Written by Day ten. Acadia National Park. Schoodic Woods Campground.
After dark on night number nine some clues of what was to come started to show themselves. Around 8 pm, the kids and I started noticing some lightning flashing away off in the distance. As night nine became day ten, the thunder had started and a storm was closing in.
I kept checking the radar on my phone and could see a sizeable, volatile group of thunderstorms overtaking Down East Maine. By 2 am I was sitting up on my cot, in the dark, praying for our safety. The kids were still sleeping on their air mattress in their sleeping bags. I prayed off and on until after 3:30 am, as the worst thunderstorm I can ever remember passed over us and past. Thunder so loud that the ground our tent was staked to, it shook. By 4 am I started to think about sleeping again. I could still hear thunder and see lightning lighting up the sky to our south and east. I knew that we had been delivered despite the pounding rains, and the winds blowing water sideways at our tent, all while the immense power in lightning all around us never damaged anything nearby. As morning broke, the storm was long gone and the weather was the best of the week.
The twins and I ventured out and went to Frazer Creek to explore the shallow waters for most of the morning. We found sea urchins, sand dollars, crabs, snails, mussels, and more. Then we did the Children’s Nature Hike led by Ranger Katie. This was not our first interaction with Ranger Katie, and she was fantastic every single time.
After running into Ellsworth to run a few errands, we returned to Frazer Creek and played in the water some more. Ranger Katie had mentioned the sunsets at Schoodic Point, and since we had a sunny, clear day, we trekked to the point after our stop at Frazer Creek. The evening was gorgeous and pictures don’t do justice to the tremendous beauty of the setting sun over Cadillac Mountain. You can see the pictures I added here, and I took three times that many, because every minute the scene changed, and seemed to get better. As dark finally approached, we returned to camp and got a nice fire going. I cooked up supper, and we were all in bed early. The kids were asleep in no time!
Click on the pictures to open them up.
We found several sea urchins at Frazer Creek.
We actually found several dozen sea dollars all around the cove.
Ranger Katie was awesome every time we had a chance to interact with her.
Ranger Katie took this picture of the twins and I. The water in the background is the Mt. Desert Narrows with Cadillac Mountain and Bar Harbor beyond that.
The twins and I sat up high on some rocks and just watched the waves pound the rocks. We watched the sun-splashed seemingly change colors every few minutes as the sun was setting. It was such a pleasant place to be.
Then, of course, the sun was setting. The twins posed briefly in between expeditions to explore every nook and cranny along this coastal area.
Theodore took a moment for his own picture with the setting sun.
Jacqueline was so thrilled to see Schoodic Point and the sunset, that she told me, “I just want to live here.”
The setting sun lit up this area on the western side of Schoodic Point.
Despite a lot of other people out on the point to watch the sunset, moments like these, looking at the beauty, made it feel like we were there by ourselves.
After the raging storm tore through the area just 15 hours prior, the evening was spectacular at Schoodic Point.