I honestly did see stars—just like a Looney Tunes character who takes a blow to the noggin and collapses in a daze, with stars and tweety-birds circling his head.

Look around any theme park and you’ll notice two kinds of kids: the daredevils who ride every roller coaster, waving their hands in the air and screaming their heads off. And the timid ones, like I was, secretly praying they’ll fail the “you must be this tall to ride” test.

Kids are fascinated by sharks . . .

Squinting, leaning back, then leaning forward again, I traced my fingers against the faint edges of the 19th-century engravings. “In memory of D…? R…?” I called out to my 16-year-old daughter: “Hey, Sarah, I need your help again!”

“Two eagles sitting in a tree!” exclaims Jean Shoemaker, our 80-year-old spotter. “Look for the dead tree in the river, then go straight up the mountain and you’ll see them.” Everyone aboard the train swings to the windows to peer at a pair of bald eagles casually yet majestically looking out over the South Branch of the Potomac River.

A half dozen white egrets and blue herons strut along the riverbank scanning for fish, while a lone bald eagle, high on a tree limb, surveys the scene from above. Kingfishers and ospreys call all around us.