Leaving North Carolina

I knew this day was going to come but never the less it is very hard to know we are leaving. After getting ready in the morning we headed into the gift shop area to check out. I was looking at the trinkets along the back wall to buy and saw a beautiful mug that says Asheville and has a picture of the mountains with bits of the town showing through. Wayne was upset that I found such a nice mug because on the first day we realized that Wayne didn't have a mug for his tea and we bought an ugly mug with a big yellow smiley face on it in the same gift shop. Wayne hates the big yellow smiley face.

It was disheartening to drive off and further and further away from the mountains, knowing we wouldn't be coming back for awhile. Now I must try and prepare myself for the next part of the trip, to South Calrolina, South of the Border.

The scenery on the way was changing to palm trees and sand on the sides of the road. There was even palm trees planted between the highway. That was very pretty to see. We do not have palm trees in Pennsylvania. Only the indoor potted plant variety. Also the world was very flat and it was a bit hotter. You could see how hot it was by the haze in the air.  

On the way we knew we were getting close because there was silly billboards announcing the place. I don't mean just one billboard at the exit, they were miles along the way, each one cornier than the next. Here is an example:

And another example:

Okay, I am really dreading this place, It doesn't sound like a good idea. My husband has a childhood need to fill and I am doing this to support him. Wayne says that he always wanted to go there when he was a kid and his parents would always drive by on the way to Florida. Boy, I wish they had stopped in and let the kids play a bit. I could see how a kid would be attracted to all the bright colors of this place.

After being all psyched after seeing all those ridiculous signs, we arrive at the Pleasure Dome, which is where you have to check in. Inside, everything is made from wood boards, like the kind you find in a steam room. There was a high ceiling and a dome skylight, which I liked because the room was so bright. Off to the left of the check in desk there was another room with an indoor pool and it was filled with kids having fun in the water. 

We checked in and because of the "special" room we reserved, came with a bottle of champagne. We had to drive to our room. It was in a section that looked like motels, each room with a different door. The room was very large. There was a living area, a huge bed, and large bathroom. Here is where Wayne surprised me, a room with a hot tub! Now I am looking forward to that! Wayne and I unpacked our stuff and found that the fridge wasn't working. A maintenance person came and moved us to the next room instead. Not too much of a big deal, but we did unpack already and had to carry more stuff over. 

Ahhh, we took a nice rest before venturing out of the room. I was very tired from all the driving.

It was still very hot out, but it was surprising how the weather wasn't really bothersome to us. I thought it would be a great adjustment for our body's to handle. We walked around South of the Border to check it out and see what there was to see.

This place is a ghost town. There aren't many other people spending their time here, besides us of course. There was many different themed building with gift shops  in. We went in each and every one of them and they all sold the same things. It was like we were in an episode of the Twilight Zone and by the end of the episode everyone was sucked into Pedro's cult. Anyhow, we bought some crappy gifts for the rest of the family that we didn't find things for in Asheville. For myself I picked out a really nice looking soapstone jewelry box with matching lid. The lid has a flower garland in embedded soapstone.

The picture above is to show how the place was dead and also to showcase the amusement rides that no one was using. In fact there wasn't any operators to let you on.

For dinner we had no choice but to eat at The Peddler's Steak House, which was in a building shaped like a huge sombrero. 

I tried to find another restaurant in the phone book, but Pedro Land was the only place besides Subway. After dinner we wanted to go and play miniature golf. This was something I was looking forward to and the course looked neat. One sign on the way in says: 

Well, it was closed. Crap. There was also a lookout area above one of the gift shops. We went up an elevator and there was a fenced in area that was also (you guessed it) a large sombrero. It was a nice look out point, but there wasn't really anything to look at but an expanded areal view of the park.  

Nothing left but to go back to the room. Oh yah! The hot tub! This almost makes up for the rest of the park. We spent a lot of time in the hot tub, with our complimentary champagne, then went to bed. Tomorrow is our ride home.