Must See Stops #10: Acadia National Park

January 11, 2020January 11, 2020 Our Class Cee Life #healing, #travel, AcadiaNP, Atlantic, family, FindYourPark, griefsupport, HealingJourney, NationalParks

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managing grief with travel — I kept my promise and brought my husband to Acadia National Park.

Introduction: John and I had plans to travel. We had plans to find a way to become full-time RVers, but we knew that this would probably have to wait for retirement due to John’s medical conditions. When he was diagnosed with angiosarcoma cancer in May 2017, he ended up being trapped in a hospital room for 83 days. He was admitted for six different hospitalizations in four different hospitals in three different cities before unexpectedly dying in the hospital on Oct. 5, 2017. You can read about the day he died Part 1 and Part 2. I then made Big Plans to take a trip to the places we had wanted to go and see together. For months I planned a trip to literally drive our grief away. It was my way of managing grief and loss: an 83 day trip in my RV with my two youngest daughters. I drove almost 14,000 miles around the United States in 83 days! Each day was dedicated to take back one day that was stolen from John in the hospital. This is one of 10 stories from my “Must See” destinations. I used travel to help manage my grief and loss.

I had to laugh when John made travel plans because he always wanted to go “out west!” He wanted to see the Pacific Ocean, the Redwoods, Yosemite, Seattle, every place on his list was west of us!

I wanted to go east. “We’ve already been east from New York City to Florida, what’s left?” he would ask.

Acadia. That’s what was left. Our nation’s oldest national park east of the Mississippi River. A park with such beautiful ocean scenery… and lobster. Lots and lots and lots of lobster!

I had already been spoiled by the amazingly fresh lobster dinners for several weeks as I made my way north from Rhode Island. I had been eating seafood dinners daily for days. And I started to wonder if a person could get sick from eating too much seafood. More on that later!

Acadia was the last of 22 national parks that we would visit on the trip. It was also the park that was furthest east on the trip. Our first national park was Dinosaur Monument National Park, Olympic National Park was our furthest north on this trip, Redwood was the furthest west, and Petrified Forest was our furthest south.

And, I got into all of the parks for FREE! Because my youngest daughter was a fourth grader, we applied for a pass through the Every Child In a Park program. You can read about how much it costs to get into a national park by clicking HERE.

When people found out that I was going to Acadia National Park, they had wonderful words of advice. Everyone said that we should be sure to stop at the Jordon Pond House to have tea and popovers. I did a little research and instantly realized that this foodie family MUST stop at the restaurant. Travel is such a good way to manage grief and loss, and so is good food! We were not disappointed.

In fact, we ordered two or three rounds of popovers and I became determined to learn how to make them once we were home! We each grabbed a warm and “fresh from the oven” popover, pulled it apart and watched the steam slowly curl its way out of the hollow center. We filled the inside with butter and jam and then popped small pieces into our mouths and savored every moment. I think we ended up having three batches. If you get to Acadia, you MUST have a popover!

My RV was not able to drive on the main loop in the national park, a common problem for RVers, so we took the shuttle bus from Bar Harbor into the park. We got off at Sand Beach and the girls spent some time jumping around in the waves and playing in the sand.

One thing that has been hard for me as a widow is seeing older couples together. My husband and I looked forward to growing old together, and cancer stole that from us. Seeing older couples holding hands or shopping together was a reminder of what I would never have with my husband.

I noticed an older couple sitting together under a shade tree, not far from where I was sitting. They sat quietly, reading their books and sipping cold beverages that they pulled from the small cooler that sat between their chairs. After about thirty minutes, they got up and I initially thought that they were going to pack up to leave. They gently placed their bookmarks on the page they were reading, closed their books and tucked them into the large bag sitting near the cooler. Then, instead of packing up, the man tugged at another bag and two large beach towels emerged. He placed the first one on the back of his wife’s chair and the second on the back of his own. He carefully straightened them so that there were perfectly set and wouldn’t blow off of the chair from the gusts of wind that came along every once in awhile.

His wife removed her shirt and shorts that had been covering her swimsuit and carefully put the clothes into the large bag. Then they quietly walked to the shore, looking like they had done this a thousand times. The water on this day was pretty rough. This may be typical of Sand Beach, I don’t know. But many adults didn’t go much further than a few feet and children were kept close beside their parents. The water was also pretty cold, so the combination of rough water and chilly temperatures meant that most people just waded into the water to about their knees and no further.

This couple tested the water and without hesitation began walking to water that was deeper than their knees. The powerful waves pushed them around, but they continued to walk deeper into the water. As big waves would hit them and cause them to stumble a few steps, they looked at each other with huge grins and giggled like teenagers. Eventually, they were waist deep in the water and this time, when a big wave came along, they simultaneously dove into the wave surfacing together on the other side, again smiling and giggling. They swam like this for almost a half hour, wobbling as the current pushed them around, elegantly diving through the waves and smiling and laughing together. They were oblivious to everyone else on the beach. They were oblivious of me on the shore videotaping them with tears rolling down my cheeks. Tears of joy for an obvious lifetime of love between the two and tears of sadness that I won’t have that with my husband.

While traveling is a great way to help manage grief and loss, there are still difficult moments.

managing grief and loss — Watching this older couple swim together in rough waters made me miss what I would never have with my husband.

Eventually, they slowly walked out of the water, but lingered in the area where the waves crashed and released their power. One last time, they wobbled on their feet from the force of the water, and then they walked back to their chairs. They walked right past me, never knowing how much I appreciated being allowed to witness their moment together. They picked up the towels that had carefully been placed on the back of each of their chairs and dried themselves off as they continued to smile and giggle with one another. Then they both sat down, he moved his chair into the sun to warm himself, and she grabbed her book from the bag, carefully removed her bookmark and set it aside as she returned to her story.

My trip became so much about the people that I met along the way. This couple have had a lasting impact on me. I often find myself remembering their afternoon together, yet we never actually met.

Some other things that you should do at Acadia

Thunder Hole – Be sure to check the tidal schedule so that you can time your visit here perfectly! The spouting water at high tide is magnificent to watch!

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse – Travel to the farther end of the park and take a hike along the Bass Harbor Lighthouse Trail and then walk along the stoney shore to get an iconic picture of the lighthouse. You are not allowed access to the lighthouse, and this is the only way to get a seaside view of this gem. Be careful! The rocks are difficult to walk along, and they can be very slippery!

Tide pools off of Seawall Road – Spend some time walking along the beach near Seawall Campground. There is a little picnic area there. You can spend hours exploring the different tidal pools.

Small towns within and around the park – Bar Harbor is the town most people are familiar with in the area, but there are also many other classic coastal towns with shops, restaurants and nightlife that beg to be explored. Some of these include, Manset, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, and Mt. Desert.

Our trip to Acadia, while short, left us with many memories and many reasons to make a return visit someday! It was a great healing experience that helped us manage our grief and loss, just a bit.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the seafood, it is everywhere, it is fabulous, and it is reasonably priced! Also, and I learned this the hard way, if you eat too much seafood (as in eating nothing else for several days) you end up getting sick and not being able to even look at it for awhile, so pace yourselves!