I was born and raised in Germany and moved to Texas 3 years ago. About a year after that my parents decided to visit me for about 3 weeks. I had some great road trips planned, but unfortunately my Dad had his own plans. He really wanted to go to Laredo to see the Rio Grande. Apparently there is a Western named Laredo and since my Dad loves Westerns it was a “must see” kinda thing for him.

So we went on a 5 1/2 hour road trip to the city of Laredo.

Of course none of us knew that it was a dirty, disgusting, filthy and dangerous city. The only place they had to see the Rio Grande was a little park that was covered in trash and dog poop. From this park you could see Mexico. Later we saw a documentary about how snipers from Mexican gangs hide in the bushes on the other side of the river to shoot border patrol.
No wonder border patrol gave us such a weird look when we entered the park. Oh i forgot to mention they were all over the place at this beautiful park? I guess that should have been a sign.

Anyways, after sitting on a bench for about an hour starring at a river and talking to the Border Patrol we decided to see what else Laredo has to offer. Of course we stayed away from downtown because the border patrol told us that white people are not very welcome there. And I really didn’t want my parents shot by Mexican drug lords on their first trip to the United States. You know, that land of the free and home of the brave.

So we went to the mall. An all Spanish speaking mall. Yeah…that was fun. After a few hours there we decided to just go back to the hotel and hang out at the pool. Because it’s also extremely hot down there.

The next day my Dad admitted he should have listened to me and we should have just went to the Big Bend National Park instead.

So after an 11 hour car drive, 3 wasted days that I’ll never get back I decided that the “vacation” was a success after all. I mean, we did make it home alive right?

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the actual dirty park or the city because it was not worth taking a pic off. But I did take a picture of the Rio Grande, the river that was so important to my Dad.