Making A Run For the Border

This past weekend, we made a run for the border, South of the Border in South Carolina to be exact. If you are not familiar with this landmark, let me fill you in. Have you ever driven down I95 and seen giant sombrero in the air. Well, that is South of the Border.

Here is a little background on this interesting place. According to Wikipedia

South of the Border was developed by Alan Schafer who founded a beer stand at the location in 1949. The location was chosen as a convenient location for selling beer as it was located just over state (South of the North Carolina border) and county lines to a dry “alcohol prohibited” county adjacent to the north. Business was steadily expanded with Mexican trinkets and numerous cutesy  items. He had a great deal of success turning South of the Border into a “tourist mecca”because of his location, which was immediately across the border from Robeson County which was at one time, one of many dry NC counties. He grew his small business into what was, by local standards, an economic empire. South of the Border grew to over a square mile, required its own infrastructure, and had its own fire and police departments. Assisting in this growth was the fact that the new (at the time) Interstate 95 and the existing US 301 criss-cross at the site of the South of the Border complex. Schafer became reclusive, building a large compound of interconnected houses outside the Dillon city limits. At South of the Border, he kept secret apartments hidden in the backs of restaurants and shops.South of the Border serves as a rest stop for vacationers and tourists traveling to and from Florida. It is also near the main route to Mytrle Beach which makes South of the Border a welcome rest stop for people traveling to and from that area. The revenues generated from the higher than average numbers of patrons allowed South of the Border to grow and expand into the Mexican themed kitsch location it is today.

Now back to the point of why we ran to the border and what we did while we were there.  My middle daughter is spending a week in SC with some of our best friends. They just moved there, and she is going to help entertain their 11-month-old daughter so her mommy can unpack the rest of the house so they can be ready for company in a couple of weeks. So we met them halfway to drop off Mikaela and South of the Border just happened to be halfway.

We arrived early and walked around a bit. I will say that we had the best time just taking pictures and being tourists. And the best part is we did not spend any money. That was the best part frugal fun. Just check out the pictures we took from there.

Next week we are going to go and make another run for the border pick up Mikaela, and we plan on spending the whole day there. So look for more pictures next week with a few more new faces and a few new poses. There is one picture that I think has to be a hilarious one of the weekend, and it is this one.

I can’t wait to go back next weekend, and we also get to see our dear friends again.

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