A Road Trip

“A road trip to remember” Back when I was a little girl, I remember the first time I went on a road trip with my family when I was six years old. The summer of 1993, the second weekend of July, our family started a journey. It was a Friday, thirty minutes past four o'clock in the afternoon when my dad, invited us all, my mom, my baby brother and me to go on a three-day vacation to my dad’s hometown. A place that my dad always told me was one of the warmest places on earth full of color and lovely people. It was the best experience I’ve ever had. We packed our bags in a very tight way so everything could fit in the small red stroller we had. I helped my mom to put my baby’s brother tiny clothes in a backpack and we hopped on the silver ford from the year 1954 my dad used to have. We hit the road and drove away. I recall the beautiful, hot day in the Cuban topical weather with warn temperatures around eighty Celsius degree. I was wearing a knitted pink dress my mom made me for a special occasion. It was a short silk dress which felt smooth and soft with a sweetheart neck line. At the waist it was tighten with a red strip accentuating my thin waist. It was lose at the bottom, down to the knees, with tulle hem that made it look bigger and all spread up. Just the way I liked it. It also had little white dots all over giving it a beautiful and girly appearance. I was the envy of all the girls in the world. That dress was the best gift my mom ever gave me because, apart that it was the very first dress that I wore as a child, it made me look as pretty as I could on my adventure to visit my dad's hometown for the first time. I was so nervous but at the same time excited because my father always described it as a wonderful place. my grandmother was a very lovely and funny lady as my dad always told me. As we drove, I was sitting in the back of the card looking at some pictures of my grandmother while my parents were in the front. My dad was driving in his peculiar way. He was seated straight and looking forward to the road with both of his hands on the wheel, while his usual drink was next to him. Mommy was our copilot. She looked like she was the one driving, giving instructions to dad. They looked so relaxed and enjoying the journey even though the distance ahead was about three hundred and fifteen kilometers more to go. At the same time, I was playing with my baby brother, trying to teach him how to count to ten and singing the ABC to him. Although another five hour trip was awaiting us, we were having a quality time together as a family. Making our first stop at a cafeteria along the highway, at kilometer eighty five, was really exciting. It was a beautiful place with a huge restaurant and lots of square tables and long seats. The smell of fresh air during spring took me by surprise and directed me to a garden with all kind of flowers. The big red roses impressed me to the point that I could understand why they relate it with love; they looked lovely. Also, there was an exclusive exhibition of object like grenades and long knifes collected from the revolutionary war against Spain back in 1868 where Cuban fought to abolish slavery. I explored the place while babysitting my brother and I found a playground where kids were having a lot of fun and right when I was about to join them my father called us back to the car. We had to keep going on a long way to our destination. Fifteen minutes later, my brother and I fell asleep on the back seat and when we woke up, we were already at grandma’s house. Saturday morning arrived and daddy woke me up really early so we could go and explore the different places in town. Zulueta is nothing but a really small town in the central region of the main island. It takes about 3 hours to walk around the entire place. In spite of it, its people were kind and sweet greeting us along the way. While we were walking around, daddy told me the history of the town and its importance on Cuba’s independence war. He said that it was a strategy place for the rebels to stay because of its isolated location. There, they could prepare and organized some of the rebellion acts against the government. On the way back home, we were literally starving but, to our surprise, once we enter the hose we knew that dinner was ready. A whole table full of rice and white beans recently cooked, with pork ribs and salads were waiting for us to enjoy. To tell you the truth, grandma was a very good cook. After we ate, we spent the rest of the day and night sharing great memories and telling jokes in a pleasant familiar environment. There is no better time to remember than the ones we share as a family. For the first time in my life, I was feeling so happy that I wasn’t able to describe it. Every time I look at my pinkish dress with white dots, which I still have, makes me want to go back to 1993, the second weekend of July. It was the time that I met my grandmother and my daddy’s little tow, which reminds me of my childhood. My first road trip was amazing, full of new thing discovered and happy memories to remember.