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!