Duck sheds light on rat race

People have so thoroughly driven away animals wherever we go that it was a surprise to me recently when one little member of the animal kingdom invaded and conquered a space built for humans.

My senior companion wanted to arrange a trip for our little family to go to the Pocono Mountains. I hadn’t much experience with the Poconos except for those television commercials in the 1970s advertising hotels with heart-shaped hot tubs. So, right from the start of the conversation, I had a grumpy premonition about this adventure.

My senior companion mentioned a water park there, perfect for our 9-year-old junior companion. I thought, why can’t we just stay home in Riverdale?  I could read The New York Times, briefly worry about Donald Trump taking over the universe and take a nap. A perfect weekend.

But, no!  My senior companion had already made reservations. In other words, I was being ordered to have fun.

We drove out of the blazing hot Bronx into a blazing hot Route 80 going west. The asphalt didn’t look any different in northwestern New Jersey than it did in the northwestern Bronx.  

Things changed radically when we plowed toward the Pennsylvania border. Two Appalachian Mountain ridges, cut by the winding Delaware River, loomed in front of us — the spectacular Delaware Water Gap.

There was no time to linger here, even though I very much wanted to stay.  My companions were anxious to get to the water park.

In the water park, my companions and I swam in a pool generating artificial waves, jumped across solid plastic lily pads in another pool and floated through a concrete creek on rafts. We ate bad food too — fried chicken and ice cream.

The park also had enormous twisting water slides that looked like roller coasters, which no one in our little family felt brave enough to take on. Finally, there was an outdoor pool, which was three-and-a-half-feet deep. Now, here was a challenge we were ready to try!

The water was cold and it felt great to me. Beyond the pool and the park was a mountain, building in a series of abrupt ridges toward the summit and blanketed with green trees.