South of the Border. And since they're headed to Space Camp, they will probably drive right by it.

Go up the tower, spot the jackolope, get clue from Pedro, buy fireworks.

I admit that I was a little bored by last night's show, too. Didn't really care for the detour - running around looking for "spies" and saying some sort of secret message.

What I really enjoyed with the past seasons of AR was how the teams dealt with the cultural differences and language barriers they encountered while traveling around the world.

Just reminding myself to come back to this thread later.

:)

I agree with Barbara's earlier remark, when are they bringing the real Amazing Race back?

Missed the first episode because we were traveling (!), but watched last night and have the following comments:

1. Who ARE all these people? There are so many of them I can't keep them straight, except for the dysfunctional family from hell.
2. Is it just me, or are there about a hundred young women between the ages of 18 and 25, all dressed in tank tops and running shorts, all shrieking at the same time?
3. Are they going to do the entire race in those damn SUV's? How boring.

I guess I'll give it another week or two, but if it doesn't get less strident and more interesting, I'm outta here until TAR9.

ncgrrl, LOL! I've traveled a lot in Mexico and can think of tons of locations, detours, and roadblocks. Phil, are you listening? Call me!

I managed to watch the whole boring thing. Maybe they need more villians, back stabbers, jerks, and bitches like in past seasons. So far the sibling farting incident last week has been the most gut wrenching thing.

Marilyn,

South of the Border is a tacky, tourist stop on I-95 in SC just south of the NC border. It has all sorts of things you can't get in NC (like <i>good</i> fireworks and lottery tickets -- though NC is getting a lottery soon).

When list of the tackiest place in America pop up, South of the Border is always in the top 3.

It has about a gazillion billboards along I-95 with really bad puns like 'hot tamale' as tomorrow's weather forecast. Used to have super sterotype 'Pedro' on its billboards, but now more of a faceless guy in a sombrero and serape.

As a child my brother and I would do the standard &quot;can we stop there&quot; from the backseat of the car for the hundred or so miles the billboards are along the highway (&quot;but DAD, I'll just DIE if we don't stop there&quot; 'look, it's only 35 miles to South of the Border' 'now it's only 25 miles' 'Dad, pull over, we have to go there'). We never did stop there and I didn't die. I did stop there a few years ago when I was driving and, well, yes, it is one of the most tacky placiest in the USA.

Now, I did see a Wall Drug Store xxxx miles in Amsterdam posted on a street light, but since there were no billboards there, I didn't see a South of the Border ad.

ncgrrl, oh. :&quot;&gt;
I have not traveled in either NC or SC, I am sorry to say. This website is so wonderfully educational!

Yep, they have a website

http://www.pedroland.com/

And this is on the home page (yep, it's from the home page).

BUENS DIAS, AMIGO! pedro VER' GLAD YOU COME!!pedro got 112 meelion amigos, who stay weeth heem, opp teel now all satisfy come back, send frans...thees make pedro ver' HAPPEE...like for frans come back all time...pedro hope YOU make 112 meelion and wan hapee amigos! you come back soon, too, yes? Find your distance to Pedro's!

Yikes. :o

&quot;Is it just me, or are there about a hundred young women between the ages of 18 and 25, all dressed in tank tops and running shorts, all shrieking at the same time?&quot;

If they are reading here, you just made the Godlewski sisters' day! They are 26 to 42 years old.

At this point, they are my favorite team. They are having so much fun AND doing well in the race.

Keith

:D Keith, from my perspective it all looks the same.

(Also, I didn't just mean them, aren't there a whole bunch of young women on other teams? The guy with his daughters, for example?)

This season is the worst ever, boring people, boring competitions, boring pit stops. If they keep up the family edition, TAR will be cancelled soon.

Definitly a different dynamic with the families. I enjoy it because like another poster said, I like to see the interp;ay among the family members, however, I will have to say it's not as exciting...I was almost wishing for Jonathan a time or two...:D I'm thinking that with allowing very young children into this group, that maybe there were possible liability issues traveling some of the more &quot;exotic&quot; places with very young children, even though I'm sure the families sign a waiver of some sort. I mean what if the little girl got separated or lost in say a third world country and got kidnapped and sold off to the slave trade...something like that. So, we'll just have to see where their 11,000 miles takes them. I didn't watch the whole thing straight through but switched over to something else for a bit and then checked back in with AR for awhile.

I believe this was a huge mistake on CBS's part. To have an Amazing Race only in the US and with very boring families could be the deathnail. The best of the Amazing Race is the travel by flight and the jocking for an airline seat. Also seeing exotic places is a draw. I am planning on switching to the female president next week. Hope you all join me!

You may not like the female president any better. Writing is, IMO, poor, dumb, etc. A disappointment, but -- again -- just my opinion. I can DVR both at once, but think I'll stick with the AR, at least for now.

I'm enjoying the family race so far. Although there are so many people it is a little hard to keep track of them all. But I find that is the case at the start of each race. It gets better as the teams dwindle and we have a chance to get to know the people better. I liked the spy Roadblock and found it funny to see all these people running around saying &quot;The sky is blue&quot;. The Civil War Re-enactment was way cool. I'm still wondering how the Paolos got in 3rd place right at the beginning when they started so far back. I guess everyone else screwed up real bad at the start.

Has anyone seen confirmation that they are going to stay in the US? If that's true, I may have to abandon my favorite show. I mean, I like the US just fine, but I like the variety that world travel offers much better. Plus, it's played at 10:00 PM here in Alberta, and that is too late for me!!

You know, my 2 cents...this is my favorite show...but this season is BORING. First of all, the US exclusively? Surely I'll learn much about my country I didn't know but that is so not why I watch it...and the its all reminding me of the scavenger hunts that the kids do in our neighborhood.

I agree that having the whole race in the US will be redundant...the thing I enjoy most about the show is watching the different cultures and customs of other countries come into play. Hopefully next season is back to normal!!

I don't think the entire race will be in the US. I remember one of the families saying they have traveled around the world before and that that would give them an edge over the other teammates.

I think they will do quite a bit of episodes in the US, though, because there are 4 members to a team and getting air tickets for that many people may be difficult.