7 October 2019, Monday

Today’s forecast is for rain, a good opportunity for getting chores done. After breakfast we fuel up Vincent. Then it’s off to Bar Harbor for groceries and a stop at the Visitor Center for a good trail map. G and N are due to join us at camp today, but we’re not quite sure when to expect them. At 1:30 I receive a text from G: “Hitting the road.” It takes about 3 hours to drive here from Portland, so O and I decide to drive back towards Bar Harbor to see what Acadia’s loop road is like. Near our intersection with the loop road is Cadillac Mountain Road. We decide to drive up to the summit. By now, the clouds have grown darker and the wind is shaking Vincent even as we are parked. O decides to wait in the van (to help weight it down) while I run up to the summit for some photos. The wind is so strong I can barely open Vincent’s sliding side door.

There are a surprising number of people on the summit considering the wind and the clouds. Children are huddling behind rocks so they won’t blow away. Grown-ups smile at each other as if to acknowledge we’re all crazy to be out in these conditions. I have to lean into the wind to avoid being blown over. Photos are only possible if I sit down and brace my elbows on my knees – otherwise I cannot keep the camera steady. When rain joins the wind I jog back to the safety of Vincent.

O and I drive back down the mountain and around the loop. The autumn colors are really beginning to pop, especially along the roads. It’s a beautiful drive, even with colors muted by clouds and rain. At 4:30 we turn back towards camp. As we are approaching Seawall Campground we receive another text. It’s G asking if we are driving. She and N are just a few cars behind us. They are soon checked in at the campground. 

Once at camp our first priority is to get their tent set up before the rain resumes. Then we all gather under our picnic table shelter for dinner and relaxation. It’s an early bedtime tonight to escape the rain. We’re hoping for fair weather tomorrow.