18. US/Mexico Border

The US/Mexico border was only 15 minutes from our campground. Neither TJ nor I have ever been to Mexico, & we wanted to see the wall for ourselves – and for our kids to see it as well. We didn’t know exactly where to go. We didn’t want to go to the San Ysidro Transit Center. We were hoping to get up-close to the wall itself.

When I researched it, I was sad to see that the park near the ocean – Friendship Park – was closed. We looked at a map & noticed that there was a regional campground nearby, after which we could continue along Monument Road to get as close to the ocean border as possible. I really wanted to see how far out into the ocean the wall went.

The roads leading to the campground were so narrow, & some were still covered in water or sand from the previous rains. But it was so beautiful & peaceful! The road eventually dead-ended at the Border Field State Park – which was closed. Along the way, we caught glimpses of the wall cutting through green meadows. I wish we’d snagged at least one pic, other than the trash that collected in the creek after the rain…

We decided to backtrack down the dirt road, & took another dirt road right along the border. It felt like we weren’t supposed to be there, and we were careful to avoid any spots that showed any signs that it was border patrol-only.

At one point, we did realize that a border patrol officer in an unmarked truck started following us as we were on our way out.

We then parked at the PedWest pedestrian crossing in San Ysidro & walked around. The sculpture at the gate says on one side in English, “We are all equal” and on the other it says in Spanish, “We are all different.” The experience brought up lots of good conversations as a family, & I’m so glad we went.