Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

It’s beginning to feel a lot like a vacation (to the tune of “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…”). The day began slowly, the way a fogged in morning often does. But it wasn’t chilly. In fact, the foggy droplets and damp air felt like a cool sauna (is there such a thing?); soothing, deeply moisturizing on the skin, quiet and calm.

With a 1/3 full campground, we have lots of space around us and we were in no hurry to get going. Maybe this is TMI but I realized I’d gone almost a week without washing my hair so it definitely felt imperative that I get that done. It’s hard to explain how much time it takes to take down camp, drive and set up camp. And when you string a few days together like that plus spending lovely, connecting time with friends and family as we did this past week, not a whole lot of anything else gets done.

Nevertheless, we eventually got our act together, identified a hike we wanted to take in Acadia National Park, thanks to the All Trails app (thank you, cousin Evonne, for strongly encouraging me to get the app and upgrade my membership); Mount Gorman Loop, a three mile “moderate” hike including ocean views and granite-scrambling elevation. It was an extremely well marked trail which removed any stress about getting lost. We gave Cali a little walk before we got started. Something kicked in and her second youth came out as she clambered among the boulders, seemingly wanting to lead the way. Then, like me, her legs reminded her of her age and limitations and she turned back to the truck. It was so heart warming to see her sparkle for a few minutes, though.

Peter, Lily and I began the trek, navigating boulders and knee-high steps up a trail that required balance and quad strength–both of which had always been non-issues for me during my entire trail hiking life (and I’ve done a lot of this kind of hiking over the years). So, I was fairly shocked and seriously disappointed when I realized my limitations and needed to calculate practically every step to ensure I could go up or down without falling. I realized I might even have to resort to hiking poles, something my ego has absolutely refused me to consider. While we didn’t break any speed records, we completed the three mile loop and it proved to be a fantastic introduction to Acadia National Park: climbing 500 ft or so and rewarded with views of the ocean. Of course, Lily made friends along the way and we let the leash go so she could at least double her miles running back and forth on the trail. That didn’t tire her out. We ended the day with more chuck it throws to try to take some of the edge off of her energy plus another 1-2 mile walk as Peter got a little lost with both dogs but returned just before dark.

After our hike, we drove back through the small town of Bar Harbor which certainly has its share of t-shirt and ice cream shops (or “shoppes” as they spell them in tourist towns), but its character still managed to stand out. It holds quite a bit of charm with brick churches and homes and interesting store front facades. It was founded in 1793. I love how towns in New England list their “established” date and towns out west state their elevation and/or population. These geographic differences are diminishing among all the franchising of America, but that distinction is one that is holding firm.

After picking up some perishables including fresh caught haddock, we headed back to camp to take care of some clean up and make shabbat dinner: grilled haddock, brown rice, broccoli, improvised challah (one of my challah rolls that I’ve frozen and taken along) and sparkling pomegranate Perrier. I’m guessing it’s the first time shabbat blessings have been sung at Bar Harbor campground, but who knows?

Tomorrow we make the 5 mile drive to our off-the-grid, non-electric site at Blackwoods Campground in Acadia. If you don’t see any posts until Monday, you’ll know why. Theoretically, we could plug our RV into the truck’s generator and run Starlink but we’ve never done that before and don’t know if enough juice will be generated to run Starlink. I’m sure you’ll all survive with a few days without a blog. I’ll probably write one each day and send three on Monday when we return to this campground.

In the meantime, Shabbat Shalom, a weekend of peace.