Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Shoppers Dream... Or Nightmare?

This was the tourist trap across the street.
Note the extensive eye-catching neon signage!

Leah, my delightful model posing with the
artfully arranged plastic oranges.

Note the sign my beautiful model Leah is holding:
"WOW!! GATOR HEADS $12.99!"

Here they are, take your pick of the $12.99 gator heads!

Whoa! Check out the shell collections!
Note the tall ships crafted out of shells on the top shelf.

If you don't want a real alligator head,
rubber alligators line the floor.


"WOW!! GATOR CLAW BACK SCRATCHERS $5.99!"

There they are... Those alligator claw back scratchers
you've been looking for!


Excuse me miss, don't look now but there's an
alligator claw approaching...

The girls just can't bear the thought of
leaving without their alligator claw back scratcher!

We had to stop for fuel on our way up to St. Augustine yesterday and we ended up at a tourist trap. It was so dreadfully tacky that I amused myself by documenting everything with too many photos. They carried a, um, unique selection of merchandise that you just won't find most places.

It's not too late! If you just can't live without an alligator head or an alligator claw back scratcher let me know and I'll pick one up when we drive by on our way home next week.

7 comments:

Lindsay said...

Haha... aren't tourist traps funny? I've seen lots of ridiculous souvenirs, but an alligator claw back scratcher?! Wow... that's just too much. lol! =D

Auntie Cake said...

Oh yes, doesn't everyone have an alligator head on a stick???

And apparently I am coming down to visit you this Friday. Dan's parents talked us into driving (yuck!!!) down to see them for spring break. I will just walk up and down the beach yelling, "Can Do Mom, are you here?" (I will be alone at that point...) But I guess we are going to Vero Beach, Sebastian, maybe we can caravan home... LOL!

Glad you had a fun breakfast on the beach, I don't know how you did it. I could maybe pull off a sunset, but breakfast? Not happening. Looks like you are having a great time, it will be hard to pack up and go home, but the weather is getting pretty nice here, 63 degrees tonight at 8:00 PM. Can't beat that!

Kate

Anna Ambrose said...

Whenever my family and I go to Florida, I make them stop at one of these tacky tourist shops. I just love the goofy little souvenirs. The shells and whatnot are actually quite inexpensive, so it's fun to buy some and get creative. I've always wanted to fill a little corked bottle with sand from Cocoa Beach (where we always stay), put in some colorful shells from the tourist shops, and write "Florida" on the outside in curvy letters. Come to think of it, I do believe that tourist traps sell similar items...

Alexa said...

I may be in desperate need of an alligator claw back scratch. They just don't make 'em like that here on this side of the Rockies.

Can do mom said...

I think we need to plan a blogger's gathering! We'll meet in Cocoa Beach, which is just south of where we're staying (Cape Canaveral).

Kate, we're north of Sebastion and Vero Beach but we drove down there last week. I hope your family has fun on your getaway. The drive is long, there's no getting around it. How about books on CDs? We began listening to "To Kill A Mockingbird" on the way down and will finish it on the way home.

CQ, what you describe is too cute to be found at the shop we were at. Maybe it was the idea of those poor alligators being sacrified so some crazy tourist could buy and display their sad little open-jawed head that got to me...

Lexy, I'm not sure they make 'em like that ANYWHERE else. This could be my only chance to get my hands on that back scratcher! (Of course in WI we surround ourselves with such novelties as cheesehead hats so I would know tackiness when I see it, right?!)

Katherine S. Cole said...

And after that... I awarded you. :D (I'm still trying to picture who exactly it is that displays alligator heads at their house...)

http://firstseekhim.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-award.html

Kristin said...

The alligator merchandise is hilarious! =) I actually have a real alligator skin bag that has the real body of a baby alligator on it. I researched it online, and apparently it's from Cuba and they were all the rage in the 1940's. =) It came from my grandma's house, and she had it from an old maid cousin of her's who was very fashion foward, LOL.

~Kristin