Funny #2 (of 4)

Funny/Irony #2 - Look out!

After leaving Vermont, we head out for Maine and Acadia National Park. Maine is also beautiful, and a little more rugged, with more pine trees as we cut through the upper third of the state heading to our campground in Bar Harbor. As has been blogged already, we stay about 2 days (3 nts). On day 1, we decide to hit the beach/rocky coastline sights, have pop-overs at Jordan Pond, and then head into Bar Harbor to watch the USA women’s soccer final. On day 2, we do a little more beach exploring, go to the top of Cadillac Mountain, and then head off for a hike on the carriage trails (built by Rockefeller in the 30’s) on what is called the quite side of the island.



At this point it is worth reiterating that some of the greatest highlights from the BFT have come from seeing a wide array of wildlife. As such, I have had to repeat my warning to Karie about trailering a large vehicle and how easy it is to flip the vehicle if high speed swerving is attempted for wildlife’s sake. “Unless, it’s another car coming at you head on, just do your best to slow down but stay aimed straight ahead at any target in your path,” I said.



So, coming into Maine, we hoped to spot moose and bear. However, shortly after stopping by the Acadia visitor center, we are informed that very little wildlife exists on Mt Desert Island. Bummer we say. I guess we will just appreciate the vegetation. So while driving to the trail head, we are noticing that there are a lot more ponds and marshes than we saw on other parts of the island. As Karie is reading the map and giving me directions, I am staring out at the scenery going by. “Hey look”, I yell to fam. “What Dad?” reply Syd and McKenna. “Over to the right is a huge beaver dam. Doesn’t it look like where the Beavers in Narnia lived,” I exclaim. “Oh… cool Dad, there’s hardly any wildlife here, that may be the last we see.” Karie looks up from her map at about this point, asking whether we missed our turn. I look down briefly from the driver’s seat to look at the map.



“Aaron, look out!” I pull my head up in time to see a rather large mammal crossing the road, about 20 feet in front of me. I think I spot a flat tail and rather large front teeth. No time to stop “Thump, thump” I hear and feel, as our car (unable to stop) hums forward over natures speed bump. Karie and I both look at each other, with a sick feeling in our stomach. “They sure seem to move faster in the Narnia movies,” I think to myself, never having hit an animal before. Not a good day to be a beaver. We don’t look back as we head up the road, praying that the quiet side of the island has a more critters than the park rangers lead us to believe.