Party Animals in Myrtle Beach
At the end of March I made my way to Myrtle Beach for my first Banana Ball series of the weekend! Myrtle Beach, or rather Conway, SC was the home of the games for this trip. One of the big selling points for choosing this game was that the airport in New Haven has direct flights on Avelo airlines to Myrtle Beach. My facebook page has been showing me some Avelo horror stories and the flight before mine the last time I used them was enough to put me off from them for a while, but everything went well – minus my walker alarming the check and me having to go through extra screening because of it only for them to decide the machine was faulty and the fact that the staff missed the memo that I was supposed to pre-board. Fortunately most of the passengers realized I should have been ahead of them and let me go out before them so it all worked out. I had an adorable 2yr old next to me sitting on his Mom’s lap who was up to no good and kept opening their tray table, and then tried to be sneaky and open mine. I started a book and got almost half way through it before deciding to take a little snooze – waking up startled because I felt something on my lap. It was the child’s head. He wanted to nap too!
Upon arrival, my friends were still on their way so I ended up taking a detour to Potter Barn to kill some time. (A friend works there) I then got pre-dinner bojangles since I hadn’t eaten all day and after getting settled into the Air BnB we had for the weekend, we ended up going to River City Cafe in Seaside for dinner. The ‘onion rings’ I ordered with dinner ended up being just 2 MASSIVE onion rings – and I ended up trying to eat most of one and wearing the other as a bracelet.
Saturday morning we went to brunch and drove around a bit and saw downtown Myrtle and Broadway on the beach. We then got ready for the game complete with ‘Let’s Party’ headgear and lots of glitter. Unfortunately between gathering a large group to leave on time, dealing with figuring out where the parking lots were and then needing to take a TROLLEY to the entrance and then walk FOREVER to enter the plaza, we ended up catching just the tail end of BBB. I still managed to chat with a handful of Party Animals and Coconuts, but not nearly as many as I can usually manage. Afterwards, rather than have me go back out into the hectic plaza, staffers took me through the Party Animals dugout, in their back lounge area, managed to get us in the background of a video Pharty was shooting and then to the elevator to make it easier for us to get to our seats.
For the game we were 6 rows behind home plate and it was FREEZING. I had fortunately though to double check the weather before I left to see that it was going to be the 60s or lower over the weekend (yet was a beautiful 77 when I arrived on Friday!) and decided to throw some jeans in my suitcase. Vava had on a huge pink fur coat we were definitely jealous of.
I had bought some new ‘travel glasses’ because I had trouble seeing the scoreboard last season. I was pleased that I could see it MUCH better with the new glasses. But sometime after the 3rd inning I ended up taking them off and saying “I’ve seen enough.” The Party Animals were up 1-0 after 2, but then the Coconuts scored 5 in the 3rd. Of course with Banana Ball rules that only tied the game at 1-1, but the game was taking so long we weren’t sure we were going to end up seeing the 9th. In the 6th the Coconuts ended up scoring again and then also winning the Equalizer point as the away team so it was 3-1 going into the ninth and stayed that way as the final.
After the game we were going to just head out, but ended up seeing Baber, Hampton and Skole in the plaza area and a few others walking by that we didn’t have a chance to chat with. Jake said he liked my PA jacket and asked us if it was cold in the stands! Oh boy was it!! Also of note we had no fan outs and no homeruns.
Sunday we had a day game – and no BBB – we ended up getting there after the plaza had went in to the seats, which kind of worked out because we had 0 lines for merch and I might have gone a little bit crazy. Pins, Friendship bracelets, stickers! And more! Since these are ‘pre-season’ games, they flip flopped who was home and away. Coconuts took the lead first, Party Animals quickly tied it up and things were tied going into the 9th. Party Animals got the Equalizer point making it 3-2 so all they had to do was make sure the Coconuts didn’t score – but Ashby Vining had a WALK OFF and the Coconuts took their first ever sweep! (I guess even though it was a bummer, it’s nice to see history and I really do adore both teams.)
After the game half of the group left to head home while the other half (including me) hung out at the plaza party to try and meet some more players since I had missed so many the day before. The only one I am bummed I missed out on was Ashton, I was heading her way but she no longer had a line and went inside. The stage had already been packed up and that usually is when they start to leave if they don’t have a line waiting. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to see her before she leaves for the WPBL!
Unfortunately, the ADA Trolley was only running for ONE HOUR after the game which we were not informed of and so when we went to ask where it was… we were told it was done. My friends ended up walking to the parking lot that was almost a MILE away from where I was. It was unfortunate that the closer lot was the $100 to park lot and that the university chose to prioritize making money over accessibility.
After dropping me back off at the Air BnB everyone else left to head back home, but I could only get a flight out on Monday at 4pm. Air BnB checkout was 10am so I was prepared to spend most of the day at the airport – waiting to check my bag because Avelo only lets you check it 2 hours in advance.
I ended up falling asleep shortly after 9pm, completely wiped out from the weekend and I guess a bit nervous that I was going to oversleep my alarms – I woke up and my phone said it was 11:59 and I started freaking out that I had slept through check out and needed to get up and out NOW. I sat up in a panic and started taking a mental inventory of what all I still had to pack up (not much, I made sure to get the majority done before I got in bed) and then I noticed that outside the sliding door was… DARK. It was 11:59pm. Midnight. Not Noon. I had only napped and could go back to bed for a good 8 more hours.
I ended up out of the Air BnB at 9:50am, sat outside for a bit and did a “wait & save” lyft – I had all the time in the world but lyft kept trying to find me faster/closer drivers anyway. While waiting at the airport I finished a book and started another, people watched a LOT… and then a little before 2 hours before the flight the counter was being manned and I was able to get things checked and settled and through TSA. (No wait at all on either end of this trip, and it sounds like payment is starting up again for the TSA agents, thankfully.) As soon as I got to my gate there was a flight deplaning and a poor little boy wasn’t able to handle the bumpy ride in and was throwing up. We had 7 wheelchairs board the flight and 1 person (guess who?) waiting when the flight landed. Things went really smoothly and my mom and brother were waiting to pick me up!
It was a very very fun and very very exhausting weekend and I’ll be doing it again soon for Loco Beach Coconuts first headlining weekend vs Indianapolis Clowns!