October 4 - “Thunder Hole”

34 degrees outside when I woke up. And we had the AC going in the hotel room. It was a bit chilly. Then we got out to the car. Ice all over the windows. Had to run the defroster overtime.

 

We still braved the nearby National Park. Acadia, it was called. And we had an entry permit to go on the highest road in Maine, as long as we arrived between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m.  We pulled up to the ranger station at 8:57. Just in time. Hey. All that ice we had to deal with slowed us down.

 

The view from the summit was amazing. Very cold. But amazing. We did a little hiking and a lot of picture-taking. What can I say? Chris was with me. the picture lady.  After the mountain peak we headed down to sea level to see and hear a place they call Thunder Hole. Now before I go any further, I must confess that somebody who happened to be driving at the time may or may not have taken a wrong turn and put us a couple of miles in the wrong direction. I can’t imagine how that could have happened. That driver is usually so good. We’ll just have to pull … his … privileges.

 

Back to the adventure. Thunder Hole is a natural rock formation on the coast where the waves come crashing in. It is a cave of sorts, so when the vast volume of water is forced in, hits the back of the cave and roars out, the sound is a lot like thunder. Hence the name. It really was loud, by the way. And I was duly impressed.

 

Our next stop was the park visitor center. That’s usually where we go first, but that timed entry through us off. Chris got her stamp, though, so we could unceremoniously declare the trip a success.

 

Not that the trip was complete as of yet. Our final stop was a lighthouse. Imagine that. Chris was really excited to see it. Good thing, too. That excitement tided her over when we had to literally wait in line in our car for someone to leave the site so we could park. The lighthouse was pretty plain and simple. No one was allowed inside, though, because it was an operating lighthouse, and the keeper lived there. No visitor center. No gift shop. It did have one of those stinky park bathrooms, though, and there was a long line for them, too. Before we left we took a hike down to the rocky shore where we could see the lighthouse from the perspective of a ship, albeit a ship about to crash into the shore and sink. Good hike. Lots of steps up and down.

 

Chris took over driving for the long trip south to our next destination. I think we have reached the part where lighthouses become the star. Well, lighthouses and that one flagship grocery store Chris wants to go to. I’m pretty sure it specializes in vegetables. Long and Lean Beans in particular. At least that’s the name of it: LL Bean.

 

As we got further south, we went international. We drove around in Belfast when we accidentally got off the road we needed. Cute little town. Even had a Curling Club. Not how we expected to spend that five minutes, though. Bonus!

 

We saw several more wild turkeys but still no mooses. Chris’ best friend Google Siri sent us on a wild goose chase to avoid tolls. Avoid them we did, and we also saw some great back country.

 

Finally, we arrived at our stop for the night. The clerk recommended we eat at Sea Dog Brewing Co., so that’s where we went. The building was right on the river in a basement level room. Fascinating ambiance and history of the building. I had fish and chips. Chris had clam chowder. Pretty good stuff.

 

Back at the hotel, or the maze as we like to call it (the building is three buildings tied together, and we are in the back building), we finally had time to get out clothes washed. Now we are good to go until we get back home. The road south begins today.

 

1 Samuel 2:2 says, “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

 

Father, thank you for the bitter cold yesterday. It made us appreciate our Island tropical weather even more. Amen.