South of the Border

On Wednesday I stopped at South of the Border.

For those of you who don't know because you missed the hundreds of signs lining Interstate-95 for several states nearby, S.o.t.B. was once a new, fresh and wonderous place for tourists to stop on I-95 where the North and South Carolina borders meet.

This place was designed to be a magnet for tourists. Seriously, that Pedro head is a magnet. That and the offerings of roller coasters, video games, carnival rides, junk food, t-shirts, leather goods, mexican goods, african goods, and, of course, fireworks.

Fireworks is no big deal when they are legal in your state but when you grow up in Virginia, DC or Maryland, South of the Border is the place to go for illegal goods.

Most of South of the Border is pretty run down these days and its not the recession: it's been like this for years. But whoever runs their fireworks department is doing a great job.