Mount Pocono - Pennsylvania

On Sunday the 20th June we left Newark, Delaware, and headed off north to Pennsylvania and my cousin Anne in Mount Pocono. Mount Pocono is up in the mountains a couple of hours drive from Philadelphia. It is famous for having been a honeymooner's resort in the fifties. I guess the closeness to New York City (about two hours away) helped. It is still a resort, especially in winter when the mountains are covered with snow. The Poconos range is part of the Appalachian system.

I had not seen Anne since 1989 when I visited her in NYC. It was absolutely wonderful to see her after so many years! In an instant, those twenty years just disappeared and we just started chatting right away.

Anne lives with her husband Steve and their two youngest children Aubrey and Alex (19 and 14) in a beautiful house on a wonderful lake. Their eldest daughter, Asheley, lives in Ohio with her family.

Anne and Steve have four cats whom Georgie loved to chase around the house... They also have a cockatoo and a huge aquarium filled with fish, and also some mini-sharks. We also enjoyed all the animals outdoors, especially little Fred, the curious chipmunk.

We were invited to go and see a Mets game in Queens, NYC on Tuesday night. It felt almost surreal to drive from the mountains and then two hours later arrive in the metropolis. We saw the Chrysler building in the distance and all the skyscrapers around what used to be the World Trade Center. We arrived at the stadium in time to have a look-around. It was brand-new. We did some fan shopping (somewhat limited as we are Chicago Cubs fans ...!). We thoroughly enjoyed the setting and the explanations given by Steve and Anne and also the great hotdogs, burgers and ice cream. The game was fun and of course the Mets won over the Detroit Tigers ...

The following day we spent the afternoon at the Camelback water park. It was a great day with sun, fun and lots of rides. We tumbled around in the manmade rivers and slides (the Titan was a particular crowd pleaser). Anne's colleague, Betty, came with her two sweet little girls, Veronique (7) and Ashely (4), and Georgie had a ball. We all did.

(J)

photo credits: Steve