The MarshWalk Beats the Boardwalk

Myrtle Beach has a boardwalk that faces the ocean and gets all the postcards. The Murrells Inlet MarshWalk, fifteen minutes south on US-17, faces the marsh and gets all the locals.

Half-mile boardwalk along the salt marsh edge, restaurants with back decks hovering over the creek. Come at five when the shrimp boats head in and the light turns the marsh grass copper. The boats move slowly, outriggers folded like wings, pelicans following for scraps. Drunken Jack's has a raw bar and she-crab soup thick enough to stand a spoon in. The crab is local, the beer is cold.

Live music starts around seven and echoes across the water in a way that makes every song sound better than it is. The crowd is sunburned families and retirees who moved here for the beach and stayed for the marsh.

Skip July Fourth — it's packed and miserable. Come on a Tuesday in October when the mosquitoes have died and the air has cooled and you can actually hear the marsh.