Where the mountain meets the sea
Jake and I wishing for ice cream on Cadillac Mountain.
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Every now and again you happen upon a place where everything just feels right, a place, I always think, where your soul has time to breathe.
It doesn’t matter how you travel — car, plane, bicycle, motorcycle, boat, whatever — or where you travel — 10 kilometres, 100 kilometres or 1,000 kilometres — sometimes if you find the right place at the right time and pause for a few minutes, life is just … good.
For me, that place is often on a mountain or by the sea. I think that’s why I love to ride through the Cape Breton Highlands and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I live close enough to the ocean to often take it for granted, but the mountains call to me. In fact, I think it’s one of the reasons why I love to ride, because we take the time to really go places, to stop and experience places, just to breathe.
And so I found myself atop the highest mountain on the Atlantic Coast of the United States this summer, looking down at the ocean and one of my favourite towns.
Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park is 1,530 feet high. It overlooks the Atlantic and Bar Harbor, Maine, which I’ve written before is a wonderful town filled with lovely shops and great restaurants, many of which are dog-friendly, making it one of my favourite places to visit. I read somewhere that Cadillac Mountain is the first place in America to see daylight each day. What a peaceful and happy thought, even though, as a non-morning person, I’ll likely never see that for myself.
But as I sat on a rock and peered at Bar Harbor and the sea, life was good. I had Jake by my side, Steve was nearby, our good friends Heather and Dennis were a few steps away, our bikes were waiting for us in the parking lot.
As Heather pointed out, if there had been ice cream it would have been perfect.
This is just one of the views of the sea and Bar Harbor.
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November 22nd, 2011 at 10:51 am
Breathtaking ! I know what you mean about places… I love this poem- it sums it up
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
William Henry Davies
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:53 am
So beautiful, Carolyn, and so, so true. Thank you.