This morning I woke up in the 1970s. At least that’s where I was transported to as I peered out the window and saw our first measurable snowfall of the season here in Greater Binghamton. I would peg it at about two inches of the white fluffy stuff piled up on the grass like big balls of cotton.

I grew up in the Norwich, New York area in the 1960s & 70s. We lived outside of town, up in the hills, between Norwich and a little town called New Berlin (pronounced New Berlllyn, roll the Ls). It’s about an hour’s drive north from where I live today. Growing up in the country had it’s ups and downs–but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I remember more than one winter growing up when there was enough snow on the ground that I could ride my snowmobile on Thanksgiving Day! All winter long I rode my Artic Cat over snow drifts, through the fields, and into the Whaupaunaucau State Forest which bordered our property. I fondly recall riding with my neighbor friends Danny Bates (also an Arctic Cat) and Troy Chawgo (die-hard Polaris family) until my face felt like it would fall off from the cold.

Seeing the snow this morning reminded me of my old Arctic Cat, and that brings a smile. After I left home to go to college in Virginia and later to Washington, DC (in the early 1980s), I sold that old snowmobile to my dad–a couple of different times! I’d wait a year or two and sell it to him again. But then he wised up one day and turned around and sold it to someone else. I guess when he finally sold that old snowmobile I knew I had grown up. Not that snowmobiles are just for kids. Selling that snowmobile somehow signified I had finally moved on and was establishing a life on my own.

Every now and again it’s fun to go back and visit the 1970s.

Technorati Tags: Binghamton, Norwich NY, Whaupaunaucau State Forest, Arctic Cat, snowmobile