Dream: New York City was sweltering and I longed for a cooler place to escape to. Then I envisioned something amazing: instead of pushing my baby stroller up and down city streets with Mommy walking Puppy on a leash beside me–the three of us popping into my favorite air-conditioned boutiques to cool off–I saw myself running through endless sidewalks of grass with puppy sprinting ahead of me off his leash into giant puddles of water (Mommy called them lakes?). Could this place be real?
Reality: I wasn’t sure about leaving the big city, but my recent trip outside NYC was a wonderful break from the heat. This place was beautiful! I had never seen so much green in one place except in my storybooks. I could feel the moist grass tickling my toes through my sandals. I ran to the left and then to the right and there was still more pretty things to see. I ran across bridges, over water and along stone paths. And I climbed up a foothill and slid down a rock stairwell. It was like nature’s own obstacle course. And in the middle of it all were lots of rivers and flowers. I must have been in paradise, but Mommy called it…the country.
I ran as fast as I could chasing after my puppy. He sprinted so fast and jumped so high that he looked like a jackrabbit! While we were playing, I tripped over my tiny toes and fell into a pile of soft grass. I reached down and felt it with my fingers. Not knowing my own strength, I ripped some up from the ground and the little blades blew away as they fell from my hand. It was so stimulating that I did it a few more times. And then puppy came and gobbled the grass up. Yuck!
Soon after, Puppy and I were running nonstop (again). Mommy and Daddy could barely keep up with us. It looked like a family choo choo train with puppy up front, followed by me close behind, and Mommy as the caboose. Mommy called for me to come back, but before I could even protest I spotted ducks in a lake. I ran up to the lake and, taking Mommy’s hand in mine, leaned close and gave my best, quack, quack! And guess what? The ducks quacked right back. We started quacking up a storm. When we first counted the ducks, there were only five, but by the end I was making such great duck conversation that Mommy counted 25. I saw ducks in all different sizes and shapes that made a beautiful family.
While the ducks were fun and all, I soon tired of quacking and looked for different company. Puppy led us through trails to a farm. I met llamas, donkeys, chickens, roosters, peacocks, and lots of other animal friends. The chickens and roosters said I could bawk, bawk (imagine me flapping my wings while making the sound to get the full effect) and cock-a-doodle-doo better than they could! Daddy pointed out that the inn where we were staying had a farm-to-table restaurant and Mommy said not to tell me or I’d be a vegetarian. (Note: I had pasta for dinner that night.)
After lunch, I tried to make a run for it toward more animals but stopped short in my tracks when I saw an electric fence. Yikes! Who thinks of such cruel things? I know I certainly don’t like boundaries. I hope they never make electric fences on playpens for kiddos like me! Before I could further reflect on that awful invention, Daddy was right there to scoop me up and somehow redirected my attention.
We were on our way up a very rocky and wet path. Clearly, I was strong enough to hike but Daddy needed an extra workout to keep in good shape. So he picked me up and Mommy and puppy followed. Before I knew it, we were staring at the biggest shower I had ever seen. Mommy said it was nature’s shower and called it a waterfall. It was breathtaking. Literally, I don’t think I moved or said anything for at least a millisecond. I watched the water fall down the mountainside and into the lake below. Sometimes it splashed off rocks or tree limbs first and other times it shot straight down.
I found a tree swing and the four of us (puppy included) cuddled up on it to enjoy the view. All I could think was, I am not in NYC anymore. Here, rocks touched the sky instead of buildings. You could hear birds tweet instead of pigeons gobble crumbs (rats with wings, as Daddy calls them). The water lightly falling on me from above was from a waterfall instead of an icky air-conditioning unit. The simple wonders of the country were simply wonderful!
Our weekend in the country was full of more natural wonders, too. I played hide and seek with Mommy in corn stalks. I chased puppy through weeping willow branches. I climbed up a tree and swung from one of its branches (Mommy helped a bit). I actually saw stars in the sky and not just airplane lights. And I played hard and slept even harder, falling asleep to real nature sounds–not the ones on my sound machine.
By the time we got back in our car to head back to the big city, I was so tuckered out from my country adventure that I could barely keep one eye open to watch the inn get smaller and smaller out the rear view window. When I woke, it was to the familiar city sounds of cars honking and sirens blaring. There’s no place like home!
