What a journey! Want an adventure, you have to make sure you enjoy the journey before you reach the destination. I was on a long road trip with my family from New York to Florida. It was an 18-hour drive on the I-95. I realized it was a better journey then it was when we got to the state. We were singing, making jokes, laughing and being a silly family — moments like that will be missed most because it shows that we are a great family together.
As we were going through Washington D.C., we thought we were in Baltimore the entire time. It was fun looking for a spot to stop at. We were observing the area, still thinking that we were in Baltimore until our GPS said, "Welcome to Washington D.C." It was astonishing to see that our nation's capital looks "ghetto." We weren't thinking it was D.C. because all the movies that show where The White House make it look clean and beautiful.
Each time we stopped at a rest stop, we would look around the area and all we saw was the beauty of nature. We took multiple breaks and each time, the rest stop area looked completely different from the last one. You can truly admire your surroundings as you drive by everything and everyone; it is amazing to see the things I had seen on this trip. Looking at those states, we thought about being stereotypical tourists just for the laughs and giggles.
When we got to Georgia, we were pretty pleased that my stepfather drove for around 14 hours. He gave me a little goal for when I do actually get my license. We were all ready to crash but before we did, and we needed to eat. Before I say what we had, we had been having different styles of chicken those last few weeks, so we bought KFC chicken. Right now, I am so sick of chicken. As we were getting the chicken, it started to pour rain and we were wearing sandals. We got back to our hotel room looking like we ran in sprinklers several times, our legs and feet spotted with grass. We all had to agree what movie we wanted to watch, and at this point I didn't care since I was already getting tired.
The next day was our last day driving from Georgia to Florida, which was another three hours away from our destination. I was so excited because I haven't been in Florida since the summer of my high school freshman year. This time was different because I knew I would have fun with my parents before we went separate ways. That day was easier because me, my sister and my mother decided to go into the pool. It was so relaxing but it started to rain for four minutes. In Florida, there is always this moment during the afternoon that it rains, so you can easily predict how long it will rain by the size of the cloud coming. After it rained, the temperature went from 90 to possibly 100 degrees, and that was me and my mother's moment to tan our bodies off till they were golden brown. We started off pretty well since we started on our backs and all we felt was the UV rays on the sun hitting our backs. When we flipped, my mother couldn't handle the heat and jumped back into the pool while I continued tanning. After that, I decided to join everyone in the pool to cool off, and I realized that I got a better tan than my mother so I laughed at her.
We decided to go to Downtown Disney (Disney Springs), so we could have some fun since we didn't have too much time before we get too busy. It was extremely hot, and we all decided to wear dark colors because we were smart in that moment. As we were roaming, I managed to notice all the little things about being there again after six years. I never noticed that there were stages where performers could perform at, or the fact that I never noticed that there was a giant Stitch on top of one of the stores. What was funny was the fact that my sister decided to show her true Muppet self so my parents decided to mock her and it was hilarious because I took a picture of it. They can make a long journey the best journey by just making us laugh and have fun. Since we all had to pull our weight around for that journey, we didn't have fun until we actually hit the road. To remember that this whole trip was to have fun and appreciate life.
When it came to the last day, we did have a bumpy start at the morning but when we were saying our good byes to each other, I could tell that it was harder for me to say goodbye to them. I didn't want to leave just yet because we were truly having fun at that point. As I was going through security, I felt myself tearing up because I knew I was going to miss them and that they will miss my journey in college. When I came back to New York, I knew my journey with my parents was over but that they will always be by my side the entire time, even when there not with me physically. I love the journeys my parents took me on because I got to look closer into things that I never bothered to notice in my life. The previous journeys were the best adventures in my life, but I know those journeys aren't over until I say so.
