July 1, 2010 – Day Fifty-five

Omigosh! It’s July already. It can’t be!

But it is. And we had a rude awakening.

This morning Marianne was the first to get out of bed, and when she opened the door separating the living area from the sleeping area, she gasped. It had looked like the dog had pooped all over the place. There were plentiful small brown mounds dotting the trailer floor.

But Marianne didn’t have her contacts in so she couldn’t see what it really was – shreds of the plush brown bath rug that Coco had apparently snagged by stretching paws underneath the aforementioned door. Once she was able to pull enough of it under the door with her paws, she grabbed it with her teeth, and then dragged the rest of it into the living area, where the dogs are relegated now while we sleep.

Once it was in their total control, they went to town on it. And of course when Marianne caught Molly and Coco at it, they both gave her their classic innocent look. When that didn’t work, they looked at each other as if to blame the other for their misdeeds.

I don’t know why dogs love to demolish bath rugs. Our previous Miniature Schnauzer, Mitzi, had the same mean streak. She’d go after bath rugs in the trailer and both bathrooms at home. Whenever we left home or the trailer, she would punish us with bath rug destruction. As a result, we had to close any doors to bath rooms to avoid further damage whenever we left.

So add bath rugs to receipts and facial tissues as items to totally entertain our dogs.

Once the mess got cleaned up, and we were done lollygagging, it was time to see Acadia National Park, the first national park east of the Mississippi River. The park first attained federal status in 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson, established it as “Sieur de Monts National Monument”, to be administered by the National Park Service. Three years later it did became a national park, with the new name “Lafayette National Park” in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, an influential French supporter of the American Revolution. Ten years later, park's name was changed yet again to “Acadia National Park”.

The Acadians were the French Catholics who settled in the area but who where hunted, massacred and driven out by the English who didn’t want the French, nor Catholics, in what they considered was their area of the New World, and which would eventually become Canada. Mount Desert Island was as far south as the Acadians settled. Before the mid 18^th century French and Indian War, the English governor declared open season on the Acadians, forcing many to flee in order to avoid being killed. But it was that war that practically eliminated all the remaining Acadians from the area; those that weren’t killed, or who managed to somehow escape, were dispersed among the American Colonies, purposely dividing families. Others were shipped back to France, where they were treated much like cattle in the hold of a ship. There are many heartbreaking stories of these times, but the most notable was the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, “Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie” published in 1847. It became his most famous work, and forever altered the consciousness of Americans about the plight of the Acadians.

Like Evangeline, the luckiest Acadians to be deported ended up in New Orleans, which at the time was a Spanish possession. The Spanish were not only Catholic, but despised the British as well. Yet, even though Louisiana was about as far as the Acadians could get from their homeland, they flourished in this area. The name Acadian became bastardized into Cajun, and today, over 400,000 descendents of those disposed people live in Louisiana, the largest Acadian population anywhere.

From 1915 to 1933, the wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. financed, designed, and directed the construction of a network of carriage trails throughout the park. Along with some of America’s wealthiest people, the Rockefeller’s built huge “summer homes” in the area, to get out of the heat of New York City. Their summer vacations were spent at the Eyrie, a vast rambling 100-room mansion in Seal Harbor on the southeast shore of Mount Desert Island, with neighbors and friends such as members of the Henry Ford family, along with a large retinue of servants, French tutors and governesses. Unfortunately the mansion was demolished by the family in the early 1960’s.

People have been drawn to the rugged coast of Maine throughout history. Awed by its beauty and diversity, and armed with the influence of the rich and famous of the early 20th-century, Acadia National Park has flourished. It is now New England's most popular vacation destination. Today visitors come to Acadia to hike granite peaks, bike historic carriage roads, or relax and enjoy the scenery.

Our first jaunt into the park with the dogs was to head up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. At 1,532 feet, it is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard and is the first place to view sunrise in the United States from October 7 through March 6. On top, the vistas offered views for miles in all directions, from out into the Atlantic, the various islands both large and small, as well as back to the Maine mainland.

As everywhere, the dogs are a people magnet for both young and old alike. Kids love petting Coco, who is so glad to get the attention she will strain at her leash trying to jump up on her latest victim. Molly on the other had, still doesn’t like kids too much, so she’ll shirk away, but then is forced to acquiesce when she sees Coco getting all of the attention. Old people come up and lament how much they miss their dogs at home.

We were also scoping out possible places to go kayaking. Jordon Pond, which is practically in the middle of the island, is a perfect spot, since it even has a boat ramp for launching. I don’t know why it’s called a pond since it is larger than many lakes I’ve been in.

Two knobs sit at one end of Jordan Pond called the North and South Bubbles. The Jordan Pond House is a famous restaurant known for serving tea and popovers on the lawn for over a century. This, one of the most popular restaurants on Mount Desert Island, is the only restaurant that is within park land. There is also a 2½ mile hiking path that loops around the entire pond offering some stunning views.  This became our #1 choice for kayaking.

We left the dogs in the car and had a scrumptious lunch at the restaurant. I had a mouth-watering cup of lobster bisque, which was loaded with lobster. I also had as one of those popovers, a very light, hollow muffin made with eggs, milk, and flour called puff batter (individual Yorkshire pudding), and baked in a deep muffin cup, where the top falls over the edge, henceforth the name. Served with butter and strawberry jam it is to die for. I liked it so much that I ordered another one with my after lunch coffee for dessert, and dined overlooking the pond as Marianne checked out the gift shop.

We headed back to the trailer the long way home, finding the one way road that winds through the park, and discovering Northeast Harbor, a quaint little fishing village that isn’t as crowded as Bar Harbor.

After a few wrong turns and even a rain squall or two, we finally made it back to the trailer.

I had worried about the rain, wondering if I had tilted our awning enough so that it wouldn’t catch the rain. I didn’t and it did. Using a broom, I was able to push gallons of water off the awning. I now use this trick, since once before I just tried just lowering one side of the awning support, when it collapsed, causing it to break.

Camped next to us was a family from St. Johns, Nova Scotia. They were just setting up their campfire for the night so I introduced myself to them. They were very friendly and had come to this campground several times before. This time, they were accompanied by two other families in their own trailers. They frequently drive in this caravan when camping, and they love camping in the United States.

We talked America, Canada, camping, traveling, and families until 10pm that night when everyone retired to their respective trailers for our much needed sleep.