Long time no blog!

So, I'm in the nicest place I've been to yet, and managed to find the cheapest camp site yet. AND it has INTERNET! Yay! :) I got so used to the ridiculous prices in Cape Cod ($30-40 for a piece of dirt to set up a tent on) that I figured every "destination" type place would be at least that much. Instead, it's $20 here. I think it's so cheap because it's not waterfront, but I've been waterfront all day so I'm ok with sleeping forestfront. The only downside is that I'm across the island from the gourmet pizza place/movie theater I just read about. I mean really...can it get any better than that?! Good pizza and a movie! So tomorrow I'm going to hike and bike all day and then go eat pizza before heading back to camp, since I'll already be set up. Not bad, right?

I've got a lot of blogging to make up for. I'd say I'd keep it short to make it easier to read, but this is my journal of my memories, so it's gonna be long and anyone reading can deal. Not like anyone's reading anyway.

So...friday...after spending the morning trying to get stuff done...organizing my car (it still is rather chaotic), matching socks (first time I've ever matched socks while sitting by the ocean), and attempting to get stuff mailed (some attempts being thwarted by the asshole workin the post office desk)...I headed to Bowdoin to see the school I almost went to. Or at least I like to think I almost went there. I have no idea how far down the list I was.

It really is a beautiful school, and I could totally see why I wanted to go there. I would still love to go spend some time there. It's like walking into the forest. Tall trees everywhere, and beautiful old brick buildings. I'm not sure if I would've liked going there though. Maine is a lot different from Montana or Colorado...not to mention really far away (it's even far from everything else in Maine), and I'm just not sure my 18 year old self would've been ready to handle that. It was nice in Denver being a 1-day drive from home and having family around. I'm not sure how much I actually would've liked being across the country from anyone I know in somewhere so different from what I'm used to. It did have a very welcoming vibe though, so who knows. My life sure would've been different had I been based out of Maine for my college years! Who knows what I'd be doing now. I did find myself looking at students I saw and thinking "Well you don't look that smart. How come you got in here and not me?" Ok maybe I'm still a little bitter.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early for my LL Bean sea kayaking trip. It was fun. It was me and 3 other people who were all about twice my age, along with two instructors. As expected for a $15 course it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world....but we did get to get out on the water and paddle around a bit. It was all in a harbor so it was basically like being on a lake except that the water was salty. (Mom, it smelled like scallops out there!) I don't think it's a sport I'll ever get in to, but it was a really fun way to start the morning.

After kayaking I went back in to town and wandered around for a bit. I found a store that sells lots of "Life is Good" products as well as some other really entertaining stuff, and it just happened to be having a big sale. So I picked out a bunch of t-shirts and bumper stickers and things....and then realized the all important rule of just because it's on sale doesn't mean you should buy it. I didn't realize just how expensive this stuff was to begin with, so the sale prices brought it down to marginally affordable but definitely not cheap! But I did manage to find the bumper sticker i've been looking for (though I didn't even know I was looking for it)!

I keep seeing those stickers that say "Not all who wander are lost", which at first I thought described me, but then I realized that 90% of the time I am in fact lost, I just tend to enjoy where ever I end up when I get there. I've been thinking about how I need a sticker that says "I have no idea where I'm going!" Well...I found that exact sticker! Woohoo!

Anyway...after shopping I wandered around the arts and music festival that happened to be going on in town. I had an "only in Maine" moment when I noticed there were 4 different stands in the central area selling lobster rolls. I figured I had to get one while I was there. So I did. And it was good.

After eating and enjoying some music I finally got on the road towards Acadia once again. I was excited to be finally making some distance, but after just over an hour of driving I realized that I was passing the town I'd read about in "1000 things to do before you die" that was famous for the best lobster rolls on the planet. And this wasn't a mere something I could blow off....I mean this little road side stand was featured in this book next to national parks, famous museums, etc. So I figured I'd better stop and try one. Problem was, I was still very very full from the last one. So...I had the bright idea that I would first go for a walk to work up an appetite. Turns out the town of Wicasset, Maine has very little that I have any interest in walking to. It did have what has to be the most antique stores per square mile of anywhere in the world! But since I'm not interested in antiquing I just walked up the hills and back down for a bit and then got in line. By the time I made it to the front of the line (it was a long one), I still wasn't hungry, but at least I'd made it to the point of being not full. So I had lobster roll #2 of the day and it was also very good. I also learned that I'm not near enough of a lobster connoisseur to know what makes it so amazing. But I do know that people travel for miles to go to this stand, and it's been featured in tons of books, magazines, and all over the Food Network, and now I can say I've been there.

After all that food it was starting to get dark and rainy, so I decided to find a campsite a bit early to avoid setting up in the pouring rain. Turns out, as soon as I got set up, it stopped raining altogether. I also stopped because the ocean views along the road were so beautiful I wanted to see them in the daylight. The next morning there was a thick fog. Gotta love irony.

The good news is, I got to bed early, so I woke up early and made it to Acadia early. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Acadia is a strange National Park because it doesn't have clear boundaries like most parks. It kind of spills over into the towns in the area, and it's hard to know when you're in the park and when you're not. There's also a lot of random little hikes that don't make it in to the park info. Thankfully I got some good advice from the LL Bean kayak instructors so I know what I'm looking for.

I decided to drive the Park View Road today, which goes through the central part of the park and hits a lot of the really nice scenic spots. It's a pretty cool set up because most of the road is two lanes one way, and you can park in the right lane. So if you see something you want to look at you can just pull over and park right where you are and check it out. I'm sure it's not nearly so easy in the busy summer season, but it's perfect now.

The first place I decided to stop was Sand Beach, the one and only sandy beach on the island (everything else is rock). From the beach I found some rocks to climb on, and soon noticed that I could traverse on these rock ledges and make it quite a ways. It was so awesome. It was just enough climbing to make it exciting without enough to require a rope and belayer. You had to pick a route and make your way up and down or side to side, all with an amazing view of the ocean below. As I traversed across I started hearing this strange rumbling sound underneath me. It sounded like thunder, though there were no thunder clouds anywhere. I finally figured out that I was near a cut out place where the waves were crashing under the rocks to make the noise. I tried to get video of it to record the sound but my camera didn't pick it up too well. Regardless it was so so cool to have "discovered" this spot. And it just shows how amazing this place is, that even after having been explored so thoroughly, it has places that can make a person feel like their the first to discover it. There are trails in the park, but there's also lots of places like this to go off trail, as long as you stay on the rocks so you're not harming the plant life. (Later down the road there was a place called Thunder Hole that had another one of these things though there was a paved walkway to get down to it. Not nearly so fun).

On the other side of the sandy beach I found a set of stone stairs going up into the trees. I followed them and ended up on a neat little 3 mile or so loop with lots more rocks to play on. I found a great little place to sit in the rocks off to the side and it nearly brought me to tears just being there watching the waves crash against the rocks. I was in a place where I couldn't see or hear anyone else. It was just me and the ocean and it was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen. Amazing. I had considered finding a church this morning because i've been wanting to go to a service in one of the cool old churches out here. Instead I found a place that, if you ask me, is about as close to god as a person can ever hope to become.

So after that hike I finally made it back to my car, having turned my planned quick stop into a 3 hour adventure. It's funny because the description I'd had of that beach was that it was a good place to sit and relax. I stopped there to eat my pb & j but beyond that did no relaxing. It was definitely awesome though!

After a few more scenic stops I went for lunch at the only place with food in the park (which was way overpriced but had these amazing flaky muffin/roll things called popovers) and then went to find my campsite. And then tonight....here's the big news....I used my stove! Yay! I heated up some Dinty Moore chicken stew that I got from the gas station nearby. I had all the makings for spaghetti but decided I needed as few extra distractions as possible, and multiple ingredients seemed like a distraction. But I made my stew and figured out my stove all by boo self! :) It's funny because with things like this I tend to hear my own voice with what I was saying to the kids this summer. As adventure staff, it was essentially my job to convince kids that they wanted to do something they weren't sure they wanted to do (climb the tower, do the zip line, etc.). So I'd use a lot of phrases like, "It's not as scary as you think," or "You'll be happy you did it once you're done," or "Think of the great stories you'll have to tell your friends," or "You'll be so proud of yourself afterwards." Well kiddies, if you're reading...It was scary, but not nearly as hard as I'd thought, I'm happy I did it, I've got a great story to tell my friends, and I'm very proud of myself gosh darnit. I feel ready to take on the world! Or at the very least the soup aisle at the grocery store. :)

(And on that same note...one more similar achievement...On friday night when I decided not to blog...I built my first ever campfire completely by myself. Yay! I cheated a little...I used one of these little fire-starter balls I got from REI...but the directions said to use 2 or 3 to start a fire and I only needed one. They're pretty cool...like a compressed ball of kindling. Oh and I also had a decomposing tree stump on my site that was essentially spewing out nice dry wood for me. So I guess I'm "official" now. I can light a campfire AND use a propane stove! Though I'm still afraid of things that spontaneously make fire (yes even lighters make me a little nervous) but I'm getting much better.)