Mt Desert Island, Maine

 

Slowing down for a while

Our plans changed as we left Raymond, Maine earlier than we had planned. We could continue on to Quebec City, Canada a few weeks earlier than we had planned. Lubec or Campobello or the Maritime Provinces sounded interesting. We had been to Acadia National Park 13 years ago and thought this would be a good place to spend the next 9 days regrouping.

 

We took it easy our first few days on Mt Desert Island with a drive to Bar Harbor. This is cruise ship season. They dock just beyond the island in the picture and are tendered into the town. This day was a small ship with 700 passengers and the town was packed. I can't imagine how congested it is when two larger ships arrive later in the season.

You never know if you will have sunshine or fog.

Glooscap ("Good Spirit") is a wooden sculpture of a North American.

 

Seawall Picnic area in the southwest island was a great stop to check out the tide pools and watch the fog rolling across the bay.

Bass Harbor lighthouse

 We headed over to the carriage trails for a bike ride a couple of mornings. Between 1913 and 1940, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., financed and directed the construction of 57 miles of Carriage Roads for the use of hikers, bikers, horse riders, and horse-drawn carriages on the island.

 Carriage road bridges, no cars here.

 A stop at Eagle Lake

Acadia National Park's Island Explorer, a shuttle bus, is a great way to get around the island. We had ridden our bikes further than we had planned wanting to see what was around the next corner repeatedly. I voted to catch the shuttle part of the way back to our parking spot. I asked a young lady for a little help since she had a shuttle map and didn't want to end up even further from the truck than we already were. She is also a camp nurse 15 minutes from where we were in Raymond. She had driven 3 hours to Acadia on her day off . We had a quick but fun visit on the way to our drop off at Bubble Pond. I hope her drive back was easy and uneventful.

 Jordan Pond House

 

Helmet hair

 Jordan Pond House has been serving popovers and tea since the 1890s. We remembered how good they were on our last visit. We arrived in time for seafood chowder to go with those popovers for lunch.

Bubble Mountains beyond Jordan's Pond

 Sculpture made from mussels

 

 Top of Cadillac Mountain View. I can't believe we rode our bike up here when we were last here 13 years ago.

We stopped at Parson's Fish Market for scallops to go with our salads and cioppino soup.

We caught the bus early on our last day to beat the crowds along the Ocean Trail from Sand Beach to Otter Point.

Beehive Trailhead is across the road from Sand Beach and was calling our names.

It does look like a beehive and that is where we were headed.

 

 View from the top.

 

The freezer is full of blueberries and there was plenty to keep us busy and happy during our ten days here. It is pretty nice to be back on our time schedule and do or not, whatever we would like each day.

Time to go

Who won the wager?

Some of the reactions when we said that we were going to work at a youth camp were across the board. Wagers were placed on how long we would last. Four weeks would be the winner. Did we fail? Heck no! It was a good stop on the journey to meet some nice people and
crazy boys. Who would have thought that a youth camp with healthy boys would be such a petri dish? By the third week, there were outbreaks of two different viruses. I opted for the respiratory strain and ended up with a pretty bad case of bronchitis. When I could no longer talk because I couldn't breath, it was time to throw in the towel.

 

The camp owner was understanding and had a backup nurse ready to go and take over.

 

Once we realized it was time to head out, we had to do some fancy foot work. Finding campsites in July and August in the places we wanted to visit is a little more tricky.  

 Before getting sick, we made a visit to Old Orchard Beach to dip our toes into the Atlantic Ocean. I have no idea how the Mainers that were swimming tolerated the cold lobster water.

We woke early and decided to hit the road and head further east. As we drove by Bucksport, we crossed the Penobscot Narrows Bridge with an observatory in the left tower.

 The campgrounds on Mt Desert Island near Acadia National Park were expensive and booked except for Bar Harbor Campground which does not take reservations. You show up and see what's available, if there is anything. We were willing to take a dry camping site if we had to but lucked out with full hookup with shade trees and a not so bad price with all the blueberries a person can pick and eat included.

 Our campground neighbor gave us some tips on where to buy lobster and scallops at a good price to prepare for ourselves. There are actually two places near the campground that deliver lobster dinners. Where do we begin? How about a nap?

 The camp host that we visited with while he cleaned our firepit brought a load of firewood from another site he had just cleaned in case we might want to use it. What nice people!

Was it a bad choice to work at a youth camp clear across the country? No way, well other than the breathing thing. There were times when the influx of injured or sick boys was overwhelming. Mike stepped up and gave me a hand cleaning injured feet and toes or whatever I needed. It was quite an experience.

 

Now, what to do with all those blueberries and lobster.



Cycling in Freeport, Maine

Our day off

One day a week for 24 hours, we are totally free. We took our bikes to Freeport, Maine and got a ride sheet from LL Bean for a 25 mile loop to Brunswick. The morning was foggy and heated up pretty quickly as we rode. Pleasant Hill Road had plenty of ups and downs. Two miles before the end of our loop, I turned into Wealden Farms. Mike said that we didn't have any way to carry anything back if we bought anything. He was wrong. They had the best chocolate chip cookies and a cold drink. It was just what I needed to make the last climb back into Freeport.

 We passed several places on our ride with access to the Atlantic Ocean. The tide happened to be out.

 Green crab cages

Of course, after a bike ride, lunch is a requirement. We had eaten 1/2 of the steamers before I took the picture. Next up was some mighty fine fish tacos.

We stopped back by LL Bean after our ride and lunch but didn't need to buy a thing. I was ready to head home.

I stole a car, accidentally. The camp director told me to take the blue car with the keys in it when I needed to take a camper to the doctor one morning. The car I took was not the blue one she intended.

 

 Later that day, another camper needed to go to the Ready Care.  Mike brought the correct car to me while I got the camper ready. I got in the car and didn't know how to start it. The 14 year old camper had to help me figure out how to make it go. Once we got to the Ready Care, he took the fob and told me how to turn it off. He was kind of proud.  



 The path to Crows Point where the older campers live is a nice 1/2 mile walk.

Part of the sailing lesson is to capsize the boat and then right it. A calm day is the best for that. The boys were able to flip the sailboat but didn't have enough weight to right it. The boys in the upright sailboat got close enough for one of them to swim over and add his weight to get it upright. Success. 

 

I think these Mallards (the youngest campers) would rather be at free time or breakfast instead of the camp photo. I like this kind of photo instead of the one that everyone is posed just right.

 

We enjoy going down to beginner's beach and watch these little guys catch frogs and water snakes. They built a house in woodshop for some frogs The counselor found 3 dead frogs in the house under the bunk a few days later.

 

During "Nature Time" the little boys put 4 frogs in a box. A while later, they noticed only three frogs. The large frog had legs hanging out of his mouth. One of the boys picked it up and pulled the little frog out and let him loose. The little frog didn't last long.

Mike keeps busy fixing things and keeps the vans and boats gased up and ready to go on his own schedule.

 

One day a week doesn't sound like much time off. But we rotate days as primary and secondary nurse. We usually have the day to hang out as secondary if we aren't going to the doctor or pharmacy. Last week was exhausting with some big injuries and plenty of sick kids. Yesterday, I was primary and took a nap in the nurse's room in the afternoon. You just never know.



Two weeks in Maine

We are still here after two weeks

11,000 staff and camper converge on the Sabago Lake area between June and August.

Camp is big business in this area. The Fedex trucks have been hard at work delivering footlockers for the soon to arrive campers. 3400 eggs were delivered to our kitchen. The epi pens were purchased and counselors instructed on their use. The health and wellness speech was given and every person inspected.

Many of the boys arrive by plane or bus. Some arrived on charter buses that run the east coast, others flew into Portland or Boston and then were bused. The vans have been rented and picked up so the campers can be picked up in Portland and used on the overnight get trips.

The international campers arrived a day early.

I bet the ice cream parlors in Raymond are stocked and staff hired for the ritual of families stopping for a treat on drop off day.

It rains quite often in Maine. Even the dog has a raincoat.

He didn't appreciate that I was taking his picture. As I was walking towards him and aiming my phone, he started barking at me like I was doing something he did not like.

 Each first year boy is teamed up with a friend with experience that is older and a counselor. The counselors go through psychology lectures the week before camp. A little boy at our table cried our first night but was much better in the morning.  Scoby, a counselor, was able to take him outside and sit and talk with him. I made sure they both had some food after everyone was gone and took apples out to them.

One counselor told me that he had a bad case of homesickness his first year at camp. Now he is heading to college and is thankful for his time here. He met another counselor that is going to the same university and 2 hours after they met, they decided to be roommates in the fall.

Many of the camp alumni return and do volunteer work. A dermatologist that was at the girls camp as a girl across the lake gave a presentation on using sunscreen and melanoma. A couple of school psychologists gave presentations to the staff.

The boys come in all shapes and sizes with distinct personalities. They have been respectful and rambunctious.  One afternoon, we skipped out on lunch for a nice seafood and prime rib lunch in town. We commented to ourselves that they were probably glad that they got our deserts.  We were right. They got to split our apple crisp.

  We were returning to our cabin on the hill and could hear the

boys cheering and singing in the woods.

 At breakfast, a camper at our table from Mexico pulled out little packets of hot sauce. Everyone at the table started ribbing him about his contraband.

Many of the staff are from England, Ireland and Poland.  A counselor from England told me he wishes he could have gone to camp as a kid but they don't have them there. One morning a vehicle with a government license plate pulled up. The people in charge were making sure all of the foreign paperwork was in order.

 Mike gets his list of things to do and heads out to fix the place up. There is more than enough work to keep him going for a couple of months.

Infirmary

At dinner each night a young camper who loves to read about the presidents gives us a new fact about Calvin Coolidge (the most underrated president).

Reading mail after returning from rafting trip.

Outdoor camps are getting more competition from specialty camps such as sports, opera and music. This one is celebrating its 100th year and attempting to plan for the future.

  

We are finally finding our groove here. On my mornings off, I skip breakfast with the boys (we have our own kitchen) and take a walk. I enjoy listening to the birds, loons and wind in the trees before the boys pull out their outside voices. After breakfast, both nurses are in the infirmary to check out the dings while the other nurse pours the  medication for the next day (mostly vitamins and allergy medicine) and then are free to do as we please unless needed on our off day.

 The only thing worse than the tics and leeches has to be the boy's feet. Often, I send them to the bathtub to wash their feet before proceeding.