The tree was tall with many branches for climbing up to the top. It stood next to the alley in the yard near our apartment building. I knew once I climbed to the top I could probably see for miles. I was about nine years old at that time and loved to climb trees and was not afraid of heights at all. My mother caught me several times climbing other smaller trees and would holler at me to get out of that tree before you break something. This one was different. Every branch as I looked up into it seemed to be like a ladder from one branch to the next up and up as far as I could see standing along side the huge trunk of this tree. I knew too that if I got up into it far enough that no one could find me because it had huge leaves growing on the branches too. My Mother especially would not find me and holler at me to get out of this tree. I just knew this tree would make a great tree house tree. Trouble was I was to short to reach the first few branches to start climbing. So I found several boards of wood and some nails with a rock and hammered them into the trunk to make a ladder to get to the first branch. After many bent nails and cracked boards I finally made enough rungs to reach the first branch of that tree. It was a all day task to find the nails and old boards to make my ladder on the tree. Most of the nails I found were already in boards and I had to bang them out backwards and loosen them enough to wiggle them out. Then I had to straighten them back out with a rock enough to nail them into the boards for my ladder rungs. By the time I had finished my ladder it was almost dark out and I knew my Mother would be hollering for me to come for the day. As I laid in my bed that night all I could think about was how I was gonna climb up in that big tree and see a long way off from the top of that tree. How I could build a tree house of my own. No one would dare climb that high besides me. As I fell asleep that night I just knew I could climb to the top and not fall. The very next morning I finished my choirs after I ate breakfast and told my Mother I was going out to play. She hollered as I went out the door to not climb up in any trees. As I sat and stared at my tree by the alley I looked at how high it really was. I imagined just how far I would be able to see once I was at the top. Maybe all the way to the lake I was sure. The lake was about two miles away my brother told me one time. Hes older than me and he knows those things. I walked over to that big tree and stared up through the branches. Oh well its now or never. I went up the ladder I built and began to climb up the branches. Up and up I went. Half way up I took a rest on a big branch and looked around abit before I decided to climb some more. I could see the tops of the cars and trucks and even on top of the store across the alley. There were alot of birds resting up there on the store roof. I looked back at our apartment and could see in the windows of the third story apartments. Wow I’m up high already I thought and I’m only half way there now. Excited now I began to climb more. Almost to the top now I looked down through the branches and could see some of the other kids playing in the yard under my tree near our apartment building. It was Johnny and his sister Kathy playing in the sand box. They couldn’t see me but I could see them. I giggled a little and turned and continued to climb. All the way to the top I went. As I pulled away the leaves of the tipsy top branches I could not believe my eyes. I could not only see to lake. I could see much, much farther than that. The mountains were so many way off in the distance. I had only been to the Great Smokey Mountains once or twice on picnics with my family. This time I was there all by myself flying over the top of them. It amazed me and all I did was stare at the horizon at them mountains for the longest time. After awhile I started to look around at all the streets, at the people walking around, the traffic going up and down the roads as far as my eyes would let me until they would get so small and disappear off into the distance. As if I was in a dream I could see the world for as far as I thought had to be miles and miles. The clouds were so far away on the horizon but the ones above me I felt as if I could almost reach them if this tree was only twice as high. Day dreaming now I heard my Mother holler for me to come to eat some lunch. As I climbed down through the branches of my tree all I could do was smile from ear to ear. A happy feeling came over me as I finally had my feet back on the ground. I pranced into the house as proud as a peacock. Grinning as I ate my lunch my Dad looked at me funny as if he knew. He smiled back. I wanted to tell him of my new adventure but for now I will just remember that only me and the birds can go where I’ve been. Now I must think about that tree house ideal.