I peeked out through the tent windows at 5am hoping to see clouds and no sunrise at all. Brayden and I had been up for awhile at 2am with him all stuffed up with a sore throat. He tried some Benadryl to try to be able to sleep but it took quite awhile to kick in. So I was hoping to be able to go back to sleep for at least another hour, but I just couldn't. There was pink all around and the sun was very close to poking out from behind the trees. I doled out my pillow, sleeping bag and sleeping pad to sleeping little people and headed out to the rocks.
Upon checking in I'd read the brochure about the park on the back of the campground map. We were amazed at the tides here - 24-26 feet every 6 hours! Having grown up and still living on the same body of water, I'd always assumed tides were just like hours but wow! The rocks I stand on at sunrise are completely covered within 5 hours. It looks like a completely different place! The Indians who lived here long ago called this bay the "Boiling Waters" and I can now see (or hear) why. There is a sound of organisms moving and bubbles popping all around me as I sit with the quiet sunrise, much like a pot of boiling water. As I'm sitting there I keep looking around me as it sounds as if something is crawling all around me but I see nothing! Very strange!
After another warm breakfast, our plan was to head back to Acadia to slip in one more day before our pass expires. We packed up pretty quickly then took a moment to examine under a huge log Ryan had been asking to roll over. There were hundreds of centipedes, roly-polys, and slugs so rudely awakened and scurrying away as fast as they were made to. The kids oh-ed and ah-ed for about 10 minutes - what a great impromptu biology lesson!
We got on the road and made our first stop at Rite Aid for some cold medicine where I met the cashier from Ft Walton Beach! We talked for a few minutes about how she came to live in Maine - what a small world!
After a quick stop at a roadside blueberry stand, we were back in Acadia for more fun. We parked at the main visitor's center and took the bus around to Bubble Rock, Jordan Pond, and finally Northeast Harbor. This area was MUCH different than touristy, commercial Bar Harbor so we walked around to enjoy the area for awhile.
You can tell we were treated this day to a much more beautiful day than our last few rainy Maine days.
After walking around the dock area, we hopped back on the bus for a stop at Bar Harbor for an ice cream snack. This cookie sandwich was huge, but we finished it in well under 2 minutes!
By early afternoon, we said goodbye to Acadia and we were headed to our next spot - Camden Hills State Park. Our drive from Cobscook Bay was just beautiful snaking in and out of the coastline and through quaint little towns. There were too many taverns, wineries, and art galleries to count!
Once we arrived at the park and got all set up with our new tent, I cooked a quick dinner and we headed to the local laundromat. The kids were down to their last outfits and were going to have to wear pjs everywhere if I didn't get on the ball! I connected to the wifi so we could skype with Dave while our clothes were spinning - it had been since Toronto since they'd seen him and the animals!
We closed down the laundromat (woohoo!) and headed to our new home for bed. But not before reading another chapter of our book!
Quote of the Day: "I like being back here..." by Brayden who says this is his favorite part of the trip so far. Makes a momma smile!
Day 23 - Small Worlds and Big World
