Palisades Interstate Park June 2009

I had thought of entitling this photo spread “Unfinished Business”, but that would have confused everyone. Let me explain. Several years after we came to the USA, my fathers employer moved from Manhattan to Englewood Cliffs. We then left the city to move to Cliffside Park and it was there that my father bought his first car, a 1951 Nash. From then on, we travelled by car exclusively. We went to Palisades Park many a time but always by car to obe of the picnic areas. Many is the time that we swore that we would hike the trails but we never did. Back in Germany one of our favorite pastimes was hiking in the woods. Yes we would pick berries and mushrooms but the greatest joy was being in the woods with moss under our feet.. My mother knew an endless number of old hiking songs but our favorite ones were of Swedish origin. The Swedes must possess this love for being out in the woods to an extreme degree. So when my father bought the car, we largely abandoned hiking. In hiking through Palisades Interstate Park today, I was merely keeping a promise we had made to each other many times.

Palisades Interstate Park June 2009