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.