I grew up in a little dairy town in New York State which is only 9 miles from where I currently live in Massachusetts. It was a very small town where everyone knew everyone else by name. There was nothing major there except Lebanon Valley Speedway which is known to racing fans.
In high school I began writing to pen pals and the question I was always asked is ’’How far are you from New York City’’?
When most people think of New York a big city comes to mind just as other people have images in their mind of certain places or things.
I had never been to New York City in my life and lived no where near it. I was located about an hour’s drive from the capital city of Albany where I was born.
I have visited just about every area of New York. You will find Niagra Falls outside of Buffalo, New York which is a spectacular view as well as a well known honeymoon spot.
There are the finger lakes of New York which are very beautiful and around that area are many vineyards. The water there is the prettiest color I have ever seen.
There is the Corning glassware center where corning ware is manufactured.
The Catskill mountains is another lovely area where the legend of Rip Van Winkle took place. There is a great zoo there (they call it a game farm) and there are many concerts for lovers of country music.
There are so many wonderful places to visit in New York.
I now have made several bus trips to New York City which is about 4 hours from here and in particular I went to meet an icq pal that lives in the Bronx and we went to the Bronx zoo which is the largest I have seen. They also have wonderful botanical gardens among other things.
Speaking of impressions and what images we get in our minds, I was always afraid to go there hearing all kinds of things about muggings and high crime.
I went down by myself, was met at the bus depot but after visiting awhile I set out on my own to have a look around and I was a woman walking alone. I had no problems what so ever. Crime can happen anywhere so it isn’t just the big cities.
The people were very friendly and there was many things I loved about it. They have carriage rides around Central park which is very romantic and you can find all sorts of vendors on the street that we don’t have here. It was an exciting trip each time I went and I plan to go back again.
If you plan to visit New York though check out some of the other areas of the state as well and I know you will love it.