Spring Break, Part IX: The Beginning of the End

Divine Fish House
3993 Hwy 17 Buisness
Murell's Inlet, SC 29576
(843) 651-5800
www.divinefishhouse.com

AFTER AN EVENING of way too much wine, several of my brother's friends, and an ill-fated pink flamingo pinata stuffed with two-year old Halloween candy and small rubber fishes, I manged to roll myself out of bed and pack up two weeks worth of clothes and birthday gifts. I arrived with a suitcase and I'm leaving with two.

I was clueless until yesterday that South Carolina was going to part of this multi-state swing, but it turns out Myrtle Beach is closer to Wilmington in the state next door than Raleigh. Plus, it was cheaper flight. Which bring this "Spring Break" state tour-total to eight (special prize if you guess 'em all correctly.)

We didn't spent too much time in Myrtle Beach, but we did arrive with our sights set on dinner. Slightly terrified of the giant crab statues and pirate ships that scream "CALABASH SEAFOOD" at you from every single building alongside Rt. 17, we flipped through a dining guide and selected the Divine Fish House a few miles away in Murell's Inlet.

It was dark outside when we arrived, which meant no gazing out over the water from a window seat. We ordered fried green tomatoes to start. They were surprisingly good, stuffed with goat cheese and a spicy red pepper sauce. For dinner, I had grouper baked on banana leaves with thin, crunchy potatoes and doused in, unfortunately, the exact same red pepper sauce.

If giant statues had first scared us away from the main drag in Myrtle Beach, it was giant statues that sucked us back into it, not for food but for the godfather of all sports--mini golf! We wisely chose a dinosaur-themed venue and it's "difficult" Ice Age course. While it took my mother some fifteen strokes to get through the first hole, it should be mentioned she did score the only hole-in-one on the evening. And, yes, there was a roaring Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I think my mom and my brother still owe me $5

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Honestly, which do you think sounds better: baked fish or giant dinosaurs? I agree.