Ai yi yi! Dillon, South Carolina's South of the Border

We're still getting over a little touch of ill health so here's another rerun post of one of the eccentric roadside all-time greats: South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina. Click here to read our previous posts.

Me encanta recuerdos de mal gusto desde el sur de la frontera*: I love tacky souvenirs from South of the Border

Pull his pants down and he pees. Hilarity ensues.

Richard Petty is ready to greet you...

...as is this friendly native American.

The place looks like it hasn't changed since forever.

Religious icons, anyone?

Nothing makes a roadtrip more fun than a stop for some useless junk, and South Carolina's South of the Border has some of the best crappe of anywhere in the world. Inflatable chili peppers? Check. Risque bath towels? Check. Souvenir backscratcher? Check. Who wouldn't want one of thousands of these precious keepsakes as a memento of the all good times had by all? The decor here is wonderful, too: hand-lettered signs, old wooden counters and shelves, friendly poncho-wearing help. And you can pick up a whole bunch of treasures without breaking the bank. Yo quiero South of the Border.

*if this translates to something ridiculous like "Bite the wax tadpole" it's because I don't speak Spanish and used an online translator.

Las Vegas's Bonanza Gift Shop: The whole kitsch and caboodle!

No trip to Las Vegas would be complete without a visit to the Bonanza Gift Shop, the world's largest (and perhaps most taste-challenged) gift shop. It's a strip mall the size of a Vegas city block full of deliciously awful "gifts" and souvenirs. Need a Royal Flush potholder, fake vomit, squirting slot machine or a plush parrot that hurls obscenities at passersby? They got 'em and lots, lots more! I've always loved junky souvenirs and this place is the Nieman-Marcus of tasteless wares. It amazes me that a prime piece of Vegas strip real estate (Sahara and Las Vegas Blvd.) could be occupied by this old-fashioned kind of a place. It dates back to 1980 but feels more like a place I'd consider one of my favorite roadside attractions when I was a child back in the sixties. It's wonderful and a connoisseur of crappe such as myself could spend all day here. According to their website, the place is a "virtual cornucopia of Las Vegas souvenirs and gifts with a little bit of everything else thrown in. Over 40,000 square feet of shopping hysteria. The bizarre, the unusual, yes even the weird all available in one giant place." Celebrities who have visited the place include Angelina Jolie, Michael Jackson, Condoleezza Rice, Cindy Crawford and Ringo Starr. As they say, when in Rome, buy fake Elvis sideburns like the Romans do. Here's their website: http://www.worldslargestgiftshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/index.html

Las Vegas's Bonanza Gift Shop slideshow