I love this place 12/4/11

• I layed out on December 4!  I only lasted an hour before the clouds rolled in thick and no more sun, but still.  Compared to the 40 degree and rainy weather at home, I'll take being able to lay out for an hour any day.  Amazing.
• Went to the Murrell's Inlet Christmas parade this afternoon.  Best.  Parade.  Ever.  Even though there was one school band butchering Christmas tunes and lots of Santa hats and reindeer antlers and candy canes being tossed to the crowd, there was also:

1. bars all along the parade route with tables set up next to the street where the parade watchers could buy cocktails and chili and slices of wood-fired pizza.
2.  people in shorts and flip flops as well as jackets and jeans.  I don't remember feeling comfortable in just jeans and a sweater at a Christmas parade EVER.  Loved it.
3. dogs everywhere, in and out of the parade, including a Black-mouthed Cur puppy named Luke that became my good buddy and rested his paws on my shoulders when he stood up, and the fattest bulldog I've ever seen being wheeled around in a Red Flyer wagon cushioned with blankets.
4. people walking around with huggers of beer chatting, kids throwing a football around, and smokers everywhere not afraid to light up.  My kind of crowd.
5. radio station vans blasting out good music, not just Christmas music.
6. beach-themed floats and lots of boats and classic cars.
7. the world's largest bicycle, from a Shrine in Conway, that held 11 riders, and they didn't fall down.
8. and the coolest entry of all, a humongous Cat dump truck showcasing Bubba's Love Shak, complete with Bubba (I assume) on mike doing his own rap to "Love Shack" playing on the loud speaker, with dancers in the truck and grooving behind.