On Tuesday I spent the day in Acadia National Park, N 44 21.149', W 068 13.475' elev 1529 ft, in Maine. You can find the photos here. The weather on Tuesday was astoundingly beautiful, probably the best weather I have seen yet on the trip, so I was definitely blessed.

I started the trip by going to the visitor's center, and purchasing the National Park Pass for $50, which should allow me to enter any national park without paying anything more through June 2006. At the visitor's center, I also picked up a map of the park, and watched a short film about Acadia's history and features.

On the way out of the visitor's center, I met an older woman who was staring intently at a map of the park. She stopped me on my way to my car, and asked me if I knew how to get to the one way loop road in the park. I explained to her that I had just gotten there myself and that I didn't know, but I assumed it was the road out of the visitor's center. She told me she had already been out that way about three times and was unable to find the one way loop road. I thought this was strange, because on the map, it seemed pretty straightforward. So I showed her on the map, and she started getting agitated with me, and muttering under her breath. Well, at this point, I was kind of sick of this, because I just wanted to get out there and see the park myself, so I tried to get a word in edgewise to her muttering that perhaps she should go ask a park ranger. When I was finally able to say this to her, she looks at me and exclaims "I don't believe this!", and I told her to take it easy, so she responded with "yeah whatever", and stormed off in a huff. Whatever indeed.

I finally got underway in the park, and unfortunately, the roads really hug the hills, which while it makes for great driving, it causes my XM Radio to go in and out of service, which absolutely drives me crazy. There are a lot of scenic pull offs along the way in the park, and I stopped at most and took photos, and used my binoculars and just chilled at the spots. After a very short while, I came to the one way loop road. It was impossible to miss, proving once again, that people are idiots.

The first main attraction in the park is Sand Beach, which is a very beautiful beach in a protected cove.



I wandered onto the beach and spent about an hour and a half there just taking photographs, exploring, and digging my feet into the sand. The ocean water was exceptionally frigid; my feet went numb after only about a minute of exposure. There was, however, a little stream which flowed onto the beach, and the water in the stream was really warm and made for some good wading. There was also a lot of cool tide pools; I've always enjoyed playing in and around the tide pools. Both sides of the beach had a lot of rocks, so I got some good photos on each side. On the left side, I climbed up the rocks and up to a cliff about 20 feet above the beach. At the top of the cliff, there was this cool tree growing out of the rock. About this time, a very thick fog started rolling into the beach, which made some great photos. You could literally see water rolling off the ocean and dissolving into the air.

After the beach, the next attraction was Thunder Hole, where at certain times of day, the tides create a thunder like drumming sound on the breaker rocks.



I didn't spend as much time here, but I did take a lot of photos. One interesting thing to me was that I kept seeing the same people at the same attractions, i.e. I saw people at the visitor's center, they would make the same stops as me on the road pullouts, at the beach and at Thunder Hole. As long as I was taking at the attractions these people were taking the same amount of time. But no one is friendly, no one acknowledges that they just saw you ten minutes ago.

Just wanted to take this opportunity to make an inside joke from a family trip to Acadia when I was much younger.




Look, Jon, do you see the whales?

The final big attraction in the park is Cadillac Mountain, which is the highest point on the east coast of the US.




There were some great views up here, and the only thing to really mention is that the wind at the top was some of the most intense I have ever felt (standing in place, at least). The wind was strong enough that I had trouble standing up, but the great part about it is that it was a very warm wind, which gave me this really great feeling. I closed my eyes and just felt The Warmth, like a natural high. This leads into song number 2 on the Jon Sheldon Across America Soundtrack, The Warmth, by Incubus.

I'd like to close my eyes and go numb

But there's a cold wind coming from

The top of the highest high rise today

Its not a breeze cuz it blows hard

Yes and it wants me to discard the

The humanity I know, watched the warmth blow away

So don't let the world bring you down

Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold

Remember why you came and while you're alive

Experience the warmth before you grow old

So do you think I should adhere

To that pressing new frontier

And leave in my wake, a trail of fear

Should I hold my head up high

And throw a wrench and spokes by

I'm leaving the air behind me clear

So don't let the world bring you down

Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold

Remember why you came and while you're alive

Experience the warmth before you grow old