http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXRWdySrjDc
Whenever we'd play the song while driving in the car he would shriek with delight and grin ear to ear.
So that was the song I put on in the car this morning as we pulled out of Searsport at the crack of dawn and headed toward Bar Harbor for our morning 'Whale Watching Tour." (By the way, Miles is not such a fan anymore ... but I appreciated his patience with us as we took a sonic trip down memory lane.)
As the ship left port, we ran into some terrible fog, and for a long time we all worried we were not going to see a thing. But by the time we reached the whale zone (25-30 miles out to sea), the fog dissipated and we had some truly magnificent views of humpback whales. It's really hard to articulate in words, or show in pictures, the excitement and energy aboard the boat as whales would swim under the ship, and then surprise us by picking a new spot to surface. My favorite moment was undoubtedly when one of the whales breached no more than 20 yards off the starboard side, directly in front of me. The sound that massive animal made as it leapt up out of the water and then crashed on its back was astounding. I was really happy for Miles and Emery that they got to see the whales so close today.
I have lots of friends who are teachers, and we all have fun stories about running into students at moments we don't expect to see them. Such was the case today when Miles and I walked up to the top deck of the boat and I heard, "Mr. Teague?! What are YOU doing here?" It was one of my current students ... Kevin ... who will be a sophomore at North High next year and will play clarinet in Wind Ensemble. 2,000 miles away from DGN ... on a whale watching boat cruise ... 25 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean ... and I bump into a student on the top deck. This one as to take the cake. But here's the best part: Kevin's last name is ATWATER. No joke. You can't make up stuff like this.
We spent our entire afternoon at Acadia National Park. The vistas and hikes were absolutely breathtaking.
On the way back to Searsport we stumbled upon some very special cottages ...
After a final dinner with G-Bird and Papa, we built one last fire on the beach ...
... and Emery sang to the sea one last time.
