South of the Border!

As a fan of Roadside America I have of course heard of South of the Border. It is a legendary bit of tacky kitsch in South Carolina. It was never close to where we were going on a trip, but when we drove to Willmington to pick up Millie, our route took us right by! I hadn't done any research about our route before we left, but we started seeing billboards and I started freaking out!

This place is super dated, but it is a beautiful example of a mid-century tourist trap. And there are a million photo ops!

We had two dogs with us, so we couldn't go in any of the buildings, but that was fine. There was so much stuff to pose with outside!

I would love to have this guy in my yard!

Kabuki is a great poser!

I'll take this guy as well. 

Every single building was adorable.

We had only had Millie a few hours when we stopped here, but she was already settling in. She LOVES riding in the sling! She was happy to just hang out in there.

I love this too! I wanted to get a picture with it, but there was always a family getting their picture, or kids playing on it.

Family portrait. 

How many dog pictures is too many for one post? 

LOOK AT HER FACE!!!!

There is a bridge over the main road that has a nice view of more attractions. Like reptile lagoon and a restaurant in the shape of a sombrero. You can see "Pedro" the mascot in the front here. They could definitely stand to lose all the representations of him in the place. It is pretty racially insensitive for 2016. I would love to see this place updated a little (aka take out the racist stuff) but keep the vintage style charm.

I love the snake on here!

And this giant shell!! 

Travis and Kabuki listening to the ocean. 

He was very worried about this.

Guys, this is such a small fraction of the photos we took of the dogs. There were just too many places to pose! And Millie and Kabuki are so cute.

I mean, look at her!

Another family portrait. They painted jeans on this gorilla and it was so hilarious looking. 

Travis sat in the car with the air conditioning on so I could look around one of the many gift shops. It was FULL of so much junk! Some of it awesome, and some of it seemed like it has been there for 40 years!

I bought this mug, I couldn't resist!

I wanted one of these ash trays, but I resisted.

They were selling the BEST postcards for 10 cents each. I think I sent three to Crystal because I liked them so much! They seemed really old, I wonder how many old boxes of postcards they have stacked in the back. They had a post office box right outside, perfect!

I bought this too. Obviously. 

I mean.

We drove from South of the Border to a hotel for the night. The pups slept in bed with us, and the next morning we continued on through Asheville. Of course we had to stop for some doughnuts at Vortex. Delish! 

Then we went home. It was a LONG couple of days. Over 20 hours of driving from Friday night until Sunday afternoon! But it was so worth it. Mildred is a perfect addition to our family.

Fantasy Golf!

You can't go to Gatlinburg without partaking in a round of miniature golf. We drove through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge one night and I was talking about my favorite golf place, Adventure Golf. "Here it comes!" I said, ready to point out the window at the giant octopus I love so much, and there was an empty lot where it used to be...it really hit me like a punch in the gut! At least I have lots of photos of it I guess. I found out they tore it down to make a space for a Steak and Shake. So sad.

After much moaning and maybe a few tears I was ok with Fantasy Golf. They have a big dragon in front, and a pegasus on a waterfall. Not quite as good as an octopus you can pose with, but still cute.

So much posing. You would not BELIEVE how many photos I had from this place. Or maybe you would. Whenever I'm on vacation with Crystal the photo count climbs immensely!

We picked up our airbrush shirts that morning so of course we had to wear them! Hot tub club!

Playing mini golf with 8 people takes a LONG time. Especially if you have a selfie stick. 

One thing I loved about Fantasy Golf was these wheels every few holes. You spun before your first turn and there were all kinds of funny options like you got to be a hazard on the course, or you had to do the whole hole with the opposite end of your stick. So fun!

We let several groups play through. There was just too much posing to do!

It was a very sunny day, and our shadows were strong on the course. Someone starting pointing at the holes while someone was shooting and soon we were all doing it and cracking up. New tradition!

I have great form. 

Here is Marc being a human hazard. 

You can't really tell, but Travis was singing in this photo. My favorite part of Fantasy Golf was the music. They had some station on playing a top 100 of this day in 1994 or something and it was all bummer songs! When at a family fun center you expect to hear stuff like "Celebrate" or "Hot Hot Hot" or at least semi current pop hits. We golfed to songs like "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "The Arms of the Angels" and my personal favorite, "Tears in Heaven".

Not expecting strong sun in February, I did not bring sun protection. We called it getting "Gatlin-burnt."

At one point we were letting two groups play through so Crystal, Aubrey and I hopped a little fence and took some photos with these carnival rides.

Can't get over those shirts! 

Crystal and Marc had to both putt at the same time for one hole. 

At one point Kimmie had to do an entire hole kicking the ball! 

Our favorite prop was this bear! I was laughing so hard going through these photos!

We took so long posing that most of us just took 5 strokes for this hole. Worth it. 

Travis and I both got hole in ones on hole 17! Yes!

Perfect sign.

We had to pose with the serpent a little before we left. That is why I'm making that face, haha!

It isn't as cute as Adventure Gold (RIP) but we had a great time at Fantasy Golf.