Having grown up in the large state of Texas, what stands out most to me about Rhode Island is how easy it is to get from one border to the other in less than 2 hours, North to South and East to West. Even when you drive the circumference of the state, it takes approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

There are so many places I could begin to write about in Rhode Island, but I’ll start with my own neighborhood of Pawtuxet Village.

Known by many as “The Bridge” the above landmark is the center of Pawtuxet Village and it spans across two cities: Warwick to the North, which is where I live (to the left as you view the photo) and Cranston to the South, or to the right in the photo. The dividing border is the Pawtuxet River, the beautiful, calm body of water that you see in the photo.

La Broa’ ➤

As you continue down Broad Street from Cranston and enter the City of Providence, you cross more than physical borders. Broad Street is where the first Dominican bodega (pictured above) was established by Tony and Josefina “Fefa” Rosario in the early 1960s. On this section of Broad Street, you are more apt to hear Spanish being spoken, or see it written on posters lining local businesses and on billboards looming high for all to see.