I didn’t hear Bill Joel singing “New York State of Mind” today on the radio.  For what reason, I don’t know, I thought today about two trips my dear wife, Carrie, and I made into New York City in consecutive summers….2014 and 2015.

Both times we were staying in western Mass. a place they call The Berkshires.  It is a peaceful, historical, and relaxing place.  Full of nice folks, we still go back.  In 2014 we decided to head to The Big Apple.  We had tickets to see David Letterman and that was a thrill.  Being in The Ed Sullivan Theatre where The Beatles started the British Invasion was pretty cool.  The show was good too.  The place is very small.  No cameras allowed.

To get to NYC we had to drive to Poughkeepsie, New York some 70 mile to the Southwest.  We got on the train and it took us to Union Station an hour and a half later.

It was great.

In 2014 we walked until our feet bled.  I was in a pair of boat shoes with no socks.  Dumbest thing I ever did since I exploded one of those old red paper caps ( the ones we we put in cap guns as children) with my class ring on my desk in Mrs. Englehardt’s senior English class.  Yes, I was a senior in high school.  Mrs. E and I were pals.  She looked at me like I had lost my mind.  For a moment or two, maybe I did.

Anyway, Carrie and I must have walked 30 miles that day.  We saw all sorts of sights and places and we were in awe, we really were.  We spent time in Times Square and that was a blast.

We spent some time in Central Park and it was an amazing place.  John Stossel, the news man, was playing volleyball with some of his cronies and the ball got away from the game and landed at my feet.  I threw the ball back to Stossel and he said “Thank you.”

Carrie and me on a bridge in Central Park.

Yes in 2014 and 2015 I wore the same shirt to NYC and I still have that shirt and I will wear it again if we ever go back.  When I was a junior in high school I wore the same shirt every Monday the entire school year.  It was The Monday Shirt.

In 2015 we got to Union Station via Poughkeepsie and found our way to a tour bus we had scheduled.  We didn’t walk 30 miles.  And we got to see more stuff.  We went up the Empire State Building.  We went to the Statue of Liberty where I took what I still think is a cool picture.

She is an amazing sight.

We saw the Reflecting Pools at Ground Zero where the World Trade Centers stood before…well..you know. Names of victims are on the ledges.  Unreal.

I’d like to think we will make it back to The Big Apple one day.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson