Maine Day 4: Acadia

Finally, after the long and winding road up the coast, Day 4 of vacation found us in Acadia National Park. Amazing. Beautiful. And, for our trip, very misty. Grey days with the fog rolling in and hovering over the ocean, winding its way up the mountains, over the islands, and onto the shore.

We had tried not to overplan for the day. Just a drive around the main loop in Acadia with a stop at the four major sights: Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond, and Cadillac Mountain. We received excellent guidance from the two women who ran the visitor center just outside the park... (Just a word of advice, stop at the smaller center outside the park rather than the main center. Much less crowded and excellent help!)

As it turns out, we did overplan... but luckily two of the sights were not really worth seeing that particular day. Thunder Hole was but a whisper with no waves to be seen thundering into the cave. And Cadillac Mountain was shrouded in mist. No view at all. Which makes it all the more fortuitous that we began our exploration of Acadia off the beaten path. We stopped at a pull out wondering what all the fuss was about. As we walked down the path towards the water, we were told to check out the cave.

Anenomie Cave it was called. We scrambled over slick rocks, slipping and sliding, trying to keep from dropping our cameras, to find a series of tide pools filled with wonders! (Well, wonders to someone who once dreamed of being an oceanographer!) Starfish. Snails. A few anenomies. Seaweed that seemed to glow in the dark. Beautiful. And a young girl, her mother, and father, a former oceanographer, to share in the wonder.

It was near the cave that we got our first view of a working lobster boat... off the coast, in the midst, with a real lobster woman!

We could have... and probably should have spent more time here. It was a great spot for taking pictures, scrambling on rocks, exploring tide pools...

But we did eventually make our way around to the famous Jordan Pond for popovers and chili... sitting out on the lawn overlooking the lake.

In between, we stopped at Sand Beach and built our own little rock tower, an ebenezer or sorts. I need to do more of that in my life. Stop along the way to build ebenezers, markers of those moments when you experience God's presence. I tend to pass by them so quickly. Failing to mark them. And in doing so, they pass so quickly from my memory. May I learn to do that in my life... take more time to mark God's presence.