Childhood Memory/Memories to Give to My Kids

Supermom tagged me for this one. I wanted to take some time to try and remember the best memory I possibly could. Here it is:

I grew up in North Jersey in an old mining town. We lived at the base of a hill/mountain which was filled with gigantic boulders and had an old abandoned train track running along it. "The Woods", as we kids called it, was our playground.

At the bottom where the boulders collected during the Ice Age and produced cave-like shelters, we formed clubs with rules and all. There was "The Girls Only Club",
"The Cool Kids Only Club", "The Keep Our Secrets Secret, Or I'll Kick Your Ass Club". Those clubs never lasted past the first day because we'd fight over who would be President. It couldn't be resolved with a vote because we all voted for ourselves.

Climbing up the face of the hill, reaching the train track and taking a Louey would put you in the direction of The Falls. After walking a couple of miles, you'd come to a granite post with "W" engraved in it. This was used back in the Olden Days by the Conductors driving the old steam trains to locate where the water was so that they could fuel up and continue on their way. A trail led to The Falls and if you continued, you would come to a house where, legend had it, a bull lived in the yard. Some kids would tell us about their adventures of reaching the house only to be chased down the trail by the bull. We thought their story was bullshit, but we still didn't have the guts to attempt the adventure ourselves. Instead we'd just float down The Falls and get a bit banged up and dirty...but it was fun anyway.

If you took a right on the tracks, and walked a couple of miles, to the left you'd find a small beaten path that led up to "The Vines". There were humongous trees with long woody vines hanging down in just the right places. One of us would take hold of a vine, climb up a perfectly set boulder and we'd launch off, flying through the air. We'd each take turns and learned lessons in setting rules, following them, and letting our fellow friend have a shot at being Tarzan. We would decide who was first by either singing "Eeny Meeny Miny Mo", or playing Rocks, Scissors, Paper. Each person got three fly-bys. After their last turn, they'd stand at the top of the boulder holding the vine and handing it off to the next kid who climbed up.

When The Woods started getting dark we'd venture back down the hill to see if the street lights were on. This was the signal that told us it was time to go home.

Memories I Hope To Give My Kids
I'll simply let them go off on their way to find their own adventures so that they have memories to share with their own children.

I hereby tag Kerri and Julia