[This is part of the series: A List of Things I Remember About Living In Saudi Arabia.]

I remember driving from Taif to Jeddah.

Coming into Saudi Arabia, we would fly into Jeddah and then drive to our compound in Taif.

Leaving the country, or anytime we wanted a weekend away, we would have to drive back to Jeddah.

It was a trip we made back and forth many times.

First, there are only 2 ways to drive from Taif to Jeddah and back.

You can take what we called The Escarpment – which is the shorter way – but it hurls you off the 6,000 foot plateau, where the city of Taif sits, onto a switchback mountain road of knee-weakening drop-offs.

The other way you can go, we called Snake Road – it is the longer way to go – but gets you there with less whiplash.

At some point in our years in Saudi Arabia we started driving Snake Road every-time we left for Jeddah or returned home.

But those first few years…

Those first few years, we drove The Escarpment, and my dad ate on a bag of pistachios in the car the entire way.

Back and forth, back and forth, I would get a little more nauseous in the back seat with each curve.

I would hear another pistachio crack open.

We would swerve to miss someone not staying on their side of the road.

Finally, I would lay down in the back seat. More curves, more pistachios cracking open.

To this day, the smell of pistachios makes my stomach turn.