The sun came out!
Hooray, the sun came out the day we decided to get tickets to drive up to the Cadillac Mountain summit in Acadia. We got to see the beauty of Maine.
On the way to the park we saw a wide river with beaver dams. I had wondered if we’d see any because it looked like someplace beavers would settle. We’ve seen remarkably little wildlife, but at least there was evidence of the beavers here. The concept of beavers building dams is fascinating to me. And, of course, beavers feature importantly in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” so there’s that.
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The beaver dams
A tree the beaver cut for his dam.
We also stopped to take pictures of a stone church with a pretty stone marker in front. As I was walking around taking shots, an old man who was doing the gardening walked over. I said to him that the church was beautiful and I’m sure it was kept that way because of the work by people like him. He asked if we’d like to see the inside and I said that would be wonderful. Randy joined me as he showed us around inside. He told us the story of their church membership and it is like so many of ours—lots of gray heads, several older members passed away recently, and they average 20 to 40 people at a service. He then told us about the house he and his wife live in just a little ways from the church. He said De Gaulle, FDR, and maybe also Churchhill had stayed in it during the war. However, we wouldn’t read anything about that in writing—it was “top secret.”
In the park we headed to the Cadillac Mountain Summit road, which had ticketed, timed entry. The mountain is 1530 feet, which Randy noted is only about half the height of Mt. Umunhum by us—and we kind of think of that as a hill. Still, the views were stupendous and it was unique in its stony granite landscape.
Although it seems like you just see green—grass and trees—there are flowers out there, too. On the summit, as I looked at the tiny flowers tucked in the rocks, I was reminded of the writing by Debra Rienstra where she writes about our “Refugia Faith.” I haven’t read her book, but I’ve read some articles. The signs on the summit, too, talked about protecting the refuges as the climate changes.
On the ride in the park we visited the flower gardens and saw several pretty stone bridges.
And after our great day enjoying God’s beautiful creation, we split a lobster for dinner, along with a few sides. Yes, even the campground has lobsters for sale!
That night it started raining again and we discovered our trailer’s roof had a small leak. When it was still raining the next day, we took a walk through the town of Bar Harbor and then decided to leave a couple days earlier than we’d planned, which we’d already contemplated earlier.
Randy and his cousin Pam who lives in New Jersey had been texting and we met her at a hotel in Farmington, NY. We had dinner then breakfast together and then drove to Terre Haute, IN, to spend the night there. We’re thinking we’ll drive to Pawhuska, OK, and see the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile. I have been following her for years and it would be kind of fun to see, I think.