so much better than we expected and had very little damage from Hurricane Matthew. The rates, location, campsites as well as dog friendly park along with the beach made it a perfect fit for us. The camp customer service representative even called us on our way down to be sure we had the gate code to get in since we were running late. We give it a big ole five!!! While we were in the area we visited Huntington Beach State Park. This was another great surprise and we really loved it. We will definitely try and camp there next year.
Cost: $ (Snowbird rates are excellent!)
Location: 5 out of a possible 5 - this is one of our favorites!
Service: Excellent
Overall Rating: 5+ out of a possible 5 Campers
Update on our Retro - we are still loving it and enjoying spending time in it on every trip. The heat worked well in the cold weather on this trip and with full hook ups it was great. We love being able to stock the fridge when we pack and not have to worry about moving the food when we get to our destination. Hubby says the camper is very easy to pull and he can barely tell it's back there when driving. We still get lots of comments and horn honks every where we go. A guy actually stopped us in traffic on this trip to talk about it. Of course we love talking about our Little Red Retro!!!
Another note on Hunting Island - we heard on this trip that it more than likely won't reopen until 2018. This makes us very sad and we are hoping that things will move along a little faster. We will keep you updated on anything that we hear.
Greg works a lot of hours and getting away to a place where we can actually relax is so important. We talked to our neighbors and they visit this campground for two weeks twice a year. They also had a sweet dog that Lucy made friends with. She loves the screened room with a breeze where she can dog watch. 
