A Great Place to Stop and Stretch Your Legs
Roadtrips have always been a great way to make memories with the ones we love while traveling the countryside. When you have a plan it makes the ride much more anticipating. When we decided to go visit my dad this past week, we knew we had to break up the drive with several little ones in the car. What better way to do so by planning roadside stops that the kids would really enjoy. We decided to create a roadside bucket list of all the places we wanted to visit along the way. Some of the locations were not open due to timing or Covid but we'd love to try to visit them next time around. One of the stops happened to be the notable South of the Border.
Growing up we always stopped at this rest stop on our trip to Florida and from the interstate, this place always appealed to the eyes, especially for a child. This Mexican themed rest stop is full of colorful buildings and vibrant statues. Interstates can be boring when you see the same rest areas and gas stations over and over again. South of the Border is a refreshing change of scenery and a nice place to stretch your legs. It reminds me of an old amusement park that never made it. The place looks vacant but is still open for business.
No matter how long you plan on staying, this place has everything you need from gas, food, restrooms, ice cream, fireworks, souvenir shops, and much more. It's more than just a rest stop. When we stopped this time around we ended up staying longer than expected and easily could've stayed for another hour. However, we needed to get home and wanted to cross this stop off of our road trip bucket list.
If you're traveling down Interstate 95, there is no way you can miss this place. It's right on the border of North and South Carolina. When you first turn into the parking lot there is a small gas station with a car wash and a yellow building behind it specifically for restrooms. If you're traveling with your furry four-legged babies there's no need to worry. This place even has a place for your pet to use the bathroom which you can see in the first picture above.
After we filled our gas tank up and used the bathroom, we pretty much parked in a shaded area and took the kids for a walk around the parking lot. We skipped the tall Sombrero Arcade and headed straight for the closest souvenir shop that had just about everything you could imagine.
Within walking distance is also a sit-in fast food restaurant that has affordable diner food. We packed our lunch so we didn't eat much here but we did try an order of cheesy nachos and grabbed two cups of ice for our cooler. The total was less than three dollars.
After visiting one of the many souvenir shops and walking across the parking lot in the blazing hot sun, the kids were ready for some ice cream.
There were a variety of flavors available at a desirable price. The little ones had a cone each, Brody and Rob each had a waffle cone and the total came out to around $13.00. It could have easily cost more if the kids had more than one scoop. However, we didn't want them to have too much of a sugar rush on the drive home.
While the kids were enjoying their cones Avareigh noticed this old carousel sitting on the other side of the building. Remember the ones that would sit outside of department stores like K-Mart when they were in their prime? All you had to do was put a quarter in the slot and it would rotate slowly in a circle and put the biggest smile on your face? I remember we always made sure mom had a quarter so we could ride it. I haven't seen one in a long time, so to see one sitting outside the store with three little horses was perfect for my three kiddos. Little Libbie was too small but I think she may have enjoyed it more than they did.
After the amusing ride, the kids wanted to take a picture with the huge gorilla on the other side of the building in front of another souvenir shop. After all, it's not every day you get to see gorilla this big!
After this, we were ready to hit the road again. There are plenty of other stores we could have easily browsed through but just didn't have the time. If you're into surf shops they have a really neat surf shop that we didn't get to check out this time around. Maybe next time. Well, that's pretty much it for our South of the Border roadside stop. Hope you all enjoyed the post and if you ever find yourself driving down 95 near the South Carolina Border, don't forget to stop, stretch your legs, and create some memories for yourself.
For a full list of things to do while visiting, click here.
FOR OUR FULL VIDEO CLICK HERE.
