Jen’s Journal – December 11, 2019

Day 165: Lake Casa Blanca State Park, Laredo, TX

Sunny, breezy, cool.

Laredo

When you told anyone your plans to go to Texas, has anyone ever said, “Go to Laredo!”

No one ever told us we couldn’t miss Laredo. Now we know why.

We had a nice enough time exploring Laredo, though. Here are our observations:

• We felt like we were in a foreign country. We hardly ever heard anyone speaking English, we dealt with some people who could not speak English, and the rest of the people spoke English as a second language.
• Laredo looks like a different country, too.
• The central park, San Augustin Plaza, has a couple statues, but no interesting buildings, except maybe this one:
• The area around the San Augustin Plaza is tired looking.
• There aren’t any nice restaurants or bars down there.
• The people are not tired looking, though, and are friendly.
• It’s just old.
• We were in the inner city near the border crossing. The border crossing consists of a non-commercial vehicle bridge and a walking bridge over the Rio Grande, which is not wide at all. No border wall!
• There is a very busy World Trade Bridge elsewhere, where trucks are to cross the border, and thousands of trucks cross daily.
• Trains have their own border crossing.
• We did find an upscale area not far from the airport.
• The Walmart does not sell produce. No fresh fruits and vegetables!
• And here is an interesting fact: this is the place where Quebeckers cross to vacation in Mexico!