Our trip to New Your was almost as much fun as the one to Milwaukee. My husband had completed his first Navy days at Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago and was home for a few days leave before being sent to the east coast for further training.

      As I recall, it was about 6 hours before he was to leave when he asked me to go along. Travelling with our not quite 3 year old son, I was packing wildly when my sister, who was living with me while her hsuband was in the Army in Nebraska, decided, as she had nothing keeping here here, she might as well tag along. Her daughter could stay here with her grandmother.

      We caught the train in Amberg, flagging it down at 11pm as was needed when someone wanted to become a passenger. We rode as far as Chicago, changing trains there for the remainder of the trip to the east.

      Dorothy, Allen and I were deposited in New York, while my husband left for his base at Quonset Point. We would later go on to a brother and sister-in-laws house in Pennsylvania while hubby found us lodgings in Rhode Island.

      As long as we were in New York, we decided to take in the sights, the first being Fifth Avenue. Little Allen had a skull cap made out of fake leopard skin, which he wore day and night. It was his very favorite piece of clothing... but standing beside Fifth Avenue the favorite cap decided it would like to see the sights too, and so having made that decision, it took itself off Allens head and deposited itself out in the middle of the street. I don't remember which of us stupid women ran out there dodging traffic, but I know that one of us did, desperately retreiving the dratted cap and slamming it back on his little head with the order to keep it there.

      While we were again looking over Fifth Avenue, we left our luggage sitting next to the buildings and walked out to the edge of the sidewalk to view the buildings. Thanks to an honest policeman, we were told never, never to leave our luggage or anything else alone in New York.... or anyplace, for that matter, or we would find them missing when we went back to pick them up.

      Next we found a taxi and asked the driver to show us a few of the New York sights. he showed us the Statue of Liberty, which was truely iompressive... The Empire State Building and a few other interesting things. The only thing being we did not know we weere going to be charged enough for him to make the next months payment on his cab!!! New York was beginning to be very expensive.

      Finally we got headed to our brothers house, where my husband was to meet us later that day. His first news upon arrival was that Dorothy's husband was to have surgery in a few days and would she leave immediately for Nebraska.

      The next day the three who were left went to Providence, Rhode Island where he had found lodgings of a sort. Another sailor who had recently lost his wife, had an apartment in a housing project where he lived with his baby daughter. At the present time his sister and her little son lived there with him and took care of the baby, Judy. But she was a Floridian and wanted to go back to her home, so we were to live there, with me taking care of the baby. She was so adorable it wasn't hard to do and the apartment was already furnished so we moved in. Providence was a lovely city, the neighbors were very friendly and we were never charged to ride the bus, no matter how far we travelled.

      However, there was one thing. We had actually moved into the apartment illegally, and so after the babys sailor father received a hardship discharge to care for his daughter, we were told we had to move out as there was a backlog of applicants for the apartments and we had to wait our turn. As it happened, my husband got his orders to go overseas, I was given enough gas coupons to return to Wisconsin, and my brother and wife drove Allen and me back home.