For someone who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, I was not exposed to much of the countryside or farm life. But watching cartoons and movies that portrayed it always had me wonder what it was like to milk a cow.

Thus, that made it on to my bucket list.

Last weekend, my good friend Michelle had planned to visit her grandparents’ who live in Round Top, Texas. Round Top is a very small town with a population varying from ninety to a hundred people. So you can imagine a town so small would be in the countryside and it was.

Michelle’s grandparents are not farmers, but they live near a family-owned farm in La Grange, Texas that gives guided tours that allow guests to visit and feed farm animals, try their dairy products, and observe how they are processed (and most importantly for me... milk the cows).

Michelle knew how much I wanted to experience milking a cow, so as an amazing friend, she invited me to tag along with her to visit her grandparents and added the visit to the farm onto the itinerary. Not only did she fulfill my wish, but I also got to experience the wonderful southern hospitality her family provided. They executed the stereotype so well that I felt as though I was part of the family, too.

The experience of milking a cow was different from the way I imagined it to be in a few ways. The first was that the milk did not come out of the cow’s teats (nipples) as fast as I thought it would. It could have also been the way I milked it. The second was that I didn’t realize how dirty cows are, especially since they roll around in the dirt. Thus, as a semi-germophobe, I was grossed out initially, but my childhood wish overcame that real fast.

I enjoyed how this weekend getaway allowed us to escape city life for a brief moment and soak in the tranquil nature this part of pastoral Texas has to offer. I guess countryside ain't so bad for a city girl like me, after all!