This past week my family and I stayed at Forest Ridge Campground in Ellsworth, ME. It took us about 12 hours (including stops) to get up there. It’s a quiet, clean campground filled with some impressive RVs and older neighbors. We aren’t usually the “loud” guests, but it sure seemed that way when we were riding our bikes around and laughing out loud while playing card games.

We spent a few days exploring Acadia National Park and the surrounding area, ate local lobster, had some famous blueberry pie, and cheesecake.

The boys and I went mountain biking once but without doing even more driving, it was pretty lackluster. The mosquitoes were terrible while riding; it was funny watching the cloud chasing each boy’s head. It wasn’t as funny when I stopped to pee.

We drove to the top of Cadillac mountain and the views were spectacular! I was excited to take photos this day but left the SD card in my laptop, so when I turned on the camera, my heart sank. The family photo below was taken with my phone, on a tripod, activated by remote. (cell cams have come SO far in the last few years.)

I’m pretty proud of the kids for not killing each other while sitting three across in the uncomfortable back seat of the truck, but there were territory disputes, negotiations, and treaties made. On the whole, we survived pretty well in tight quarters for the week. You really get to observe the stark differences in personality when everyone is so close, all day, everyday. Each one is unique.

We spontaneously started a hike we didn’t know would take us more than three miles around Jordan’s Pond. It’s nice when your kids are Scouts and you can enjoy a hike where rain doesn’t ruin the adventure.

With the children, you would often find one reading, one watching a video on their phone, and the other wanting to play board games. Despite all there was to do, this new generation still spends far more time using technology than previous ones.

We went to the Union River Lobster Pot and the food was quite good and quite expensive. The family reactions to lobster were varied, my daughter opted for a burger.

There’s much beauty to be found both in the macro and micro ecosystem of Acadia. We certainly enjoyed the cooler weather for the week and weren’t too hampered by the rain which graced us periodically. The last night we were there it poured the hardest and Misty and I woke to the longest roll of thunder we’ve ever heard.

We climbed out on the rocks to see the pools at low tide around Ship’s Harbor and observe life captured by the changing seas.

Misty read two books for pleasure. I tried to read but I’m so much slower at it after my TBI and easily distracted. So I decided to write about “Diversity” instead. Thanks to everyone who read and commented on my last post!

To get a better view of the land, we took to the sea by chartering a boat. The captain was quite knowledgable about the area and answered all our questions. We got to see grey seals, harbor seals, a plethora of birds (including puffin and eagles), an ocean sun fish, aka a Mola mola, two light houses, a historic quarry located on an island, an ocean based salmon farm, lobstermen checking their traps, and much more!

Antiques and books in a chicken barn, interesting to look at but seemed over priced. We walked away with nothing but it was cool to see so much old stuff in one place.

Travel to and from was without incident but not without adventure. We drove across the George Washington Bridge (and paid a hefty toll!), seeing the smog obscured NYC skyline on our way up to Maine. On the return, we decided to take a different route to avoid the GWB and ended up on an older parkway that had a blinking height detector sign which told us to take the next exit so as not to destroy ourselves and the upcoming bridge. Exiting, we found a police station. I talked to an EMT who informed me his ambulance doesn’t even fit under some of the bridges on the Hutchinson River Parkway. The officer I spoke to after that wrote some directions to help us get back on track. Thank you, sir.

This was our last hurrah before Karis goes to college. I’m not ready for her to leave.

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr

A special thank you to Warrior Community Connect who helped me purchase the camera that took many of these photos. Their support enables Mental Grenade to produce higher quality work. My desire is to increase the quality and quantity of content produced. It’s a huge undertaking to do so…

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Thank you for being awesome. The last few years have been amazing and I hope to continue writing for you the rest of my life. Stay classy.

-Drew OUT!

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