First Day of Work in Acadia

It's still raining (well, it is just drizzle really) but we show up at the park at 830am. We watch a short video about the park and learn about Friends of Acadia (FOA) - a nonprofit organization created to work with the National Park System to keep the park open and beautiful for all people to enjoy. Acadia was the first national park opened east of the Mississippi. FOA employees, Mike and Cliff, and another volunteer, Maria, take us for a drive around the park.

Because of the rain, the site where they had planned to have us work is under a couple feet of water. We were going to build up trails but this work site is a definite no go. Instead we travel to a place in the park where they have just built a new picnic area and wood steps leading down to the beach. Our first job is to move the left over wood up to the top of the hill.

We take a break and walk down to the beach. Layla finds a jellyfish washed up on the beach and proceeds to do some dissecting. Most students in Indiana have not ever left the state. While the students with us have done some traveling, it has been mostly limited to nearby states. This trip is a great opportunity to show them the great big world that exists out of the Indiana borders.
Back to the wood pile...a group of Asian tourists ask us what we are doing. I tell them and they are excited to know if they are the first group to use the new picnic tables. I don't have the heart to tell them probably not so I let them believe they are. They really were excited!

Around 3pm, we stop working for the day. We head to Sand Beach to walk along the shore. The 'sand' is not really sand but rather crushed shell. I can't be so close to the ocean and not put my feet in, so what if it is only about 60 degrees outside. Layla follows suite and we (as Tony described it) frolic up and down the beach. Matt snapped this picture of a couple enjoying the site.

Yes we worked real hard lifting all that wood but since the rain has subsided we need to see as much of the park as we can since no one is sure if the rain will stay away for very long. We head to Thunder Hole - a formation in the rocks that makes a large thunderous sound when the tide comes in. We do some rock climbing and exploring before heading back to the apartment.

At the apartment, we watch Crash on my computer. I try hard not to cry in front of people I just met but the movie is so sad. It is difficult to watch because it is so real.