28 June 2014

Happy Saturday!

My day off started quite gradually. I was a little sore this morning because of my run last night. Between having to pee and being really hungry, I coaxed myself out of bed a little before 9:00.

The rest of the morning wasn't too noteworthy.

I went for a recovery run around noon. Felt really nice to run in the full sun. I think I scared a few folks on the carriage roads as I ran by and showed off my farmer's tan.

I returned back to the dorm with only 10 minutes left in the Brazil versus Chile soccer game. Fortunately, the game went into double overtime and penalty kicks. So I was able to enjoy a full hour of soccer action. The dorm was rooting for Chile because Carrie had studied abroad down there for 3 months. We all became emotionally involved even though the link to the Chile national team was so distant for most of us. I think we all just like to be part of a team.

A gaggle of us headed to Echo Lake to hang out on the beach. The water was a little chilly. This is Maine after all. Still, it felt good since the temperature rose to about 80 today outside. After swimming for 15 minutes and lying in the sun for around 15 minutes I became bored. To overcome my boredom, I built a sandcastle. Although, Ana called it a "sand cake." I definitely would not advise having a slice of it.

This evening I learned how to play Bananagrams. I went on to win the first round. I then lost the next two, miserably. All well, you win one you lose the rest.

Today's picture of the day is my sand castle/cake. Please note the moat and bridge. Enjoy!

27 June 2014

Happy Friday!

Today was a busy day.

Sarah, Jami, and I were all on duty. That means one of us rotates out to patrol the parking lot. I volunteered for the 11:30 to 1:00 shift. I quickly learned that there is not much one can do to keep the parking lot flowing. Not that having someone out there is useless by any means. However, when combining people trying to park on grass, folks holding up the line while waiting three minutes or more for a car to back out, and constantly answering the frustrated motorists’ question: is there anywhere else to park?, the reality is the parking lot is always going to run as smoothly as TSA checkpoint during Thanksgiving at O’Hare.

The waitlist for outside seating exceeded one hour today. An awfu lot of people wanted to enjoy the sun. I understand their desire. I really enjoyed my parking lot duty because of the beautiful sun overhead.

After work, I went on my long run for the week. I planned on doing the “Around Mountain” loop. I was under the impression that it would only be 8.5 miles. When I was 1:15 into the run and still had two miles to go, I decided I should probably recheck the mileage when I returned to the dorm. As it turns out, the loop is 10.8 miles. Whoops.

My route was on the carriage roads. The backside of the loop consisted of a few miles of uphill. It was probably the longest uphill stretch I’ve ever ran (I never did much running in Montana). Fortunately, I had two breaks during the hard uphill. The first was when I ran over the Waterfall Bridge. At the base of the waterfall was a family extremely surprised and happy to see me run by. They managed to get my attention and I snapped a few family photos for them. The rest of my time I didn’t see any other people except for a biker speeding by.

My second break was when I saw a furry creature lumber onto the road. At first I had grave concerns it was a skunk. Upon further inspection, however, I determined it was a porcupine. I had never seen a porcupine before so that was pretty neat. I had to scare it off the road since it wasn’t in any too big of a hurry to move along. Ain’t nobody got time to wait for a porcupine.

When I finally crested the hill and looked to the west, I determined the run up was well worth it. The sun was sinking low in the sky, which it tends to do every night around 7:30 out here. The sea of sea water broke up the sea of trees as the distant hills kept watch over the blue-green Maine landscape. I’m looking forward to that view again in a few months as the chlorophyll leaves the leaves. I’m less excited about the run up the hill to get there, though.

I didn’t take my camera along today during my run so I have no exciting pictures for picture of the day. Instead, the picture of day is a shot from earlier this week when I climbed the South Bubble. Eagle Lake is in the foreground and mainland Maine is in the back. Enjoy!

26 June 2014

Happy Thursday!

Today I read in a Bar Harbor visitor’s guide that a few of the scenes from the movie Shutter Island were shot here on Mount Desert Island. Waking up to wind and rain the morning made me feel somewhat like we were experiencing the same storm depicted in the movie. Fortunately, neither the Jordan Pond House dorm nor Mount Desert Island is reserved for the criminally insane as the buildings and island are in the movie. Or are they? If I see Leonardo in a fedora running around I’ll be a little suspicious. He sure had a tough time in the movie figuring stuff out about what Shuttle Island is actually about…See the movie if you don’t get the reference here. Right before you watch it, Google pictures of Otter Cliffs and then look for them in the film.

Because of the rain, things were slow today at work. With completion of the north parking lot construction late yesterday afternoon and the bad weather today, we had an exponential decrease in negative feedback about parking. So that’s a plus I suppose.

While eating lunch, the wire behind my bottom teeth managed to dislodge itself from one of the anchor points. As a result, I suddenly had a sharp wire poking my tongue. I quickly learned that dental emergencies are not something you should have on Mount Desert Island. One of the three dental clinics told me they couldn’t help because the dentist just went on maternity leave. The one that office referred me to couldn’t get me in until Tuesday. They aren’t open on Fridays and had no space on Monday. If not Tuesday, the next available appointment would be on July 1. The final office on the island straight up didn’t answer their phone during their normal business hours. Plus, according to their voicemail greeting, they aren’t open on Fridays either. I finally tracked down an office that will be able to get me in for a quick fix…on Monday…in Ellsworth 45 minutes away.

To remedy my dental problem, I rode the free Island Explorer shuttle into Bar Harbor after work to get some dental wax. I have now successfully separated my tongue and the pointy wire. They weren’t playing together very nicely, and after several hours of contact, my tongue was beginning to lose badly.

While in town, I stopped by to check on Luke at the ice cream shop. He kindly let me sample the Mocha Oreo. I sort of wish we sold ice cream at the info booth. Although I suppose that would be too long of a job title if we did. I’d be known as an “Ice Cream Scooping Information and Reservation Agent.”

While in town, I also went to the public library to get my library card. There the librarian, Mrs. Woodside, pleasantly guided me through the application process and then spent a good chunk of time answering my question about what books I need to read to understand the island and Acadia. I told her that I work at the Jordan Pond House information booth and wanted to be able to answer visitor questions.

As I checked out my books we got to talking a bit. During the course of the conversation, she casually mentioned that her husband is the president of the Acadia Corporation—the company which lost the National Park Service contract bid last spring to operate the Jordan Pond House for the next 10 years. Now, I am not interested in throwing my opinions out onto the web regarding that topic.  If anyone is allowed to have an opinion on the bid outcome, however, it’s her. 

Mrs. Woodside as an individual has my utmost respect.She graciously equipped me with resources to become better at my job of helping visitors to the Jordan Pond House understand and appreciate this place. Her actions today effectively showed that she is much more interested in upholding the tradition and dignity of the Jordan Pond House than she is in projecting any personal frustrations or anger she has on me as a new seasonal worker for a company she probably doesn’t care for after the bid outcome.

Unsurprisingly, she also promised to put up one of our ACMNP worship service posters after I asked. I heard that she and her husband are Christians and have been very accommodating for ACMNPers they’ve employed in the past. Today, Mrs. Woodside certainly exhibited the very Christian idea of not letting anger and frustration be what controls and dictates her life and actions. Rather, she exhibited grace and compassion because I’m sure she recognizes that the God she serves has showered onto her so much grace and compassion that there is no room left for anger and frustration in her life.

This evening I read one of the books Mrs. Woodside recommended, The Story of Mount Desert Island. It was a nice and short one so I finished it in about two hours. That means my completed book tally for this summer is up to two already!

Today’s picture of the day is a shot of all the books and DVD’s I came home from the library with. Enjoy!

25 June 2014

Happy Wednesday!

This evening I went into emergency mode. Following my post-run shower, I discovered that I had no more clean underwear. I concluded the best solution was to wear my swimsuit. An issue arose, however, in that it is not warm enough outside to wear just my swim trunks. It's blue jean weather. Therefore, I now find myself uncomfortably wearing swimwear underneath my Levi's. Fortunately, the drier only has another 50 minutes left. Relief is coming soon.

Compared to my crisis this evening, the rest of the day was a piece of cake. Although, work was steady and heavy today. Jami and I received a lot of phone calls for future reservations. The place is starting to hop a little more each day.

For my run today I headed down to the Wildwood Stables. They do the carriage rides on the carriage roads in the park. The place has a distinct odor of equestrian fecal matter,  but it's a better smell than that of the common dorm room area. During my time down there, I managed to avoid contact with any horses. I'm a little ascareded (the proper pronunciation of the word "scared" according to Dad) because they are big. I'm weary of anything bigger than me: horses, bears, elephants, my roommate Nenad...

During my cool down after the run, I ran into Luke, my ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) teammate. He was waiting for the Island Explorer shuttle to take him from the Jordan Pond House back to Bar Harbor. He spent his day off "peak bagging" several of the mountains on this side of the island. Judging by his route, he had some ambition today. During my next day off on Saturday we'll find out if I can match his ambition. I sort of doubt it.

This evening I read over some of the blogs from the official ACMNP bloggers...not ones on the down-low ("DL" for you cool people) like me. They have some pretty interesting, inspiring, intriguing, and intertaining stuff. Check them out: http://www.acmnp.com/team-experience/team-blogs

Today's picture of the day is a welcome sight in the men's hallway: a plug-in air freshener. Already there is a noticeable increase in pleasant smells in the cooridor. I hope the scent can make it into our common area. If so, it may start to be less pungent in there than it is at Wildwood Stables.

24 June 2014

Happy Tuesday!

The best way to describe the flow of visitors to the info booth today was "steady but heavy". I imagine that will be my go-to description of work many times over the next few months.

On my evening run I did a negative split workout. It worked out really well because my time dropped by almost 4-minutes coming back on my two-mile course. The only problem is that the hill climbing on the way out was significantly harder than on the way back. So my chosen course had a tactical flaw.

This evening was bowling and trivia night. We ended up getting all the way into Ellsworth (a 45-minute drive) only to find the alley closed. So we went to Wal-Mart instead. In the clearance section I found a back of 50 envelopes, a pack of 12 razor cartridges for shaving, and a box of 250 plastic bags. Woo-who!

At trivia tonight my crowing contribution was knowing the interstate bridge collapse in 2007 which killed a dozen people occurred in Minneapolis. I vividly remember watching the news coverage while down at the Woods Grandparents' house in Missouri.

Today's picture of the day is a shot of the street sign for the trivia location, Finback. Enjoy!

23 June 2014

Happy Monday!

Today wasn't looking too good at first. The contractors working on the road to the boat launch for Jordan Pond starting paving operations today. That wouldn't have been a big deal, except that meant the big machines cut off access to the overflow parking lot for the Jordan Pond House. As a result, parking spots were at an all-time premium today. Some people had some very creative and liberal ideas on what constituted a parking spot.

We only had a few folks come to the info booth and voice concerns or frustrations about parking. And even with limited spaces, we still ended up with a waitlist for most of the day. Somehow, folks found a way to the Jordan Pond House.

The lack of parking reminded me a lot of what Logan Pass in Glacier is like on the sunny days of July and August. It's a bummer how much the parking situation in a National Park can affect the visitation experience. Often times, no easy parking means no fun. Fortunately, National Parks can be and are best experienced in boots or on bikes and not while sitting on butts.

A bright spot of the day was the penny-smashing machine is back out in front of the gift shop. I think where it's at will be its final home. I look forward to a summer of listening to cranking, crushing, more cranking, and then clinging.

After work I headed up to the South Bubble mountain. It was on one of my classic run/walk/hikes. The view from up top was awesome. Jordan Pond is the main feature of the shot with Pemetic Mountain rising from the left side shore as the Park Loop Road cuts through its forested slope. To the right is Mount Penobscot. In the distance is the Atlantic Ocean with the Cranberry Isles breaking up the big scary waves and currents of the sea. The big blue thing on the top two-thirds is the sky. This will serve as the picture of the day. Enjoy!

22 June 2014

Happy Sunday!

For the third week in a row, we had a bright and sunny Sunday. I hope the trend continues and we keep the good-weather Sundays a’coming.

Our morning worship service at the Blackwoods Campground had our highest attendance ever! Miles came with his two dogs (both were happy and healthy this week). In addition, we had two families join the party. Both of the mom’s had served with ACMNP years ago at other National Parks. Pretty cool to be a part of such a long-running and extensive tradition that is ACMNP.

No one came to our service at the Seawall Campground, which wasn’t too surprising. None of us made it over there to walk around the campground and invite folks nor have we put signs up yet. Seawall proved the point that if we don’t invite them, they will not come. We’ll be changing that for next week.

Since we didn’t have the 10am service at Seawall, we went to the 10:30 church service at the church of a couple on our Ministry Support Committee members. It was a white-steepled, 200-plus year old Congregational church hidden among the beautiful homes of Southwest Harbor. To be honest, I wasn’t really interested in going to church on a day that I’d be helping to lead two worship services. I’m sure glad we went, though. God certainly communicated through the words of the Pastor Blake. 

The message was on the third mark of a true follower of Christ: worldlessness. He based his sermon off 1 John 2:15-17 and rephrased the passage to say (roughly), “Do not put your time and commitment into the values, aspirations, and principles of what the world pursues. This is because love of the world (in regards to materialism, convenience, and power) is incompatible with loving God. Plus, our time on this world is temporary anyway, so why invest so much time and effort in the impermanent.” John is fairly straightforward in the original text, but I enjoyed hearing Pastor Blake’s interpretation live and in person.

After church we had lemonade and cake out on the lawn with the rest of the congregation. Between the children running around in their Sunday best, the shade of the big deciduous tree out front, and the sweet taste on summer in a glass, it felt like we were in a Norman Rockwell painting. Awfully idyllic.

In the afternoon, Luke, Ally, and I went to the movie theater in Bar Harbor for the screening of a documentary sponsored by the Sierra Club. The film was good, but I’m almost positive I’ve seen it before. I guess after going to school in Montana and studying recreation resource management, I have been exposed to most of the wilderness appeals and such. 

There was a line one of the ladies interviewed in the film said about equating camping in a Rocky Mountain alpine meadow alongside feeding deer with heaven. I agree that does sound nice, but I’m not sure if that would be heaven without Christ. That’s sort of the main feature of eternal life: the eternal presence of God. I wouldn’t be surprised if a ACMNP sermon comes out of this idea. Stay tuned…

In the afternoon I stocked up on some snacks for the week during a trip to the grocery store, caught up with good ole Dad on the horn, and watched the first half of the US vs. Portugal soccer game. Sabrina, Ally, Luke and I then headed up Cadillac Mountain for what became our biggest worship service ever! I’m not sure our final count because we had some folks come and go during the service, but I know we had over 20.

Afterwards all of us ACMNPers had equally powerful talks with different attendees. And of course all of this occurred against the backdrop of a gorgeous sunset from the highest point on the Atlantic seaboard. Through the worship service, the setting, and the people who came with the same goal of being intentional about deepening their relationship with God, I truly felt the presence of God on that windswept mountaintop. Awfully idyllic.

Today’s picture of the day is the Southwest Harbor Congregational Church. Enjoy!

21 June 2014

Happy first day of summer! About half the dorm headed out at 4:00 this morning to watch the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. Although we weren't the first people to see the sunrise this morning (some random hill north of us is the first US territory the sun hits this time of year), it was still cool to see the dawn of the Great American Summer.

While we were waiting for the sun to come up, it was stinking cold. The wind was roaring across the granite summit as the sky lightened and brightened bit by bit. Despite the chill, I did alright in my hat and gloves. I began to think how unique we must be in Acadia since we had to wear warm clothes on the first day of summer. Then I realized that almost all of the national parks probably had really cold sunrises this morning. That seems to be a requirement the NPS has mandated.

After going to bed a second time and walking up around 11:00, one of my roommates, Gabe, and I went for a hike. We walked to the eastern shore of the island. Awfully nice hike on an awfully nice day. We explored
the shore between Thunder Hole and Sand Beach. It was pretty awesome.

At Sand Beach Gabe and I departed company. He headed off to do some more hiking while I made my way back to the Blackwoods Campground (He made it back to the dorm around 9:30 this evening). My ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) teammate, Luke, met me there for campground walking. We made it all the way around the "A" loop of the campground while personally inviting campers to come to our worship services tomorrow. Everyone was very nice about listening to our short spiel, although I predict less than 20% will be able to come...for various reasons. I noticed the pattern that our best encounters were the ones I thought would be most awkward or was the most nervous about engaging. It was a good, classic lesson in stepping out in faith even when it doesn't seem like the best idea.

A highlight of the experience was sitting down and talking with the campground host. He made it clear at the start of the conversation that he wasn't interested in talking about religion. But by the end of our talk, he gave us a very kind and sincere blessing on our summers doing ministry in the park. Fortunately, we'll get to hang out with him each week when we go back for Saturday night campground walking. I look forward to seeing him again. He's one of those old men (self-proclaimed) who you just want to sit and listen to.

Luke and I headed into town for some dinner at a local Mexican shop. We figured we must have ordered the last of the pulled pork used in the evening's special. Sort of felt bad about that. After dinner we came back to the dorm to give each other haircuts. As we were getting it set up, my new Romanian friend, Toder, asked if he could get a haricut also. The clippers got a work out tonight. Toder, Luke, and I are the sharpest lookin' fellas on the island I'd say.

Today's picture of the day is a shot of my feet in the Atlantic Ocean as Sand Beach in Acadia National Park. Not a bad place to be on the first day of summer. Enjoy!

20 June 2014

Happy Friday!

The National Weather Service had an off-day today. They must have misspelled “clouds and sprinkles” and instead wrote “sunny.” I suppose we shouldn’t really consider them at fault. When you have to predict weather for an island situated between a continent with wild weather and an ocean with opposing currents, I imagine just getting the date right is hard enough.

We were fairly steady today at the info booth until around 3:30. Things began slowing down significantly at that point. Sarah and I wrapped up the day with some deep cleaning by sweeping the floor and washing the dry erase board. Oh, and I also found more scotch tape. The girls in the bar come in to the booth every morning and take several pieces, so we’re running low. When I was in the main office getting the extra roll from the storage cabinet, Mike, the gift shop manager said to the office assistant, “Wait, we do have tape dispensers?” Apparently we have a highly sought-after artifact in our booth.

After work I went for my long run of the week. This time around it was to be 8 miles. I think/hope I ended up going for 8.5. If not, I need to pick up the pace. I became uncomfortably hungry during my run. I have to work on my eating schedule. My last big meal most days is at 11:00, so by the time I run after work my body is super hungry. It may or may not be an exaggeration to say that I became so hungry around mile 6 that I was keeping my mouth open extra wide in hopes of catching a bug or two…(for the record that was an exaggeration).

After making it back to the dorm and having some spaghetti and meatballs, I settled in for the evening to watch a World Cup match, a little bit of the College World Series game, and Survivorman, all while hanging out with Ben who just started working in the gift shop today. Rumor has it that today was awfully busy in there.

The picture of the day is my closet complete with shelves that no longer sag. I used a wire hanger to keep them in just the right spot. I’m a regular ole engineer. Enjoy!

19 June 2014

Happy Thursday!

I hope your day went well today. I'd ask you how it went, but I can't hear you. Blog communication is pretty much a one-way channel.

Today had all the ingredients for a busy day at the Jordan Pond House: sun, a full parking lot by 10:30am, a late day in June...For whatever reason, however, the day never got too busy. In fact, our waitlist stayed below 25 minutes. We did have one part of the Pond House which was extremely busy today: the penny press machine. The maintenance guys placed it right in front of the gift shop and within site of the info desk. Through observation I learned that everybody loves to press pennies. That machine will make a pretty penny this summer.

My friend "Humidity" wasn't around today. Instead, my buddy, Pleasant, hung out with me today. I think the dew point was over 20 degrees less today. Thank goodness for the winds of the north. My run today with Pleasant was quite pleasant. I found a great route down to the ocean. It goes alongside a pond and on the edge of a couple of open fields. The only downside of the run is when I went down to the ocean to see how cold it was a rouge wave came in and soaked my left shoe. But it worked out okay because Pleasant was able to have my shoe air dry by the time I made it back to the dorm.

The big excitement of the day was that I wore my contacts. I haven't done that since last winter. My eyes were like, "Whoa bro, what's going on here?" But then they got used to it and everything was fine. Big doings today...

The picture of the day is a shot of Bracy Cove--the halfway point of my run today. In the distance are the Cranberry Isles. Enjoy!

18 June 2014

Happy Wednesday!

This morning started out foggy and then turned muggy. I like to think of humidity as an old friend that I had completely forgot about and neglected while in college in Montana. After leaving the west, Humidity has tracked me down out here in Maine. Now Humidity is trying to make up for four years of being apart by hanging on to my possessions, my surroundings, and my body. I'm not mad that Humidity and I have rekindled our friendship again, it's just that I didn't see our reunion coming and I didn't plan for it. I'm predicting Humidity and I will pick up where we left off after a few more days of awkwardness.

Nothing too special at work today. Just getting into a pretty solid routine...which is a good thing.

After work I went in to Acadia Bike in Bar Harbor to pick up my $250 investment. Lenny the bike mechanic had 'er waiting for me when I arrived. On my inaugural bike ride back to the dorm from town I finally had a chance to experience the route I have told countless information booth visitors to take. As it turns out, it is a very easy route even though it is "hilly." Many people ask for a flat route back to town from the Jordan Pond House. The fact is that's not possible. The Jordan Pond House is 300 feet higher than Bar Harbor. But maybe I should encourage people to find the mythical Northeast Passage that will be an easier route across the island. It'll kind of be like the search for the Northwest Passage. That search kept people busy for a few hundred years. I bet the search for the Northeast Passage would keep visitors busy at least for the rest of this summer.

For the third night in a row I had another good talk with a dormie (person who lives in the dorm). Monday night it was with Martin from Macedonia. He gave me his perspective on communism, the negative side of the breakup of Yugoslavia, and articulated his dreams for the future. Our talk provided me with a very different interpretation of the communist political system and provided proof that whether in Macedonia or America people have very similar desires in life. Last night I talked with Caroline who is visiting a friend working up here this summer. She participated in the Young Life college Christian ministry during her undergraduate stint in Atlanta. She's going on to become a counselor and looks forward to integrating professional and scientific training with her spiritual beliefs.  She had a great story about being willing to follow God's calling vocationally and the good things that come from being obedient to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Pretty inspiring to talk with her. Finally, tonight, I talked with Dejan from Serbia. He and I volleyed with questions and follow-up comments. I left the conversation with some new ideas I haven't thought of before regarding post-Acadia life. Stay tuned for what those ideas become.

Today's picture of the day is a shot of my new bike with Eagle Lake in the background. Enjoy!

17 June 2014

Happy Tuesday!

Today's big story is the amount of injuries that occurred at Jordan Pond House. They weren't bad injuries, per se, (just basic cuts and scrapes) but Sarah and I had to pass out first aid supplies to three different families throughout the day. In all my other days of work I've never encountered any medical "emergencies." I guess when the boo-boos rain, they pour.

Also at work, I realized a major difference between this information-giving job and my last one working at the Summit Nature Center: this summer I rarely interact with children. The biggest reason is because we have a 3-foot high desk in between myself and the visitors. The kids that ask the best questions do not meet the height requirement the desk imposes, hence we only answer boring adult questions like: "Where's the bathroom?" "How far is it around Jordan Pond?" And, "What is current rate of return on the AGTHX mutual fund?"...okay, no one ever asks anything about mutual funds, but you get the idea.

My run/walk today was up the north ridge of Penobscot Mountain and down the famous southern ridge. Unfortunately, right as made it to the summit so did the clouds. It was an eerie yet wonderful experience to be on a granite mountain top in Maine surrounded by nothing but the billowing moisture of the Atlantic Ocean. I'll have to make another trip up there in clear weather. I recommend the hike to people all the time because of its rumored beauty. I'd like to be able to pull out a mental snapshot of that view every time I make that recommendation.

A group of us headed into Bar Harbor for trivia night at the Thirsty Whale or Humpack Whale or something like that. My crowning contribution was knowing the most deadly mammal in Africa for humans is the hippo and Detroit is the American city on the shores of Lake St. Clair. As fun as trivia was, getting back at 12:30 was less than stellar. I do not like to go to bed on the same day I plan to wake up.

The picture of the day is the cover of one of the binders we have in the info booth for our reference. I love the title. Enjoy!

16 June 2014

Happy Monday!

Today was a special day at the info booth. Ranger Kathy joined us for half the day! She runs the information desk at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center. Her visit was to find out what sort of questions we get at the Jordan Pond House as opposed to the National Park Service site. She also wanted to find out what life was like at our info desk. I opened this morning so I didn't have back-up from 9:00-11:00. Ranger Kathy witnessed the daily 10:00-11:00 phone rush when we get a plethora of phone reservations while a correspondingly large number of visitors come to the desk to ask questions. I think she was a little surprised how busy it was there for a while.

She and I had a nice talk about recreation management matters. I felt like my Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Management degree from the University of Montana prepared me well to be able to converse with a real life National Park Service ranger. Go Griz!

The rest of the day wasn't too noteworthy. Although the sun was out all day and the wisteria tree/vines are almost in full bloom. Looking awfully summer-like.

After work I went for a quick run down and through the community of Seal Harbor. Rumor has it that Martha Stewart has a house in town. I didn't find it, but I'll keep looking for it.

This evening about half the dorm watched the US-Ghana World Cup game. I think the Eastern Europeans were most excited about the US victory. I guess soccer (okay, football) really is the game that unites.

Today's picture of the day is a shot of the ACMNP ministry team yesterday and the infamous morning
service dogs that Miles brings. Enjoy!

15 June 2014

Happy Sunday!

6:40 came awfully early this morning. At least the sun was already out by then, and I knew I had a full day of friends and fun ahead of me.

At our 8:00 service only had Miles and his two celebrity dogs show up. They were very well behaved this week. I think they really enjoy the services. After all, like Grandpa Arnie says: “Dog is God spelled backwards.” Unfortunately, Sirius has a urinary tract infection that hasn’t cleared up after 5 days of treatment. We prayed for her. You can do the same if you’d like.

Just yesterday our permit arrived to allow us to do a worship service at the Seawall Campground amphitheater on Sundays also. Starting next week we will do that service at 10:00 along with the Blackwoods services at 8:00.

We drove back to Bar Harbor and dropped in to one of the kayak tour company shops to talk with our buddy, Mark, about hopping onto a tour. The winds were out of the north today so it was too choppy for kayaking. So we went a few doors down to the whale and puffin watching tour company to ask if we could hop onto a tour. They had over 50 seats available, so they allowed us to join the tour for free. Most tour companies allow seasonal workers on Mount Desert Island to tag along as long as there is enough room for paying customers. So Sabrina, Ally, Luke and I went on a 3 hour boat tour that should have cost us each $59. Instead, we walked away from the tour having only spent a few bucks on tips. Pretty great deal.

The tour was fun for about the first hour. During that time we saw a ton of sea birds and some lighthouses.

But as we headed off-shore to the usual whale sighting locations, things turned unfun. The swells were pretty high because of the wind and the sea spray kept misting our windward sides. We never did see any whales, but at least we did see some seals. The place where we saw seals is called Mount Desert Rock. It’s an island 26 miles off the shore of Mount Desert Island. There’s a lighthouse on the island making it one of or the most remote lighthouses on the East Coast. The tour guide is a PhD candidate and talked about the time she spent out there last January and Feburary doing research. She said it was unfathomable living there. A few times they had to sleep in the lighthouse tower because the waves were so high. The research she was helping with was on the effects of freezing sea spray on building materials. That would be the absolute best place to conduct those experiments, and one of the most unique experiences in life.

After our sea adventure, we were all starving. So we went over to the West Street Café. I ordered the sandwich special which included, get this: a lobster roll, a cup of clam chowder, French fries, coleslaw, and a slice of blueberry pie. It was a little spendy ($26 with tip), but it was worth it. When in Rome…

Having full tummies and our sea legs made us tired enough to take naps. It sounds like I was the big winner judging by how long of a nap I took. I’m glad I got a hold of good ole Dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day before I laid down because I slept all the way until it was time to head up for the sunset service on Cadillac Mountain.

The service was awesome. We had two of our Ministry Support Committee members come to the service, which was great to finally meet them. They and other committee members are in charge of making sure that the ACMNP team makes it through the summer and is able to perform their duties of performing the chapel services and providing relational ministry. Also in attendance were two ladies. After the service, we found out one of them lost her husband last fall. She and him had been coming up to Acadia every summer since 2000 and had been faithful ACMNP sunset chapel service attendees. The other lady was her good friend and was there to support her. The deceased husband’s birthday was today. So needless to say, it was an emotional experience for her and the rest of us.

My sermon/talk/message went well today. This morning’s version was a little bit awkward since dogs outnumbered worshipers. But this evening’s version in front of a larger audience went really well. I didn’t stick with the exact phrasing I had written out, but I think that’s good. I had all week to mull over and consider what I was going to say, but when the time came to actually deliver the message, if I stuck to my words then the Holy Spirit would have much less room to move. Not saying I spoke in tongues or anything, but I did feel like the words that came out of my mouth were truly inspired by the Lord. Definitely an honor to serve God in this way.

Today's picture of the day is the sunset atop Cadillac Mountain right after we finished our service. Enjoy!

14 June 2014

Happy Saturday!

Instead of working today, I took the day off...because it was my scheduled day off. I used it wisely by sleeping in all the way until 9:00. Following my grand appearance from my bed, I decided to break my hiatus of not reading or paying attention to the news and reenter the world outside of Acadia. Although most of the news is bad news (ie Iraq), knowing no news doesn't somehow make the news good news.

After that, I finished reading Decision Points. Fascinating read. I highly recommend it.

This afternoon I hitched a ride into Bar Harbor with a couple of the girls from the dorm. There I decided to bite the bullet and buy a used bike. It ended up costing me $250 for a nice Raleigh leisure bike. The asking price was $250, but I tried to drive a hard bargain by saying I'd pay $250 for the bike and a helmet (asking price for those was $20). The shop owner immediately said yes. Should've went lower. Another rookie mistake. Nonetheless, I"m pretty excited about having a bike like the one I bought today. Before I left Montana, I had planned on buying a bike out here, so it wasn't an impulse buy in case you were wondering.

After my big purchase, I made a significantly smaller purchase of face wash, deodorant, and toothpaste. I was running dangerously low on all three.

Next I went to the Abbe Museum. It's a museum about the native peoples of Maine. I don't think I've ever seen such beautifully woven baskets. They were incredible. In the gift shop a few were available. I saw one set of five baskets for the low, low price of $2,500. Good thing my bike didn't cost that much.

We got back a little before 6:00. I decided that I should probably go for a run. I also decided I should probably go on a long run to see how my body would handle it. I ended up running a little over 8 miles. So far so good, but the real test comes tomorrow when the legs make initial contact with the floor besides the bed.

This evening the final roommate showed up, Gabriel from South Carolina. So we now have a full room of four. That'll be an awful lot of man is an awfully small space.

Today's picture of the day is my new bike helmet next to the picture of a space shuttle which is our only decoration in the room. Enjoy!

13 June 2014

Happy Friday the 13th!

The story of the day was turbulent and wet air...in other words it was windy and rainy. The winds started howling this morning from the southeast. I showed up to the information booth wearing long johns and an extra fleece underneath my work uniform of khaki pants and a fleece. I still was a little chilly.

As expected, work was slow today. For those who did brave the chilly weather and joined us at the Jordan Pond House, the most common sentiment was: gee, it's cold out. Jami, Sarah, and I all worked today. By 3:30, our boss came in and told us to talk amongst ourselves to decide who would go home. I took one for the team and headed out into the pouring rain. My early dismissal turned out well because it gave me time to practice my talk/sermon/message for Sunday several times.

Today was also payday! I only worked one week of the last pay period, so my check wasn't for a whole heck of a lot. I'll be honest, I was a little upset when I saw my check. I greedily thought it should be bigger. But then I realized the following: 1) for the amount of work I did, the amount of money I received seems fair. 2A) I wouldn't be here in Acadia if not for being on the A Christian Ministry in the National Parks team...so ministry comes before money. Plus, 2B) God provides for my needs not my desires. 3) my check is the amount I earned after my dorm and food expenses had been deducted. I have a roof over my head, food in a table in front of me, and I still have money left over. And 4) I made more money last week than billions of people did.

I almost made it through an entire World Cup match this evening, but I ended up sleeping through the last 20 minutes. Although I don't dislike soccer (football), apparently I like napping more.

No picture of the day today. The wi-fi signal is too weak to do an upload. Instead, picture in your mind a rain drop being blown by the wind. Enjoy!

12 June 2014

Happy Thursday!

Today I woke up around 8:00 and wandered into the employee dining room to grab a little bit of breakfast before heading back to the room for quiet time/devotionals. Suddenly, the dorm manager, Jake, asked me if I was going to the “Green Team” meeting. I wasn’t planning on it, of course, but I thought: YOLO… and went anyway. (For those of you who aren’t aware YOLO=you only live one=just do something and don’t consider the consequences).

At the meeting the sustainability director for Dawnland, the company I work for at the Jordan Pond House, outlined his vision for an employee organization that will enthusiastically work to better the human and natural environment—aka the “Green Team”. We didn’t make any formal decisions on how we will do that besides agreeing to paint the dumpsters next week. Several of the girls requested bedazzles (beads?) and pink paint. That probably won’t be what we get, though. It sounds like besides decorating the dumpsters, we actually will be doing some pretty cool and serious stuff. I’ll report back on this topic more later on.

The clouds kept the visitors away today, so Sarah and I had to busy ourselves with trying to figure out how to keep ourselves busy. Also, today I rectified the trail tidbit I gave out yesterday. Turns out for several folks I ended up sending them in the wrong direction for their requested path. Of course it was completely by accident, but I still feel bad. I hope they aren’t still out wandering around and looking for the Jordan Pond Trail near the Springs Trail trailhead. They won’t find it there. I know, I know, rookie mistake.

After work I went on what was probably the longest run I’ve done in the past four years: 5.8 miles. Between not having a team to run with in college and becoming really busy during the daytime over the last four years, running ran away from me. But I’m catching back up to it now, albeit at a 10:00/mile pace.

In ping pong tonight I went 3-1 against two of the Macedonians. One had a wicked spin on his serve. I’ll need to practice my counter strike against that. At this rate, I’ll be a master at ping pong amongst Americans and Eastern Europeans by the end of the season. Then I’ll have to make South American, African, and Asian friends.

Tonight I finished a draft of my sermon/talk/message for the ACMNP chapel services this Sunday. I’m feeling pretty confident that this will be pretty much the final content of what I deliver on Sunday. It was pretty cool how the Holy Spirit revealed new ideas and helped me craft the talk over the last few days. Please pray for me to edit out anything in my talk that is based on my own thoughts uninspired by the Spirit and does not reflect what God wills for me to deliver.

The picture of the day is my name tag on my official work fleece. Enjoy!

11 June 2014

Happy Wednesday!

This morning brought with it the arrival of a very important deadline: when my Kindle library loan of George Bush’s Decision Points is set to expire. I had done my best over the last week to read as much as I could, but I only managed to get through 60% of the book. The literary crisis may come to an end quickly if I’m able to check the book out electronically for another session. I just hope the rest of the Missoula Public Library subscribers don’t feel led to read the book quite yet. 

My review of the piece so far: 7.5/8.1. The former president does a good job giving his side of his time in office. He teeters on the edge of providing too many details as to make the book boring, but so far he has found the right balance to keep the piece engaging and intriguing. I recommend it…but only after I’m able to check it out again and finish it.

Sarah and I ran the info booth today. Between the two of us, we have 17 days of experience. I think we held our own. The sun came out so the crowds followed suit. During the peak of the afternoon rush we were adding people to a 45-minute waitlist. Still not a truly busy day but getting close.

After work I went for a run/hike again. This time I went up to the top of Pemetic Mountain. It peaks at 1,248 feet. That may not sound like a lot, but the trail on the backside drops about 900 feet in a half mile. I had heard and read about some of the infamously steep trails here in Acadia. I guess I didn’t give credit where credit is due until today when I saw a “steep” trail for myself. (and this one didn’t even have a “ladder” rating…I’ll write more about those trails when I experience one someday soon). I certainly will include my reconnaissance on the Northwest Pemetic Trail next time a guest at work asks about it. I’ll tell them it’s a fun trail, but it lives up to its “strenuous” rating.

Our dorm kitchen chefs, Bill and Howard, cooked up a delicious dinner of pork chops, sweet potatoes, and green beans. Tasted awfully good after the run. 

Today's picture of the day is a shot of the beaver that I scared into the water as I was finishing up my run along the Jordan Pond path. Enjoy!

10 June 2014

Happy Tuesday!

As a way to escape the hustle and bustle of the employee dorm, I decided to come up here to the observation deck of the Jordan Pond House. The restaurant stopped seating guests around an hour ago, and I just heard behind me a gift shop worker fighting with the upstairs door to the gift shop to close it for the night. So I get to enjoy the deck all to myself. The cool wind is blowing across Jordan Pond as the final lights of dusk are slowly moving west and causing the “Bubbles” to lose their distinctive outlines against the night sky. Acadia is a pretty neat place.

Today was a fairly uneventful day. I woke up a little later than usual because my work day didn’t begin until 11am. The highlight of the morning was talking on the phone with dad voice as we caught up on the big stuff like family members’ health to the little things like what plants in the garden survived the last frost. It was good to hear his voice. Mom, in case you are wondering, I liked hearing your voice last night, too.

Jami and I held down the fort today…the fort being the info booth. No wait list. No long lines. No traffic jams. An uneventful day overall. But that’s alright. Her and I were able to talk to some nice visitors, fellow restaurant employees, and each other. I certainly have a pretty sweet gig for the summer…so far. We’ll see how I feel when the busy season comes in a few weeks.

After work I went for a run/hike. My total mileage ended up being over 5 miles and included the false summit of one of the highest mountains in the park. The view from up there was amazing. I would have taken a picture to post on the blog, but I want to keep that view as a personal mental picture. It’s not that I don’t want to share Acadia with you all, it’s just that sometimes we all need to have a glimpse of beauty that we stays between just God and us.

The picture of the day is the front of the Jordan Pond House at dusk. Enjoy!

9 June 2014

Happy Monday! I hope none of you came down with a case of the Mondays today. I thought I may have fallen to that illness when the National Park Service chainsaw crew woke me up today at 6:45 when they started their work…pretty much right outside the window.  However, it turned out to be a false alarm. The Mondays went away and today ended up being a great Monday.

I opened the information booth today to a muggy Maine morning. The National Weather Service forecasted today’s high to be 64 degrees. By 9am it was already 65. Our high topped out around 84. The dew point stayed around 60 so it wasn’t a truly muggy day. However, I have a sneaky suspicion a dog day of summer may come bounding up the eastern seaboard every once and a while this summer.

The lunch crowd came in hot and heavy today, so we subdued them by starting a wait list. Jami taught me the crucial art of being speedy but not rude when it comes to getting through a line of to-be wait listees. The proper procedure is as follows: (Said as typing into the computer) “Hello, last name please?...Party size?...Inside, outside, or first available?...Need any special seating accommodations like a high chair or booster seat?...Very good, when this pager rings (at this point hand the guest the pager. And record what number it is. That step is crucial) take it to the host station located through the doors over there (make sure to point to the left and not to the right. There are no double doors to the right so that would confuse people).

The big accomplishment of the day: confronting the owners of a 25’ RV that thought it’d be alright to park in the grass. For the record, it is not. The proper place to park an RV is in the designated RV parking spaces in the north parking lot.

The best question from a guest so far this season happened today: “Is it true that you only serve tacos now?” It took Jami and me a minute to figure out where this question came from. We finally figured out through a series of follow-up questions the gal had been told by someone that because Oretaga was the parent company of Dawnland (the company now running the Jordan Pond House under the Park Service contract), that means the restaurant only serves Ortega-brand Mexican food. For the record, we do not only serve tacos. Nor do we serve any tacos.

This evening I played on the victorious team for men’s volleyball night. I also began to formally work on my sermon/message for the worship services this Sunday. Pray for me over the next few days to win more volleyball games and to be receptive, open, and responsive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I prepare for Sunday.

The photo of the day is a view of Bar Harbor and Frenchman’s Bay from the vantage of the Cadillac Mountain Summit. Enjoy!

8 June 2014

Sorry for the blog delay. The internet has not been doing so hot lately. I think it has a bad case of spring fever or some other kind of virus (see what I did there?). Anyways, it didn’t work last night so I couldn’t post about Sunday’s events. So here’s the entry…

Today started out earlier than normal, which was fitting because today was extraordinary. It was the first day of A Christian Ministry in the National Parks (ACMNP) services at Acadia for the 2014 season. At 7:15, Luke and Sabrina rolled up in the SUV and whisked Ally and I away to the Blackwoods Campground amphitheater.

We arrived 30 minutes before the service’s scheduled beginning. We somewhat nervously and somewhat excitedly made last minute adjustments and preparations for the impending service. Our total attendance ended up being 2 humans and 2 of the world’s cutest dogs. One of the attendees was Sabrina’s roommate. The other was a nice local gentleman who started coming to ACMNP services last year when he stumbled upon a service while walking his dogs in the campground. Overall, the service went well for our first time. Luke and Ally were able to lead us well in some worship songs. If you tuned in for the ACMNP training blog entry back in April you’ll remember that the singing situation had a bleak outlook at the time. But, the Lord hath provideth.

After the service the four of us loaded back up into the car and drove to Seawall Campground. Although we didn’t do a service there this week because our permit from the National Park Service hasn’t come through yet to allow us to do it, we wanted to see how long it took to drive over there. In case you were wondering it takes 0:41 to drive from the entrance of Blackwoods Campground to Seawall Campground and then to walk to and from the car to the amphitheater. In other words, we’ll have enough time in between services.

We then began a day of adventures and bonding as a team. First, we checked out Bass Harbor Lighthouse.

We then drove through the community of Southwest Harbor—the sister city to Northeast Harbor. In case you were wondering, the road through downtown is usually paved and pot-hole free.

Next we headed to the other side of Mount Desert Island to check out Bar Harbor, or as we like to pronounce it, Baa-Haa-Baa. We checked out where Luke and Sabrina each live and work at, ate lunch at a local café, walked out to Bar Island during low tide, and walked all over the town. We even took a quick nap in the village green under the shade trees.

About an hour before sunset we headed up Cadillac Mountain to prepare for the sunset service. We set up our sign in the parking lot, a cross in the natural amphitheater, and prepared ourselves for the throngs of worshipers. They never came. But that ended up being just fine. We got plenty of practice with the songs in the ACMNP worship book. I think we sound pretty darn good. The people around us on the overlook may or may not have enjoyed hearing a bunch of college-aged kids sing Christian worship songs. I suppose even if they didn’t like it, there are still plenty of other worse things we could have been doing.

Although she couldn’t stay for the service, the highlight of the evening was when Karen from Texas came over and encouraged us to continue what we are doing this summer as the 2014 ACMNP Team Acadia. Her exhortations made a huge difference for all of us. We all felt God’s affirmation through her words.

Today’s picture of the day is Sabrina, Ally, and Luke at Blue Mountain Overlook at Cadillac Mountain for the sunset service tonight.