"The streets of Laredo"

John and I took the day to drive up 83 Highway to Laredo Texas. Neither of us had been there, and that's excuse enough. This guy has a sound system in the shopping cart and a microphone in his hand. He's drumming up business for the clothing store behind him by singing old rock-and-roll and Elvis. This was taken in the old down town area, really close to the Mexican border.The drive up was a lot longer than we thought, but the scenery was nice. We actually saw hills for the first time since north of San Antonio in early November. There were more rivers too, with lots of onion fields green and irrigated.

This was what I expected to see in Texas; huge prickly pear cactus.

This is the Court House/ Post Office/ Customs House in old down town Laredo.

Laredo is the southern end of I-35, making it the busiest port of entry to Mexico.

Over 49% of our international trade goes through here, making Laredo prosperous.

The town square. Laredo was founded in 1755

Another shot of the plaza.

Now we can say we've "walked out on the streets of Laredo".

It was a full day's drive up and back.

We had lunch and wandered around the block, going into a few stores.

The other shoppers were, I think, Mexicans who came over to make purchases.

We noticed they spoke Spanish to each other in the restaurant and on the sidewalks,

unlike the Latinos here in Mercedes/McAllen who largely speak English. Our parking lot attendant spoke very little English but was very friendly.

I do get stared at a lot, because of my hair color, and today was no exception. There were even fewer blonds in Laredo than here in the valley.

John never loses me in the H E B.