In 1957, My friend Dennis, who lived in the building next door from me, went with his father to visit a relative who was located in upstate New York. I don’t remember what part of the county it was in, but I do recall how big an area of land it was!

Being a city kid, living day to day in a large family oriented neighborhood, it was a real eye opener. We went by bus to the train station in Hoboken N.J. It took about 2 hours to get there.

As the father and relatives caught up on family news, Dennis and I would walk around the farm to explore, there were chickens, and other animals roaming about and I remember, how nice it was so many trees and how fresh the air was, with an aroma so different from the city.

We were given a bow and arrow set to go use outside by the barn and we would shoot the arrow high up in the sky to see how far we could get it to go, but when one of the arrow landed close to the family talking we got yelled at! So that ended that and for a good reason!

Later on when it was dinner time, we all eat on the large porch outside, and I have to say I never tasted mash potatoes like that before! The dinner was great to say the least, and we had a great time there, then it was time to head back to the train station, and the bus to go home, but it was so nice to get away for the day, a memory still fresh in my as if it were yesterday!