As a way to unplug after what felt like a long three years of exaggerated COVID19 responses by our governments, my family and I planned a “bucket list” trip. One of my wife’s lifelong dreams was to enjoy a vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine. We planned the trip to start right after the school year ended. Our journey commenced two hours after the kids were released from classes. We drove North from Kentucky into Ohio. Not sure if you knew it, but the drive to Maine from Kentucky is a long one! We broke up the trip so we (hopefully) could enjoy seeing different parts of our great Republic.
Our first leg ended at a place just above Cleveland called Geneva On The Lake, OH. A small vacation town that is nestled on the south banks of Lake Erie. It has all the trappings of small- town-USA vacation destinations: Ice Cream shoppes, Local BBQ smoke houses, antique stores, old-timey candy stores, miniature golf, Diners that when you walk in, feel like you’ve been transported 70 years into history. Because we apparently preempted summer by a week, about half the establishments were still literally shuttered. A lot of the places are “walk-up and order” but many of their steel shutter doors were locked down. Upon seeing so many closed establishments, I prayed that it wasn’t the COVID overreaction shuttering their doors forever, instead of seasonal schedules.
While we enjoyed the sunset on the shore of Lake Erie, we saw a Bald Eagle fly by. The timing of seeing an American symbol felt magical, because seeing a bald eagle is unique for us; but also, it was the end of May and we were getting ready to celebrate Memorial Day weekend.
Jamie Ruehl grew up in Erlanger. He graduated from St. Henry District High School, earned a degree in business administration from Xavier University, served the US Army on an ROTC Commission in 2001, attaining the rank of Captain and serving overseas. Back home, he graduated from Northern Kentucky University’s Executive Leadership and Organizational Change Master’s Program in 2018. He served as a Law Enforcement Officer for 8.5 years and was inducted into the American Police Hall of Fame. He has been a staff insurance adjuster since 2019 with a large carrier headquartered in Cincinnati. He is attempting to be the best possible husband to his wife of 15 years and best possible father to their 3 children. They live in Edgewood with their two dogs. He is a life-long distance runner.
After staying one night at Geneva On The Lake, we headed east and traversed western New York. Every time I hear “New York”, I immediately think of “big city USA”. But I was beautifully reminded that a large portion of New York State is very rural. I enjoyed watching the foothills of the Alleghenies unfold before us. Seeing the rolling hills and farmland reminded me of home: Kentucky.
If not for the definite New York accents of those we crossed paths with, there were a lot of similarities between western NY and middle KY. We stopped for the night in a college town, Binghamton, New York where we hiked as a family on Binghamton University’s nature preserve. Like the shores of Lake Erie produced a natural spectacle by way of an eagle, the New York nature preserve held a surprise for us. During the hike we saw many beaver-chewed trees and eventually a beaver dam. My oldest son a week prior had finished reading The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare and we had discussed the details of that book extensively as a family. In that classic piece of youth historical fiction, a young teenage boy lives by himself for a summer on the Maine frontier and is saved and adopted by native Americans from the Beaver Tribe. It was awesome to hear my son see actual “signs of beavers,” and discuss them given the context of that book. We were in the same part of the world the novel was set in and seeing those signs and remembering the brotherhood given by the Beaver Tribe was encouraging.
Our next part of the journey took us to The White Mountains of New Hampshire. (My 7 year old daughter calls the state “New Hamster”). We stayed at a Bed n Breakfast in the town of Bethlehem. The people there were very nice. We took two nights to explore this section of the Northeast. Of course this trip wouldn’t have been complete without trying some local flavors.
Vermont and New Hampshire are maple syrup states, so eating some “Super Secret Ice Cream,” made with local maple syrup was required and rewarding! We are a “running and hiking family”, so we hiked to the top of Sugarloaf Knob. A fun trek up a mostly pine-tree and white birch covered mountain that has two small rock outcroppings at the top that give you an unobstructed 360 degree view for your climbing efforts. You can see for miles around and the backdrop is the tall Mount Washington, which even in late May has some snow on its top. We then decided that driving to the top of Mount Washington was a good idea and we were not disappointed! If you are ever in the area, it is worth the cover fee to drive to the top of the tallest Mountain in New England. Gorgeous views, very windy and some neat history on the mountaintop inside the visitor center.
Finally, we found our way to Bar Harbor, ME. We rented a “Bungalow” on the harbor and it was amazing. We were less than 200 feet from and had an clear view of the ocean water. Lobster boats were anchored in the middle of the bay. The granite stone shore line is very different from the beaches and shores I’m used to exploring in Florida and South Carolina. The lilacs were in full bloom and it seems there is a state requirement for every property to have no less than 3 lilac bushes. Sitting inside the screened-in porch of our shanty sipping coffee, smelling the lilacs in full bloom, reading and writing, was just what the doctor ordered after a very long and cold spring in Northern Kentucky. Eating fresh lobster on the wharf was a fun experience. We did the
“touristy thing” in downtown Bar Harbor by visiting the local shops. The highlight of Bar Harbor is actually the adjacent Acadia National Park. The mountain trails overlooking the harbor, its shorelines and the countless islands were breathtaking.
One of my favorite parts of traveling the USA is meeting local people and hearing their stories. The owner of the bungalow where we stayed in Maine is a generational Lobster Fisherman. His grandfather, father, and son all trapped lobster. His thick New England accent made words like “hammer” sound more like “ham-ah.” His description of early morning trawls and extreme winter weather on the coast were exciting. I’m reminded of our nation’s strength in diversity as I hear his stories and I wonder about our stark differences. He and I don’t do the same job. We both were schooled very differently. If you were to have listened to our conversation, you would’ve heard my midwestern draw with a slight southern twang crash into his New England bawt. We have very little in common except we are both Americans. After a short back and forth, I can tell you that he and I both value hard work. Despite our many differences, we respect each other as fellow Americans.
I look forward to my next interaction with other Americans who are equally or more different. I enjoy the diversity that our great nation was built to host. I’m very glad that a brotherhood can exist here in the states that bridges different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
United We Stand . . .
