More from National Lampoon's Carolina Vacation:

Monday September 23 Spent the morning by the pool. We spent more time by the pool than the beach, odd enough for vacationers to Myrtle Beach. We were regaled by what would be the constant repetition of a collection of Beach Boys hits. Honestly, we heard the same set of songs every time we went to the pool until, say, Thursday.

In the afternoon we took a drive up to North Myrtle Beach to check email and for me to rectify failing to update free agents for the fantasy football league I run (sorry about that). During this drive I had another comparison to make: Myrtle Beach is a lot like Branson. Or at least what I think Branson is like. There are many, many, theaters in the Myrtle Beach area. Country supergroup Alabama has one. Crook and Chase, hosts of a TNN talk show when TNN was still hick, have one (which was about 200 yards from our timeshare). There's one for Spirit of the Dance, the non-royal version of Lord of the Dance. There's also the Legends theater, showcasing the best in look-alike musical talent the area had to offer.

Apparently, the theaters and shows are a knowing attempt at family-friendliness, though I can't see how taking a family of four to see an ersatz Marilyn Monroe purr "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" would be preferable to lower cost admission to a water park (or the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a Braves affiliate).

Found a computer for use, but not until learning the library in Myrtle Beach (not listed on the maps that did list the North Myrtle library) offered access without need of a library card. At least we got to see some of the area, and enjoyed the use of North Myrtle's super-clean post office. Honestly, it's like they just took it out of the box.

Having blown the afternoon, Sarah was particularly interested in doing something that night. So we hopped in the car and drove over to Broadway at the Beach, a large entertainment and shopping venue. We took the opportunity to play some mini golf- there are almost as many mini golf courses in Myrtle Beach as real ones- and for the first time in my life I shot par. Woo!

After a quick dinner we ambled over to the Imax theater to see the movie on the International Space Station. Pretty good, though the new Imax at Jordan's Furniture in Natick is showing it in 3-D. That would be cool.

Ended the evening doing some window shopping (and actual shopping for postcards) and got some ice cream. It's actually a nice night out if you don't get sucked in to doing any real shopping.

Tuesday September 24 You know how, when you're on a trip with a group of people, you get to that day where folks get on each other's nerves? This was that day for us.

Morning was fine, more pool sitting. Sarah wanted to tour Atalaya, the ruins of a mansion at Huntington Beach State Park. We'd been there with Kay the timeshare lady, who managed to comingle the story of the Huntingtons, artist-recluse types, with the legend of the Grey Man. The park also boasts an incredible beach which, at both times we were there, was lightly populated.

Sarah was in her "let's go!" mode, which contrasted with her dad's "I don't want to go" mode. Much carping later we were off. We also had to stop at the post office again, as I had one too many cards as I did stamps. Sarah and I managed to get on each other's nerves about the location of the post office. She kept asking its location, while I kept intoning that I knew where it was, and that our high-quality tourist board maps weren't exactly to scale. It was a lovely drive.

Got to the post office, and discovered that their main machine only sold books, not single stamps. I also learned that once you put money into that machine, you can only get money back as change after a purchase. Having wasted one quarter there, I finally located the single stamp machine- which only sold 37 cent and 3 cent stamps. Thus, my aunt got a postcard franked with eight 3 cent stamps (given how I had to cram the stamps on, she may not have gotten it).

We get to the park right around 2 (when the tour for Atalaya was starting), and discover that the entry isn't $4 per car but $4 each. We try to explain our mishap to the guy at the gate, who seems befuddled to think that we've only got $4. His dogged pursuit of the extra $4 suggests that he was the offspring of Forrest Gump and one of the hard-core usher grandmothers from Wrigley Field. We finally convinced him that we were meeting a car of people who'd just entered and would return with $4 before leaving.

Only problem was that that car wasn't at the park. We dithered about what to do, and eventually went to the visitor's center for the tour. They told us it was starting from the house. More dithering about waiting for the other car, and eventually we went to find the tour. We followed voices, only to come across guys setting up for a wedding.

We then went back to our car, and a couple minutes later the other car came in. They had their own squabble as to where exactly we were going, so both rides over were fun.

We all then went back to the house and looked around, and in the process actually caught up with the tour. The house, if you've not perused the park's website, it a Spanish/Moorish design that Archer Huntington created from memory. It kind of shows, as the house looks more like an asylum than a mansion. There are no pictures of the interior from its heyday (the Huntingtons being, as I mentioned, reclusive), so it was hard to imagine how the place would have looked inhabited.

After the tour we walked the beach, then took a marsh walk on a wooden path built over the marsh. Watched some people net fish, which was kind of cool. We even saw a gator on the way in, just poking its head over the water line.

I would highly recommend a day at the park if you're ever in the neighborhood.

We were heading for Charleston the next day, so we didn't do anything that night. Not that I remember, at any rate.