Day 4 - Whale watching and Gorham Mountain (Julie)

Another great day, made even better by the news early this morning that we have a new nephew/cousin!

Aside from Mad Dog, I think the rest of us are not yet so sea-worthy. As soon as we got out to sea, Yadin and Zoey promptly curled up into little balls and tried to stave off sea-sickness. Zoey made use of the "motion disturbance" bags conveniently located all around the boat. Anan and Rakia did much better. We were draped in several layers of sweatshirts/fleeces/etc. for when we were out on the deck. One of the best things on the boat was the guide, named Julie, who talked almost non-stop for four hours, telling us lots of interesting facts and factoids about Mt. Desert Island, the whales, little penguin-like birds called puffins, and more. We learned that Cadillac Mountain (where we saw the sunset on the first day) was named for Antoine Cadillac, who went on the found Detroit. We finally got to see a pair of finback whales and that was a treat, and even Yadin and Zoey woke up from their naps and were able to see a whale or two. The boat rocked all of us to sleep at some point and we were happy to get back on dry land.

After a brief rest at home, we went out again, this time back into Acadia, where we did a great hike up Gorham Mountain, plenty of good climbing and big rocks and everyone was in high spirits. Anan and Yadin devised a game in which they had to step only on rocks and Zoey had to carry them in between. She didn't seem to mind playing the sherpa. When we got to the top we were rewarded with more stunning views. And when we got to the bottom, we walked along Ocean Path, back to one of our favorite places, Thunder Hole, and the kids climbed a few more boulders. Terrific day!

On top of Gorham Mountain