Avoid South of The Border in South Carolina

Hi,

I see a few threads here about this topic, but many are too old to
reply to.

My family just returned from our first road trip down the coast to
Florida. We normally fly, but decided to drive to see the area. While
I had read about it in a book before leaving, I am nothing less than
floored by South of the Border.

Of course, we saw the 100's of billboards on 95 which made you think
you were approaching something on the scale of Six Flags.

We were STUNNED when we pulled in to see one of the most run down
places we had EVER set foot in. Every building was run down (some even
missing pieces of exterior walls) the gift shop was overpriced and
dirty, the men's bathroom was so horrid and smelled so bad I left as
soon as I walked in and employees were smoking while scooping ice
cream in the ice cream parlour!

With the amount of money they must spend on billboards, you'd think
they invest a chunk of change in modernizing the facilities and
cleaning the darn place up.

While they may have no say, one would think South Carolina's elected
officials or tourist counsel would be livid that South of The Border
was the first impression most people received of South Carolina and
would try and do something to get the owners to fix it. Yuk!

On 04/08/2004 10:54 AM Ryan wrote:

Hi,

I see a few threads here about this topic, but many are too old to
reply to.

My family just returned from our first road trip down the coast to
Florida. We normally fly, but decided to drive to see the area. While
I had read about it in a book before leaving, I am nothing less than
floored by South of the Border.

Of course, we saw the 100's of billboards on 95 which made you think
you were approaching something on the scale of Six Flags.

We were STUNNED when we pulled in to see one of the most run down
places we had EVER set foot in. Every building was run down (some even
missing pieces of exterior walls) the gift shop was overpriced and
dirty, the men's bathroom was so horrid and smelled so bad I left as
soon as I walked in and employees were smoking while scooping ice
cream in the ice cream parlour!

With the amount of money they must spend on billboards, you'd think
they invest a chunk of change in modernizing the facilities and
cleaning the darn place up.

While they may have no say, one would think South Carolina's elected
officials or tourist counsel would be livid that South of The Border
was the first impression most people received of South Carolina and
would try and do something to get the owners to fix it. Yuk!


South of The Border is not Six Flags. It is a piece of tacky roadside
Americana. To upgrade or clean it would ruin South of The Border's
cache. As for food service workers smoking cigarettes, well, you
haven't been to The South where Tobacco is still King. People smoke in
church services.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

We were STUNNED when we pulled in to see one of the most run down
places we had EVER set foot in.

Yeah. It was nicer in the Sixties. They roped you in, though!

(Ryan) wrote in message . com...
Hi,

I see a few threads here about this topic, but many are too old to
reply to.

My family just returned from our first road trip down the coast to
Florida. We normally fly, but decided to drive to see the area. While
I had read about it in a book before leaving, I am nothing less than
floored by South of the Border.




It's called a tourist trap. It was very nice in the early 70's but
is indeed a dump nowadays.

Oh, I have lived in NC for 34 years and have yet to be served icecream
by somebody smoking..lol. Being served a mess of BBQ at an outdoor
event while smoking..yes. I'd contact the tourist trap manager
(unless that was him serving you).

"Von" wrote in message
om...
(Ryan) wrote in message
. com...
Hi,

I see a few threads here about this topic, but many are too old to
reply to.

My family just returned from our first road trip down the coast to
Florida. We normally fly, but decided to drive to see the area. While
I had read about it in a book before leaving, I am nothing less than
floored by South of the Border.




It's called a tourist trap. It was very nice in the early 70's but
is indeed a dump nowadays.



In general, highway billboards for 200 miles should be enough of a
warning - there is also Wall Drug in South Dakota and Yeehaw Junction along
the Florida Turnpike, for example. Wall Drug was an answer in Trivial
Pursuit (what sign in above the clock on the east wall of the Amsterdam
train station or something like that).

Chris

"Ryan" wrote in message
om...

We were STUNNED when we pulled in to see one of the most run down
places we had EVER set foot in. Every building was run down (some even
missing pieces of exterior walls) the gift shop was overpriced and
dirty, the men's bathroom was so horrid and smelled so bad I left as
soon as I walked in and employees were smoking while scooping ice
cream in the ice cream parlour!

The attraction of South of the Border, to me, was that I could buy fireworks
there. I would take orders from friends. I didn't think that it was
overpriced, and the restrooms were fine. I should say that this was in 1969;
things may have changed since then.