It could be that many of us have been on a road trip. It could also be that many have preferred to take a plane, never experienced a long or fun trip to another state.

I have been on a few, many to New York City and New Jersey. Not any that was major, and far out of state. But would you believe me if I told you I traveled from Massachusetts all the way to Dearborn, Mich.?

Here’s the story, you’re in for a long ride!

On April 5, 2014, a wedding of a close friend was to take place in Dearborn. Of course, my family wanted to go. We booked our hotel at the Doubletree By Hilton, and were about to book plane tickets. I was so excited to fly because — believe me or not — I had never been on a plane.

But all of a sudden the plans changed. We weren’t going to fly. We were going to drive there!

Immediately I asked my mom, “Why are we driving? Can’t we fly? Everyone else is!”

She said, “The thing is, we need to pick up things like food and clothes we can’t carry on the plane.”

I sighed and said, “So you’re telling me that just because of food and clothes, we’re driving!”

“Yes. But you’ll have fun!”

So yeah, I totally got mad. How can I have fun in a car 13 boring hours in a tight space? But looking back at it now, I don’t regret the drive. It was fun.

We drove right through Massachusetts, through the state goes for  hours. We finally entered New York. We didn’t drive through modern New York, but through another eight hours of country New York. It was very pretty and breath taking. Everywhere we looked we see farms, skyscraper mountains, forests, and, yes, snow, too! Huge rivers, and tall bridges looking down at the mountain ranges. It was incredible!

There were not many cars on the road, able to drive freely through nature. Rest stops were everywhere, each with McDonald’s at least. Every few hours we would stop for gas or food, or just so I  won’t puke any time soon.

After passing through directly down the middle of New York, past Canada, we finally reached Ohio! Again, we didn’t pass through the city, but the country. (It’s faster!)

Ohio was also very long, but was nice, too. Ohio looked like New York but just had plains, no mountains, with farms and rest stops. We stopped less in Ohio mainly because night was arriving and heavy thunderstorms were coming, too.

Thinking the storm was just passing by, it followed us and stopped in Michigan. Soon, it was about an hour drive before we reached our destination.

So you must be saying, “That doesn’t seem long.” Well, we left on Thursday, April 3, at 11:30 a.m. and drove until Friday, April 4, at 3 a.m.! Past midnight!

I was more than exhausted! I got in my hotel bed and fell asleep in less than 10 minutes! That Friday, we drove around Dearborn, went shopping and visited friends.

Dearborn is way different than here! The main streets are shaped like Mass. highways, but driven on like a regular street. The houses are extremely small, but pretty, some old and some new.

But the biggest difference is that Dearborn is a mini Lebanon! In other words, all the stores, billboards,people, everything, are all by Arabs! I’m Lebanese, so it was amazing!

The wedding was beautiful! But on Sunday April 6, 2014, at 4 p.m., we set off on the road back home. I was really sad to leave, not because of school, but the fact that I had fun. I was leaving a good friend, wonderful family, and a beautiful town and state! But I had to go.

We passed through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, then finally home. We reached my home Monday, April 7, 2014, at 6 a.m. I could not go to school. I came to my room. Slept till 11, then woke up, looked at my pictures, and said to myself, “I miss Michigan, but I love Boston more. I had fun and hopefully one day we can go back and relive these memories!”

–April 20, 2014–