Off Maine Street

Acadia National Park and its surrounding areas was one of my most anticipated stops of our journey thus far for a couple of reasons. First, it was a much needed break of visiting cities and allowed us to get out into nature for a good while again. Second, within the park is the point in the continental US that receives the first rays of sunlight everyday. And finally, as chance would have it, we would get to run into some great friends. We met up with Doug and Lindsay in her hometown just outside of Bangor, and the next day proceeded to the park. Now for some reason, when Doug and I get together, we always push the limits of sanity once or twice. In fact when we go to do something together, Cels usually reminds Doug that she is putting my safety in his hands, and if I die, she may kill him. Now remember, its early May in Maine. The water in the Bay of Maine is hovering at a brisk 45 degrees. I think if you looked hard enough you may have been able to see an iceberg floating way out in the distance. We pulled up to the coastline, and it was at that point that my brain shut off so what was the first thing I did when I saw the water? “Hey Doug! Lets go swim!!” Doug immediately flashed his eyes to Lindsay looking for a way out, but she provided none. He quickly tried “But I don’t have a swimsuit”, sadly an argument that weak didn’t hold up for long as I had a home on wheels with ample shorts available for borrowing. So there we went. Running Baywatch style out into the waves, ready to take on the sea. I fear it would be an understatement to say that the cold shocked us. I remember running back out of the water and noticing the tips of my toes were already starting to go numb. Now an intelligent person would not have gotten into the water once. And even a stupid person would wouldn’t subject themselves to that sort of torture again. So I guess that makes Doug and I special, because we decided it was worth another go. The ranger Celsey and I met later in the week told us that Doug and I may be the only two people (idiots) that get into the water all year. It was sweet.

Before the sun rose to begin the next day, Cels and I were up, dressed, had eaten breakfast and were furiously hiking Cadillac Mountain with our headlamps. Some people far smarter than I have figured out that as the sun rises to begin a new day, the first place the rays hit in the entire continental is the top of Cadillac Mountain. We made the summit before the sunrise so as it stands Celsey and I were the first two people in ALL OF AMERICA to see the sun on May 13 th ,2011.

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