Acadia National Park

We're back. Kim and I spent 5 days in Maine. 2.5 days with family and 2.5 days at Acadia. We had a wonderful time with her cousin Wendy and husband Josh and their three adorable kids, Isaac, Anna and Noah. We played a lot in their backyard; hockey using a ball and baseball bats, frisbee golf (it was Isaac's idea!), plain old catch, trying to get me to master the unicycle only to laugh at me fall down, riding bikes, and my personal favorite trying to knock each other out of the hammock. By the way, I had a very nice nap in that hammock on Sunday afternoon. All of this was so nice especially after Kim's continuing job search and my final exam, which I got an A on and an A also for the class! We had some great talks with Josh and Wendy and look forward to going back up there soon. Monday morning we continued up the coast of Maine and were a bit exhausted from trying to figure out how to get there and setting everything up. But we did manage to go for a car tour around Acadia to see the sights. Tuesday was our adventure day. We got up nice and early and made eggs and sausages over the campfire(nothing like food cooked over a campfire). Then we set out for Long Pond and Mt. Mansell. We decided to take the Perpendicular trail, which was recommended in our guide book. It wasn't until we reached the trail that the "Perpendicular" part of the trail's name became so understandable. What was interesting about this trail is that much of the hike consists of a staircase made out of slabs of granite. It felt as if we had found the secret staircase that leads to Modor. After a challenging climb, we evetually made it to the top. And what did we see? Absolutely nothing because it was so foggy! Fortunately the fog cleared up... 2 hours later once we were squarely at the base! Nice. After the climb (and a desperate search for restroom, which ended successfully) we made our way to an enchanted rope swing that took some time to find; unmarked dirt roads and trails. But the time we put in to find it was well worth it. Not only was there a rope swing, but there were 15 foot cliffs to dive off of, which seems a lot higher when you are standing on them. The mountain in the background of the rope swimg picture is Mt Mansell. The lake was so refreshing especially since we had not showered for a couple of days. Later that afternoon we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountian which is the highest point on the island and, interstingly, the first place sunlight hits America each day between October and March. The picture of us was taken on Cadillac Mt. We spent the rest of the day in Bar Harbor, the main city closest to Acadia, doing some window shopping and going to Reel Cinema. This is no ordinary movie theater. This is a pizzeria and theater. You order your pizza, go and sit down in either regular movie seats that have a tray in front of you or in the couches closer to the front that require TV trays (we opted for the couch) and keep an eye on the elcetronic Bingo board for your order number to lite up signaling that your order was ready to be picked up. While most of the US was under a massive heat wave, it was nice and cool there, requiring us to wear jeans and long-sleeve shirts for most of the time. What a great place to get away from the daily concerns of life and enjoy the beauty of God's creation and not shave for a week. Gotta love that. School starts again on Monday (Hebrew II) and Kim continues the job search. Thanks go out to the seven folks who left us comments! Love getting home and having messages on the machine, e-mails in the inbox, and comments on the blog! Keep um coming!