Community Pitch

The entrance to the maritime forest trail

I took a sidetrip over to Myrtle Beach State Park during a recent South Carolina vacation. It was a good choice as we were able to check out something I had never seen before in this state. There were two relatively shore trails through the park’s block of maritime forest. It was a nice dense forest, as you might expect to find in underdeveloped areas of this subtropical coastal zone. That sounds a bit weird, subtropics in South Carolina but the coast moderates the temperatures. You can actually find some tropical plants that make it all the way up to Virginia, as I saw first hand when I visited First Landing State Park.

Apparently there is much more forest like this further south of Myrtle Beach but not much remains along the highly developed Grand Strand coastline. The impressions I was left with, after walking through here and leaving the state park behind. Lots of catbrier (from the genus Smilax) and mosquitoes. The catbrier was not on the trails so it was not much a problem.

I can only imagine what these types of forests must have been like before these areas were developed. It would have been pretty darn uncomfortable to bushwack through these woods if you were trying to walk around near the coast. Mosquitoes biting you and the briars scratching away as you walked. Imagine living or exploring in the south before the days of DEET! I felt fortunate we were hiking in Myrtle Beach State Park and my car, with all its supplies, was parked right there.

Pizza. Italian sausage sandwiches. Kohr’s frozen desert. These are some of my favorite treats to eat at the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ. There are other boardwalks specialties too, some old and some new. Zeppoles are one of the former. Fried dough, with or without powdered sugar. A newer boardwalk food is deep fried oreos. Six of them for $5. The chocolate outside of the cookie turns fluffy, the icing melts into the outer biscuit and  the batter on the outside is cooked to a golden brown. It is delicious. A little over the top though as these must be enough calories for a single day for the average adult.

The calories to be ingested on the boardwalk can be real dangerous to anyone’s diet. Especially when you have the vacation mentality many of us bring to a place like Seaside Heights. That little diet voice inside your head starts saying things like “I am on vacation so I can enjoy myself a little bit.” This is true. Yet it doesn’t take much to really push your caloric intake into the stratosphere if you start sampling from the boardwalk menu.

I always have the best intentions to not eat to much of this boardwalk food whenever I am there. I think my willpower has gone out the window every time. Judging by the lines you can encounter at any of the food stands, I don’t think I am the only one that eats more than I originally intended.