Acadia National Park, Just Skip It! ft. Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet

Hello everyone and welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Danielle. I'm Cassie. And we have a really fun episode today. We just finished up and I'm still like laughing and smiling because this is such a good time. We have some really fun guests on today to kind of do like a follow-up to an episode that we did a few months ago that people really enjoyed. Yeah so if you tuned into our episode a few months ago where we went to all the bad reviews on the park service we have decided to come back to that because you guys came back and said we love this. We want to hear more bad reviews of parks. So today we're picking on Acadia National Park a little bit because we love it all and good fun. And we have Zandi and Christine from Beach to Sandy Water to Wet podcast with us today. Yeah it's kind of like a full circle moment because that was the inspiration for that episode because we've been huge fans and we listened to them and if you're not familiar with their podcast they take reviews of all types of different things. They were just saying they just reviewed dude ranches. I think the one I listened to today was about jewelry like it's anything and everything. Yeah I listened to one about puzzles where people are really up in arms about puzzles and they just have great banter and great reviews or horrible reviews I should say that people leave that are really funny to listen to. Yeah so today we have the honor of having them. We're taking them to Acadia and trying to convince them to go in a backwards way but we hope you guys enjoy. And are also convinced to go. Yes and please share your good experiences or poor experiences of whatever park you'd like but yeah Acadia is on the chopping block today. All right well hello Christine and Zandi from Beach to Sandy Water to Wet. Thank you so much for being here. We're so excited. It's an honor. Big fans feels like a natural collab. We're very excited that you guys reached out. Yeah we're super excited and I think our listeners are going to be really excited about this too one because we know that they love your podcast but also we did a episode not too long ago where we did one of reviews of national parks and people were like you gotta do more of this please this is so funny. There's something that crossover there is just yeah it gets really crazy. Yeah people really love we do too much like loving on the national park system day to day and then so when we have an opportunity to share some like dunk on them for a minute. Yeah people eat that up. Yeah yeah so we decided to pick a park that's kind of near and dear to us. It's our like hometown national park. It's the only one that we have. Seven hours away. Yeah right in your backyard. Yeah I mean I live in Maine in the state and it's still five hours away. That's really wild. Okay yeah so we decided to pick Acadia. Have either of you been. I know we were kind of just talking. Yeah literally just to see one lighthouse and I was planning on going to more but I had a lighthouse and puffin cruise to get to so you know I just had things to do. You know how it is when you get a puffin cruise. Oh we did the puffin cruise up there. We did. You did. Oh my god the only one here who hasn't done a puffin cruise. You have to do it. I didn't even know that since we're up there. I mean I didn't know that for a while either and we did it for my bachelorette. Yes we did. I need to get married again. That sounds like a plan. I gotta go to that one. Your biggest one was fun but I want to be invited to a puffin cruise. This is like a much classier type of bachelorette I would say. Like very mild. Yeah just low key where I'll just kind of like in ponchos. We went kayaking. Getting seasick looking upwards. I'm just puking over the edge. Okay a lot of water activities. It's a little kayaking is too far. All right we've gone too far. I'm not doing that on my bachelorette. We're going. Water activities. Sorry did no looks like I just yelled at her. Like how dare you first of all. Do you know where you are? Yeah I did react a little too vehemently. I apologize. It's okay. It wasn't my bachelorette but I was happy for the activities that were happening. But no I'm not. Is it obvious I've not been to Acadia but I've heard it's beautiful. It is. Yeah it's really nice. You won't hear that today. You won't hear that. Yeah according to the help. Yeah we don't care about that. Yeah so for anyone who isn't familiar with Acadia of course it's located in Maine. It's right on the Atlantic coast. It's super beautiful. It's like the classic pines going right into this rocky shore going right into the ocean. It's super picturesque. It was established back in 1919 and like we mentioned it's one of the only parks in our area. But a lot of people love going here. Number one because the ocean and the mountains kind of combo but also because there's this place in the park that's super famous. It's called Cadillac Mountain and most of the year it's the place you can see the sunrise first on the east coast. So people like really love going there. It's a whole thing. We also did that for your bachelorette. We got a fucking 3am. Oh well that part sounds less. And to top it off we should write a bad review. I'm just kidding but we got to the top. It was so foggy we didn't get a view. It was completely dark. We just stood there. You couldn't see five feet in front of you. Never mind a sunrise. And it was freezing. It was like raining and we got up super early and then we just. One time Alexander. How's it going to stay? What is it about sunrises where you just assume it's going to be visible and then you show up and you're like oh wait he dragged me to the beach for a photo. He had gotten a camera and he wanted to use it to watch the sunrise and it was just all fog and I sat in the rocks. The only photo we have is me just sitting there dejected. Dejected. All sad and she thought it was really funny but I did get to see the at West Quadi Point up there near Lubeck the first sunrise for the U.S. because that's the farthest east point. Yeah that's cute. That's really cool. I love Maine. Yeah Maine is that have you tried? This is kind of off topic but also not. Have you tried lobster ice cream? No. Well okay I don't know about. Well I'm vegan so that sounds like doubly not vegan but I was dying to find a vegan lobster roll and I couldn't find one. That feels like a tough one to replicate. Yeah I don't need to have lobster version of ice cream though. But that's okay. I'm not vegan and that sounds kind of terrible but it sounds disgusting. It sounds horrible. I do love both of those things separately but do you have a review of it like in your head with like one to five stars? What do you rate it? I didn't even touch it. Oh yeah okay. Yeah no I drew a line. Yeah but it's either all lobster or blueberries up here. Oh right. Yeah the more natural fit for an ice cream I would argue. I agree. Well so how we're going to do this is we're going to kind of like go through Acadia and some of the biggest stops that people tell everyone they should do when they're here. So we'll start off with a ghost tour because that is one of our favorite ways to explore a new place. The first things we do is either I don't know like a historic walking tour or a paranormal tour. I will accept both. And I feel like they go hand in hand sometimes you know you get a little history lesson on a ghost tour. Yeah I did one last thing that was like a big mix of like oh yeah all this old stuff and then ghosts. And ghosts. Yeah so we actually have not done a ghost tour in Maine which feels. Oh you should. I know feels like a missed opportunity. Get married. Or I will and we can do it. I will do the ghost hunt not the nested waking up at 3 a.m. and not the kayaking but I would do a ghost hunt. Yeah renew your vows up here. I might. Yeah that's a thing or just let's just go. Okay we could just do that too. There's obviously a lot of parks have you know spooky ties and their own fair share of hauntings and certain things just as we're like everything else in in the world. But this part of Maine or this park is actually really interesting because it first started off like when you think of national parks you think of like I don't know big wild open spaces lots of wildlife just undeveloped areas but Acadia is a little bit different because it kind of started off as like this gilded age wealthy summer escape for a lot of people and there was a lot of like really beautiful ornate mansions and it's like it's kind of like the Hamptons. Yeah they'd summer in Maine and there was a lot of bougie things going on and there was a lot of like human presence versus like right this is a lot of just wild open land we should protect but a huge fire came through and destroyed almost everything. But so because of the tragedy and a lot of human presence before there's a lot of spooky stories and stuff so yeah so of course there are a lot of different tour operators that have ghost tours in Bar Harbor which is the town that is the gateway town to Acadia National Park and we decided to pick somebody who is upset about their experience. That's why not. Because why not? So Christine you can go first. I would love to okay okay so this is a review by Sean and it's of the Bar Harbor ghost tours it's a two star review. I really truly honestly wanted to love this ghost tour I've been so excited for it leading up to my vacation to Acadia. I can't express how let down I was with how lackluster and flat out boring this ghost tour is. If I could offer some advice on how to run this tour the first thing I would suggest not having the first stop at Ledge Lawn lasts literally 30 minutes. I noticed others in the tour becoming antsy and yawning and slouching as we reached minute 20 of the dull history of the family who lived and owned Ledge Lawn. Not the slouching. Oh and I love how he's like. When we were slouching she had a word slumping. Don't slump like this. Don't slump like this anyway. That was from Princess Diaries. Oh that's what it was. Yeah okay so she our mother quoted Princess Diaries that's wild. Anyway slouching I had a teacher who used to hit me with a ruler if I slouched down. Are you 95 years old? I know it's crazy but she was it was in first grade and she was like not hard. She would name me first grade. It was first grade and I remember my teacher was like 70 years old and she'd be like sit up and she'd hit me with a ruler. Wow I mean we went to Catholic school so I would have thought like a nun you know an angry nun. It was public school. We lived in the school and everything. They were buried in the school. Okay buried we walked over the graves every day on the way to Chapel. Yeah anyway. The group is slouching. This is no goes with these we don't actually talk about them. Okay sorry we derail okay so get blah blah blah everyone's slouching during the boring 20 minutes of dull history. Get to the ghost stories we don't need the whole tedious history of a family we don't know nor care about. First of all why are you there? Unless we as a group are actually entering the supposedly haunted locations the ghost story should be snappy and fast paced and full of scares. A ghost story to be drawn out and lead the yawns from a tour group. Moving on to our second location the graveyard itself was dark and foggy and wonderfully spooky all things you wanted a ghost tour location. Unfortunately at this point the group was shown purported pictures of ghosts taken at the graveyard. My tip don't show these photos to the groups. Most giggled at these photos because they are so obviously not ghosts. The most egregious picture is just a blurry photo of a man in modern day clothing with a crew cut. A crew cut that maybe that family that owned Ledge Lawn had crew cuts and that's a ghost of one of them. And if you were listening to the history. Oh my god the modern day clothing with crew cut but is supposedly the ghost of a man from the 19th century. To even show this photo to us was almost insulting to our intelligence. After this we walked down to the criterion theater. We couldn't go inside but the pilgrimage of being able to enter the theater is not a guarantee every tour so I took no issue with that. Once again however we were regaled with less than interesting minutiae of the history of the theater. Now I love history. Okay could it be if you don't know you don't? Oh I had to learn about some family I don't know. I had to learn history that I love. I hated it. As a history lover myself. But I didn't take this tour for history lectures. I'm here for creepy ghost tales. The history of the theater as a speakeasy would be much more fascinating if I wasn't on a ghost tour and expecting ghost stories. By the time we moved on to our last location I was so checked out I couldn't have cared less about the ghost story and the EVP played for us. This was the slowest paced dullest ghost tour I've ever had the displeasure of partaking in. And as I already stated I really wanted to have a great and spooky time. My ultimate pieces of advice get to the ghost story sooner. Don't bore us with the history of people we don't have anything invested in. Don't show us obviously fake ghost photos and don't have us standing around in one location for more than 10 minutes. I give this tour two stars because Bar Harbor at night was fantastically spooky in the fog. So the weather I'm giving points to the weather. Wow. How generous. Wow that's the end of the review. That explains the second star though. The weather. Star for the weather. Yeah sometimes you're surprised all the way through and you're like two stars how generous for someone who's so mean. Yeah. And then this one okay weather gets a point. It's the fog. Yeah. I love how they were like just get to the ghost. I want the ghost and they're like could care less about the EVPs. You know what? I mean EVP I wasn't even listening. I've never seen an EVP used on a ghost tour personally. Yeah I feel like that's not really. I stills above and beyond. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well once they saw the crew cut they checked out. It really counter you. They counter you. What a bold if they were using a fake ghost. Like why would they use that photo then? Like it just seems so ridiculous. Yeah. Right. I think I would question a ghost with a crew cut as well. I'd be like wait a second. Hang on. 19th century. Yeah. Well Cassie and I went we tell the story a lot so I'll make it quick but Cassie and I went on a ghost tour that I don't think we'll ever have an experience like this again. We kind of like topped out. So we went to we were in San Diego and we stayed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and which was supposed to be like obviously Super Honnid. Cassie actually had a little experience there but we took this ghost tour and usually I'm the one who books them and I was like let's do a little something different. Let's shake it up. So I wanted to which was a mistake but I booked this guy who had a lot of great reviews but it just wasn't the traditional like you're with a group and they're going through something similar to what we just heard about. So this guy like he's like meet me in the square of Old Town. This dark corner. This dark corner. We're like in the middle of the night. We're with four people and there's four people in our group and we're like where is this guy? He comes like out of the bushes. He's like dressed in plain clothes like no indicator that he runs anything like at all. So not even like an ID. You know like sometimes there's a lanyard that's like no lantern and that gives him immediate authority. Some guy with a crew cut just like jumps out. No light source let alone a lantern. No light source. Oh my god. So we're like hi. If he's like you know obviously he's like here for the ghost storm. We're like yeah sure and he brings us to just around the Old Town San Diego square or whatever but he doesn't give us any back. This person would have loved it. We didn't get any history at all of any building after jump scare. He was just like yeah so I had my first paranormal experience when over here at the what was that really haunted place. The Waley house. The Waley house. Yeah he's like that's what like opened this whole thing up and every stop was legitimately what he sensed and felt. No history no context. None. He's like this is where Mary is anyway and we're like who the fuck is Mary. And then he's like he would be like mid-sentence. He's like oh hold on you and he would like point to one of us and we're like he's like put out your hand and go like this. He's like do you feel that. Stop. Do you feel that. We're like he's like close your eyes. He's like there's a little boy right there. What a way to start. What the hell. You're touching a little boy. Yeah. No I don't think so. And that was it. That was the whole tour for like an hour and a half. And so we couldn't tell you one thing about Old Town. Any of the buildings. You don't even remember the name of the Waley house. That's incredible. Yeah truly. Yeah. So anyway I think his name was Joe. Joe wants a podcast. Joe needs a podcast. Hope he's doing well. I wouldn't say needs. It's a ghost tour. We'll never forget that. That is true. I think I might not forget it either. Okay shout out Joe. Thanks so much for that. Okay so we are going next to hotels and there's a lot of historic hotels in and around Bar Harbor and I kind of went off script. I'm like I'm just going to pick one that somebody's really mad about. It has no like real. It was actually it's an older hotel. It opened about a hundred years ago but it's obviously been like renovated and a bunch of times and this woman well it was a woman but I think she was using her husband's account Howard 182 from September of 2021. The review is the Inn at Bay Lodge which I don't think we've been to Cassie. I was like a lot of the hotels and stuff. I recognize but I didn't recognize this one but here we go. Here's the review. One star. I am a widely traveled 79 year old woman. My husband is 81. We have traveled extensively in Europe. We've been to the Middle East in Japan in Latin America and all over the USA. We have camped. We have stayed in hotels in BNBs and tents but we've never had an experience quite like the horrible one we had at the Inn at Bay Lodge. This is a good start. It's like okay so you're better than us. I got it. Yeah I mean clearly from the first word of this review. Like I went to the Middle East. I love that. The Middle East. Yeah. Just like such a like what a drop. Who cares. She just had to set the scene of how well traveled they are I guess. Okay we arrived on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We were impressed with the location of the Inn on a bluff overlooking Frenchman's Bay. Alas we were not assigned one of the rooms with a view in the main lodge but rather to a room in a sort of cabin across the road. We did not complain however nor did we say anything about the mustiness of the room. We were disturbed however by the fact that the toilet was running as though it was filling up even though we hadn't flushed it and it ran not constantly but in spurts so we couldn't even treat the sound as white noise. Oh so it's like intermittent white noise. That's a complaint so I'm like yeah I feel that. That's kind of a problem. I can't. I see it in your head. Yeah. We complained later in the day to the owner Jack. He said he would check on it but that night we had to close the door to the bathroom to keep the noise out. The next day Jack came to our room while we were out and left a note scrawled on a piece of paper. I quote best for now turn valve online turn off valve to stop. So turn the phone off if you'd want. We had some trouble flushing the toilet later that day but my husband reached into the tank to try and fix it and he did at least temporarily. It still ran. That night we got home from dinner at 9 45 p.m. the toilet was completely broken. It would not flush at all. My husband looked inside the tank but couldn't see what was wrong this time so we called the numbers listed on the sheet of paper we were given a check in including the number that said quote if you need immediate attention. No response. We called three numbers but it's like just give it up just call it all. It's fine. It's like broken toilet. It's not that deep. The idea of sticking my hand in the tank like I would do that whatever my own toilet I'll stick my hand in the tank in a hotel. Why are you even doing that? The fact that you look I don't know a musty hotel at that. I would not touch a hotel toilet intimately. I can see that intimate. I think I just have a less German German. I'm not germapho. It just seems yeah off. I'm like I wouldn't trust myself. To do what? Fuck it up. I'm just gonna fuck it up more. Oh yeah. All the spurting. I'm not gonna make it spur less. Then you're just like I didn't touch anything. That's true. It's like the liability. You know you probably signed some waiver. It says toilet issues. You gotta not touch it. Hands off the toilet. Finally my husband crossed the street to the main lodge and found another number. This time Jack answered and in a few minutes came to our room. When he arrived we told him the problem. He began screaming and I mean screaming at my husband. You broke it. I had it fixed and you broke it. The elevator you were talking about. You were talking about your bio-mouse. Don't touch toilets that aren't yours. Fuckin' toilet. Oh my god. He screamed at the top of his lungs over and over. I told him we couldn't spend the night in a room without a toilet. Which seems weird for somebody who's been camping. That's so true. Very good. I don't know. I would I've left hotel rooms or asked to switch hotel rooms for a broken toilet. But have you been to the Middle East? Yes. We have. Well then you weren't there where I asked to switch. You're so well-traveled. It gives you an automatic point. I mean it's crazy because people who have traveled to the Middle East and have seen toilets over there. This feels like not that but now she's like but now like there's a toilet. She should be grateful. Yeah. There's a hole in the ground. National parks I think you know something about them. Their toilets are terrible and this person's been thinking. Not in a bad way. It's like oh at least I have something but like yeah it's just shocking to me. Are national park toilets terrible or did Zandy just like slam you? Oh yeah no you fight for your life. Oh okay. It's a hit or miss I would say. I will say I've been to some that have like some great facilities. Oh here he goes backtracking. I've never been in a katia toilet though so that area what can I say? I don't know not much. In their defense they're very understaffed right now with that. That is true. I wonder how that would happen. So true. Yeah okay here we go. He screamed at the top of his lungs over and over. I told him we couldn't spend another night in a room without a toilet. Then he began screaming at me. You are nagging me. Quit nagging. You're nagging me. Stop it. At one point he flung open the door of the room and screamed get out. Just get out and go someplace else. Oh my god. Of course as elderly people at night in a town where every available room was already taken on this holiday weekend we had nowhere to go which actually is very valid. A katia in labor day weekend is a nightmare. Yeah I can only imagine. You're not. I forgot that they were elderly too. Yeah there is also. She made that very clear in the first line which is I must say. No traveled 71 year olds. Yeah the first line huh. Yeah. I told him we would not pay for the night and that we needed some solution. He kept screaming at me. For a split second I thought about calling the police. Finally he went into the bathroom and started working inside the tank of the toilet. By that time it was at least 10 10 p.m. He worked on the toilet for about 20 minutes muttering that we had broken it. He's like air toilet. I'm so sorry those mean people. I told you it's an intimate thing. It's an intimate thing you're right. After that he sheepishly admitted that he had a plumber in some time before and the plumber had not set the valve correctly and he complained about the money he had paid to the plumber. He promised to have it fixed the next day and apologized for yelling but we still had no solution for the night. Finally he said he would get us. This man just yelled at you and said you were nagging him. I would not be sleeping. I know. I know. I would be like traumatized. Well he's offering a solution. Oh finally he said he would bring us a bucket for the night. Stop. That's not okay. Can you imagine flushing the toilet with a bucket in a hotel room? Oh in my head they're pooping in the bucket. Okay. Yeah yeah same. They're using the bucket for flushing. Okay. She clarified. You dump a bucket of water in it like whooshes. I thought it was the new toilet. Okay. It doesn't spur it whooshes. Okay. It's a good one. It's a good one. It's a good one. Yeah. We have no choice. Jack left and about 15 minutes later he returned with the filthiest bucket I have ever seen. We found the dirtiest one on the property. It was caked in mud. That was our purpose. It was caked in mud inside and out. I didn't even want this bucket near me and I certainly didn't want to touch it. I took a photo of the bucket but I don't know how to upload it to this site. The bucket had a very wide mouth so that it was impossible to pour without spilling filthy water on the toilet seat and onto the floor. It was revolting but again we had no choice. I couldn't even lift the bucket. We made it through the night though after being screamed at we had a hard time relaxing enough to go to sleep. We decided to check out in the morning thus cutting our vacation by two days. We drove back to Boston and got a flight home at great expense because it was so last minute. All because of this toilet by the way. I mean this toilet has caused some serious problems. Jack's wife apologized profusely and of course didn't charge us for the night without the toilet nor for the other two nights that we were supposed to be there. Of course because it was Labor Day she could not get a plumber and even if she could have we were not going to stay in that room with a plumber working there all day. I think she should have just refunded our money for the first night also but we were so glad to get out of there that we didn't argue about it. I do not recommend this in because I think the owner a man almost as old as we were is kind of losing it. I know I said I'm elderly this guy is off his rocker. I feel sorry for Jack's wife and the other employees. Well to be fair he does say that nagging word like a hundred times. And I did have to note because I had to look into this of course because I'm like God because there were other reviews that weren't as in depth of this but kind of the same vibe of like it was kind of gross and like run down and whatever and what's going on with this. But the in is under new management and it looks beautiful now. Okay so there was like this lovely couple and their dog from Idaho and they're like yeah we bought it like last year and it needed some love so yeah I've heard. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Hopefully that all the toilets are white noise. It just comes back white noise. Yeah I'm spurting regularly. Spurting regularly. Yeah. Wow. Customizable themes that let you build your brand. Marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time from startups to scale ups online in person and on the go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Okay do you want to talk about Jordan Pawn Cassie? Yeah so next on our stop if everyone's enjoying their tour of Acadia so far. I love it. Are we going to build one now? Yeah I feel like I've seen it already. Basically you've seen the best corners of it. The next stop is at Jordan Pawn which is this beautiful iconic spot that when you go to Acadia it's kind of like the place to go and it's this restaurant that it's a restaurant and gift shop that overlooks Jordan Pawn and also the bubbles which are these mountains that are shaped in like half circles so they're called the bubbles and it's beautiful and they're known for their popovers which is like you go there you have a popover you have the their blueberry lemonade they have other food and stuff too like classic lobster and a bunch of other dishes but during the summer they have all out on the lawn overlooking this pond you can sit outside servers come and bring you these oh lovely they do tea time with your popovers so you get like fancy tea and your popovers and jam and butter and bread and it's just like this fancy beautiful elegant way and it started in the 1800s like the popover thing yeah so it's like a very ingrained and rooted thing I have no idea what popover is it's like a biscuity okay it's hard do you know what a Yorkshire pudding is? I work a lot of Gordon Ramsay content I know what a Yorkshire pudding is okay it's a Yorkshire pudding I've never heard of something in my life. He freaked out some guy for how he made his Yorkshire pudding anyway okay it's a Yorkshire pudding it's the same thing yeah sorry I was looking up I've never seen Yorkshire pudding oh really? I grew up my step parent was or is British they're divorced now so he's not my step parent anymore but we used to make Yorkshire puddings all the time at my house so they're very they're very very similar the name is deceiving because there's nothing pudding like about it it's not desserty either it's like it's very much like a bread it's like a really fluffy bread it's like a crescent roll I'm just really mad at people from England but nice oh yeah I mean watching Gordon Ramsay complain I was like come on dude no who cares it's a Yorkshire pudding but he it no he had some points about how it would deflate and stuff but that's yeah if it deflates it's ruined it's trash I know you just didn't know what what uh what uh Yorkshire pudding even was and now you're saying it's trash I feel like I'm an expert now I feel like you kind of get it yeah I get it because I get popovers and if they're the same thing I'm the only one here who's totally out of the week that's fair yeah I just have to go to Jordan pond and Acadia now I guess yeah that sounds amazing I want to go back to me yeah number 13 open lighthouse day so I might anyway well I gotta get out there open lighthouse day on September 13th ever oh I thought you said it's White House day I'm like that's the wrong state I know I'm like I feel like there's a lot of things but yeah no they have they open up all the not all the lighthouses but they have they open up lighthouses across the state of Maine to the public and I was the fifth person last year to go into the Portland headlight and they only had I think 200 people in a year so those are like really cool that is super cool I was trying to find ways to brag on this yeah anytime I can talk about lighthouses and force it in I take the opportunity I love that do you have the like passport oh you better believe it's I think it's in my backpack right there you're like I have it on me I never know except actually whenever I go to an actual lighthouse I forget it so imagine there's like a natural disaster and they find you and they find your like we have his ID and it's just like yeah like no I have mixed up that with my actual passport it is not like anything that bad like I didn't try to travel internationally with it but I mixed them up before but I have like a stack of papers little papers slips that I'm supposed to tape in because I went so many times without my passport they stamped the paper for me and I haven't put them in but anyway I have like that's my struggle with national park passport we always forget ours and then so we have all the loose things and the stickers and the stamps and yeah yeah we've been to so many before the park pass or we had the passport so now we feel like did they even count oh because we didn't get the stamp I know no they didn't yeah we gotta start over I think it's pretty obvious they did not count okay yeah so I think we have a review of the the restaurant the Jordan yeah we've talked so highly about Jordan pond yeah um this review is not so great this is from reviewer cardio md 22 that's not my kind of name let's see august 2024 and it's titled the jekyll and hide of Jordan pond whoa believe it or not it's a one-star review here we go those who are reading these reviews should carefully note the widely disparate oh disparate experience I know they're making us read some hard words today what the heck we don't need your purpose we as a thesaurus were like easier way to say those are who are reading these reviews should carefully note the widely disparate experiences shared by reviewers as did I before booking a reservation for JP house as we were told by multiple people that we just had to try the popovers in tea while here well let me say and all four members of my family were in complete agreement here that popovers in tea at Jordan pond house may be the biggest food scam in America if not the universe what America and the natural next step is the entire universe there were only two aspects of the experience that were positive the view from the restaurant lawn is terrific and probably why people who give this place positive reviews are lulled into satisfaction and the service we received parentheses jekyll actually I guess I didn't realize oh I don't know yeah I suppose hide is the bad one I don't know jekyll sounds like it's gonna be the bad one right it does sound pretty evil yeah because he's the yeah dr jekyll and mr hide and this guy's also a cardio md so this person is also a doctor so we know right about jekyll okay makes sense somehow however the popovers in tea are simply not worth the 14 dollars a pop as others have said for 50 cents worth of food if that excluding tip oh no and 14 dollars excluding tip which I generously provided because I legitimately felt sorry for the harried servers the popovers could best be described as what a flavorless dutch baby pancake would taste like if we're molded into a hollow muffin oh that's what it is why didn't you say that to describe popovers that's such a great description it's evocative yeah I knew what half the things were dutch baby pancake I'm not sure which oh it's flavorless though yeah oh man they give you smuckers strawberry jam and some butter and your choice of tea coffee or lemonade the parking situation is awful as described as is the chaotic check-in situation parentheses hide hide hide bad bad bad oh I get it now but is it true they give you smuckers that would surprise me unless smuckers is like a main do they that's I don't remember being handed smuggers I remember giving you jam and this person's just being like because that's what you know Cincinnati diners only have smuckers and I'm like if they have that here come on do better especially with the blueberry jams I'm sure they probably are not giving out there's no way 14 dollars a pop I remember having a bowl with it filled with yeah so the person just claiming they know it's smuggers and it's probably they needed another hide throw in the most parentheses yeah do yourself your family and your wallet of favor and skip this experience entirely or do what we did which was validate the poor experience of so many who have already posted here your choice jackal or hide oh this is so like totally I mean really that's the end of review that doesn't even make sense like why would that be the jackal and like that doesn't even make sense it's not the same person it's not like oh yeah that's a weird it's a restaurant it just is a weird person was like I know two things that represent good and bad yeah right it's like yeah literary if you don't like popovers just say that I mean truly like you can just say I didn't like it there's no nuance it's like what you it's not your taste that's okay yeah they are maybe but pretty plain I'm just gonna say it like I don't come from much flavorless pancakes almost precisely exactly yeah wow did you write this review I'm a big Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hyde fan and I wanted to work it in somehow yeah oh it was all because you and then I you did get defensive about whether or not Jackal had an MD or not you were like it's doctor it is doctor yeah I see the connections yeah a lot of people were also really upset at this restaurant for the bees they a lot of people because there's bees everywhere and they love the smokers oh yeah I like that lemonade spill in everywhere yeah I don't think I've ever been stung by a bee at a restaurant and that's like there's a swarm of bees hanging out they want some jam they don't want me I've been stung by a bee at a restaurant yeah it doesn't count you were harassing them I saw it I was four yeah exactly what does does not disprove my point okay well I feel like it's not the restaurant's fault that you're drawing bees you know oh I agree unless they like purposefully put like I don't know cover the trees and smuckers or something what I'm trying to think how they just attract bees well here's the thing this restaurant is also in the middle of a national park so it's like the bees belong yeah the yeah this is the bees house it's not your home yeah and they're surrounded by wild flowers they have even I don't know if all of them are wild but Jordan pond the restaurant has a bunch of planted flowers everywhere and then there's wild flowers all in the fields off to the side so it's beautiful and incredible and of course there's gonna be pollinators there yeah we would hope so I love bees my favorite thing is people complaining about nature in nature yes when you did your review episode I'm sure that was fine there's just national park reviews are so wild for that where it's like they complain about not having modern or not modern just amenities specific amenities in a national park the weather yeah and then they're like oh it was beautiful but it's like what the fuck did you want yeah well next on our list of places that we're going we kind of already talked about it earlier is Cadillac mountain which is a really cool mountain too just because Acadia is on the coast and then this rises to 1530 feet above the ocean so it's pretty dramatic it sounds small if you're comparing out west mountains or something but from the ocean to the top of here is pretty cool but there are people who have not good things to say about it and they're three times never seen the view really I'm not that man that foggy yeah so I feel like I should just give it up well we did a group trip there with our listeners a couple years ago and of course we go up there it's a fog like you can't see like your hand in front of you and I have this like picture or a video of somebody who got the actual view on google and just held it up and it's like yeah it's like just use your imagination and how beautiful I saw it once a few years I think it was 2017 I saw it but it's been almost a decade since I saw it you were like no the year was like that it was so special it was a rarity I had the best weather when I was in I everyone told me that that I was so lucky I don't think what time of year did you go um I went twice once was in like spring I want to say March like early spring and then the other was September so like middle of yeah yeah the weather is usually good it's just like that fog before it burns off is like and of course you're there for the sunrise so right I don't know it's kind of like 50 50 but I've lost every time I will say I did only wake up early one time so it's not I shouldn't be saying how great the weather was because I don't think I saw a single other morning so all right well this review is from Nazi 42 what that's their Nazi uh Natsy I miss spelled nasty I hope it's from July 2017 oh my so maybe we were there maybe we were there at the same time could be they titled this what's the big deal two stars before heading into Acadia everyone kept talking about Cadillac Mountain and how amazing it was and it was on a lot of bucket lists and you just had to see it maybe if we've gone at sunrise which was impossible because I can't be anywhere at 4 30 in the morning oh well it would have been more exciting but in the afternoon there really wasn't anything that spectacular it was some views but I didn't see anything that breathtaking or unbelievable it was just kind of meh oh person better live in like the most beautiful place in the world yeah I'm from Fiji I don't even know Fiji like shut up you're overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and you're in a national park but okay there's tons of people and you have to be lucky enough to come when someone is pulling out or you won't get a parking spot you can wander around and look at a couple of views but as I said I didn't find it at all remarkable I won't say don't go because if you don't you'll just be wondering what you missed but don't expect much it could be that coming from living in the midst of the mountains I just found this one a bit underwhelming if it hadn't been so hyped up I may have left with a more favorable opinion sorry people told you it was nice they gave me their opinion so then I didn't like it and also what mountains because people have different definitions of what the mountains are like it's coming from the mountains okay yeah whatever yeah it's like you're on the ocean it's a different I also I hate it when people complain about like car things like parking in a review like in oh yeah it's like you're part of the problem if you drove there yeah actually in a national park if you're driving in a national park like that's fine it happens all the time like I did that it was a crazy traffic because of all the construction and I'm not like how dare they do construction in my national park it's like yeah part of the problem I'm in the traffic because I am traffic yeah that's my favorite thing yeah it's like I there's just way too many tourists here it's like you are how do you think you are yeah well next up is another location that people seem to be disappointed by in Acadia and that's Thunder Hole so Thunder Hole is this feature in the park that it's really popular number one because it's like a really cool phenomenon if you catch it at the right time but it's also legitimately right off of the main road so you don't have to like hike over to it or try and like travel far to get to it so a ton of people try and see it and it's like this rocky little inlet of the shore where when the tide comes in right it thunders in and crashes up and makes this giant booming sound and it has like this giant wave I think a few people have died to like yeah people have died there it goes up to the wave will shoot up like 40 feet in the air sometimes yeah when we were there a woman broke her ankle and there was like search and rescue there because it's really wet because of all the waves that are crashing right here so and you have to kind of climb down these rocks there is a pretty like known path but there they are rocks that you have to walk down to get down there yeah but if you catch it in the right time I guess it's supposed to be amazing but I think most of the time it's kind of just pretty average dangerous and dangerous it's just a clips it's just a rocky cliff side like yeah yeah beautiful great amazing stunning but some people are pissed so this is a two star view from by Sir Rob written of Thunder Hole here we go visited Thunder Hole with high hopes of being dramatically drenched by ocean fury and f-end by nature's subwoofer uh-huh I feel like if this were a five star review that'd be amazing I'd be like yes instead I got a polite burp from the sea and a light misting like Poseidon sneezed politely and said pardon me that's pretty cool I don't know I timed it perfectly two hours before high tide as instructed by every enthusiastic blog and ranger I consulted what I got was a small gurgle that sounded like a bathtub drain finishing its shift the only thunder I heard was the rumble of my stomach waiting for lunch end of review so is it like one time it happens like it seems weird that's like oh I got a gurgle as if like that was the only opportunity that it would make a sound yeah is it like when it's storming you have to go there it's during the tides you have to during as high tide as approaching I think is the best time but I mean it's always doing something because it's just a rocky inland there's ocean waves crashing into it all the time but to get the like full on I don't know wrath or fury whatever they said the Poseidon's fury yeah yeah Poseidon's fury uh instead of just a gentle sneeze you have to go in the right time politely Poseidon said pardon me that was a nice one it's really thoughtful yeah um and then we added just another one that was just funny okay I didn't even notice okay this is a one star review from by Syed of Thunder Hole here we go there is no thunder and definitely no hole lol what what little cliff that's all not much to see if you've never seen a cliff before this is the place for you yeah one two three one cliff you've seen them all that's right that's right yeah don't even bother their credit it's not a hole it's like a slice in between the rocks oh he wasn't wrong I guess he's not wrong it's not okay technically a hole technically yeah he was deceived on both counts no thunder no hole so the next one up is the carriage roads uh the carriage roads are one of the fan favorites of the park their kind of unique Rockefeller was one of like the big philanthropist he actually donated a ton of money to Acadia when it was being established and he created these carriage roads it's like a huge network of like 45 miles worth of these they're now gravel roads that kind of wind throughout the park and people either horseback ride or bike or walk them and it's a really cool play way to see the park especially for people who don't want to do like huge extensive hikes or anything like that they're super popular we did them we didn't do them on your bachelorette we did it on the trip yeah we did it on a group trip we rented bikes and because there's no cars on them right and so it's just people who can and they weave around ponds and through the forest and it's really pretty so we rented bikes and sounds just kind of ride along them yeah it's really nice but I do remember we lost a couple people in the beginning because they're like all right it's a nice gentle ride but first you have to get up this hill that's like they should have gave us e-bikes they should have gave us e-bikes for that portion but um yeah I don't know we've we did e-bikes one time and I feel like we can't go back oh I was gonna say I never used one me neither but the second I do I'm not going back I already when you realize you don't have to pedal that much that hard to get places great yeah I'm into I like the idea of biking until I'm doing it so that sounds like the good mix yeah good combo yeah but our dad obsessed with e-bikes and I think that's kind of like team that are perspective on them oh he likes e-bikes I don't like e-bikes no 30-year-old children do with their parents yeah I would give them a chance we we rented them when we were doing the maroon bells in uh Colorado and on the way down I hit like almost 40 miles an hour it was scariest but I'm like I was cruising yeah are you're at campaign's lighting up the dashboard but not the pipeline that's bull spend marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions my boss asked for results so we opened my dashboard for the only positive sounding metric I had impressions cut the ball spend see revenue not just reach linkedin delivers the highest return on ad spend of major ad networks advertise on linkedin spend 200 pounds on your first campaign to get a 200 pound credit slash lead terms and conditions apply okay so anyways we're gonna be on regular bikes for this I think um of the carriage roads this is from Cynthia 321 from July of 2013 of the carriage roads two stars title not recommended most of the gravel roads aka carriage roads are surrounded by trees from time to time there's a nice view but the nice views can be accomplished via a hike or a car ride in any case it's boring complete with long uphills and long downhills I was going to give it a three but I lowered it to a two because my wife almost got stampeded by a horse oh the reckless equestrian was a guide on horseback who was in front of a horse giving it a two though he's like uh after my wife almost got killed I got one stop holy shit the reckless equestrian was a guide on horseback who was in front of a horse drawn wagon later I yielded to the horse wagon as we were on a tight bridge do you think I get a thanks or excuse me no in sum I would say the equestrian crowd here at aka seems rather entitled okay we're going into a different this is supposed to be the they're going up to the equestrian community okay first of all that's a dangerous community I wouldn't recommend the vegan I don't talk much about it because they scared the shit out of me yeah I live in Kentucky and I don't even mess with the horse stuff from like as a former horse girl I didn't say anything yep I'm scared yeah be careful it is yeah I don't I don't doubt it for a second yeah that's why I had to get out you know I had to get out of that that community yeah yeah it's a daunting yeah it's it is scary and I will say entitled there's a few people in there that I'm glad you said it someone had to say it other than it's a very rich sport it is very rich uh yeah especially like I think there's a difference between like when I was a true in my horse girl era I was still living in the east coast and there's like you do like English and I did hunter-jumper competitions in that world but then out west when I lived out west it's like you just throw in a western saddle and you're going through the mountains and like it's a cowboy camping and yeah it's a they're different different vibes this this world the Acadia I know exactly what they're saying okay in sum I would say the equestrian crowd here at Acadia seems rather entitled so avoid the bike ride unless you want a vacation exercise workout where you occasionally see an inland lake and never get a glimpse of the ocean it's like did you not look at a map I got forehand yeah that carriage roads are very clearly mapped out on every single thing when you're in Acadia like they advertise it so hard it's not just for you to be able to see the ocean so yeah gratitude for rock fella I almost pulled another one that was like they basically were complaining they were like the views are nice but until you realize the view is just forest oh look more forest oh there's forest again tree like I'm mad I'm outside I have another three in this camp park I mean I'm like complaining about not being like able to see the ocean I feel like if they were that close to the ocean the horse would have run his wife off the cliff oh true yeah you wouldn't want to get stampeded near the yeah near the cliff side be grateful you were only by ponds yeah it could have been a one star review not a two that's true my wife died so I believe one more review or one more star oh okay our next place that we're heading to for Acadia National Park is the beehive trail and have you guys heard of the beehive before no it is it's called the beehive because when you look at it from afar it's this big rock structure that kind of is in the shape of a beehive it's a relatively short hike it's about uh 1.4 miles to do it but it's straight up rock and it has all of these steel ladders that come out that you have to like physically climb up these different sections so and you're on the cliff base you're on the cliff face you're on the side you're climbing up these rocks yeah yes yeah yeah once again people have died here yeah and I will say when we did it this trail is so popular in the park that there will be lines of traffic of people in it so we something that would have been very strenuous because you're like climbing and you're walking straight up and you're kind of taking long breaks because you're waiting for other groups to climb on the ladders and so it takes a little bit longer in that way but it definitely is not a hike that you would do when it's raining or something yeah that's a recipe for disaster yeah yeah but it has beautiful views yeah have you seen the videos of like Everest when it's like people are just in a traffic jam going up oh yes I've seen that like TikTok I think when I was in Maine had a thing about the lines of people and I saw you and I'm like oh my god they're like on the cliff face you know it's very it's probably this trail like because that's how that or a precipice yeah that's true but yeah so something that could be really awesome and fun like yeah you are I feel like we were there half the time we were just kind of like standing there waiting because if anybody has any sort of like panic attack or can't maneuver the ladders or get scared like you're jammed there's no other way around yeah so and no one's rushing each other because we're all standing on a cliff edge and climbing up these rocks so it's like just take your time we'll get there when we get there no horses I hope I'm not no horses allowed I did see that some people were saying like trying to describe this trail and I want your opinion do you think it is like a mini via ferrata or do you disagree with that I disagree with that same I'm I don't think that's giving it a little more credit than I think is because via ferrata is you are literally climbing up these huge rock faces almost rock climbing you have to be strapped in this is not something where I think there were any points where I felt like you needed to be strapped in same yeah you know like you're not hanging over a cliff edge on these ladders there's something platform right like yeah exactly so yeah I've done one via ferrata against my well and I'll never do one again I was so fucking scared you did great I don't even know what it is but sounds terrible it's literally like so we did it again on a group trip we bring all our listeners on really fun things um yeah we where were we go back yeah and we did I don't even know how high it was you would have to look it up Cassie but it was you basically strap yourself in to this like harness that has these you have a harness on and you have these two kind of like bungee cord things out like this and they have two carabiners on the end of each and you're going straight up a cliff face on all these like little either footholds or rungs and you have to clip yourself in on every step or you fall and it's really really scary for somebody who isn't the biggest fan of heights and once you're up past a certain point like they tell you they're like this is your last time to bail out because no one can help you so speaking too fun the only other time I've heard someone say that was at mammoth caves when I was in there and they said this is your final chance to turn around otherwise you're stuck and that was terrifying so this must be a national park thing it's like the opposite though I love that like you had that experience in a cave like oh yeah because it was and then it's like oh it all happens on a cliff yeah on a cliff yeah why not oh interesting park staff will only help you up to a certain point and then I get it yeah your life's in your own hands yeah we'll clean up your body sorry I think if I were experiencing myself I just read the title of it it's people have died here oh god okay wow thanks anyway that's according to Ryan K from July 2015 so it's been 10 years plus so who knows them anymore this is a one star review having grown up in Maine I thought I'd enjoy a fun hike with my brother who is an experienced climber and lives on MDI it's MDI do we know does our island yeah where the park is oh okay okay oh so people do live like is it a good amount of people or is it just like a yeah oh okay the park's really interesting because when like when you drove down to the lighthouse like that portion not the lighthouse and some of the land around it is technically part of the park but you drove through people's like communities and neighborhoods you know so it's like it's a park that's kind of fragmented a little bit throughout the island yeah I'll let the base of the trail the face of the hill looks quite intimidating seeing the look of trepidation on my face a man who just completed the trail said to me she did it and put it to his 10 year old daughter I mean that would comfort me if I was 10 year old and I was like okay that does make me feel better yeah that settled it oh my gut was still saying this was a bad idea but I went ahead anyway so it doesn't sound very settled I don't know I don't know if your gut is saying don't do this I still didn't want to okay after a certain point I couldn't take it anymore iron rungs and exposed cliffs I've never been a fan of heights but this was starting to press my panic buttons the problem was there's no turning back what did we say you said it last chance you simply can't turn around on this trail as it's more perilous to do so I trudged forward yeah so is that 10 year old had no choice like it's like yeah she did it but she would have died if she didn't probably supposedly according to this person I'm just I'm in this review you're a realist yeah realist yeah you're gonna die everyone okay I trudged forward panic a deepened and I spent the next half hour hyperventilating and sweating over exposed cliffs tenuous clinging to iron rungs as I stepped numbly upward into even scarier territory holy crap like it's not funny but it's funny yeah I love these uh at one point I stopped and was wondering how much it was going to cost me to have a helicopter extract oh my god I'm not kidding I wanted to add real quick yeah helicopter yeah yeah I feel like they're like looking whether their insurance covers it like handsome like benefits like how much is a heli honestly air lifting sounds more perilous to be airlifted out of there than just treasuring climb down yeah that is true a lot of people we have come across a lot of rescue stories where it's like the helicopter comes in and that's great but then like the helicopter crashes yeah so well that's a nightmare there's also that have you all seen that video of someone being rescued in a helicopter and they put them in the litter in the litter and they care if they carry them up and the rope just starts spinning and this person is just like whipping around the whole time and the comments are like just leave me there cut the rope literally cut me down I don't care anymore I would be oh god oh god that's my nightmare I'm pretty sure I'm not positive if this is accurate but I'm pretty sure it's an older woman too that's not the 79 year old well traveling yes flying the fucking hell oh no yeah imagine they probably also had like a significant injury like a spinal energy right of like they're already being rescued things are already looking bad yeah yeah very grim after what was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life I made it to the top the views are beautiful but I was a shaky sweaty mess thankfully the descent down the back of the hill is simple if you want the views and you're even slightly scared of heights and understand the simple physics of your body bouncing off rocks and boulders after one slip then I highly recommend taking that route I didn't see this warning sign until I descended and there is a warning sign and it says I'm not going to read the whole it's pretty long but it says this trail follows a nearly vertical route with exposed cliffs that requires climbing on iron rungs as it starts and it says it resulted in serious injury and death small children and people with a fear of heights should not climb this and it's on the other side it seems pretty I mean it's bright yellow it is bright yellow and it says what I didn't even mention and it says warning at the top yeah yeah so it's one I didn't see it yeah blended right in yeah you know what yellow um so and then it continues though one a little bit here we go you've been warned if you're uncomfortable with the idea that that just one small slip could mean serious injury or death to yourself or loved ones then exercise caution your 10 year old might slip and die I mean it sounds like they're kind of calling out that that yeah it feels a little like unnecessarily like like judgmental yeah I don't know how dare you go on this trail how dare you bring your family to your death I guess you'll have a great time on this trail I mean okay yeah yeah yeah we've seen some kids do some pretty incredible things though throughout like kids have no fear yeah they're built different so I don't be me the physics of them bouncing down the cliffs they survived so they've just bouncing successfully I guess yeah all right and then lastly we're gonna wrap it up with some boat tour stuff because of course Acadia is on the water boat tours are wildly popular um and of course how are you gonna go see the puffins without being on a boat I mean exactly you gotta get out there and then certain times of year there's great whale watching and things like that and there's like a lot of wildlife photography stuff they do on boat tours and things but I'm I love a whale watch I haven't been on one in quite a while but I really enjoy them have you guys been I don't think I've ever done that no just the puffin watch and lighthouse watch you know I would love to though I that sounds so so cool I want to see like them dolphins yeah dolphins whales yeah yeah we've done I don't know I think we did the last one we did together was in um Alaska was it the whale watching like a whale watching tour like the wildlife boat tour thing that we did I mean you could arguably say that when we went to Antarctica that was a wildlife boating we went to Antarctica yeah yeah everyone we were like ha ha have you seen the middle east and you're like I think so oh yeah we did a group trip to Antarctica last March and how do we do 15 I'm I'm getting on the next one this is crazy let us know how I'm gonna bring you we're going to Norway next or next year I want to see a fjord wow yeah you should yeah I've already seen a fjord so she wasn't impressed but you see them all being from the mountains I wasn't impressed being from the fjords been there done that you know what I mean well this this review is something this one is from Taylor and it's from a year ago for the bar harbor whale watch tour they said do not go on this tour and gave it one star my family and I went on this tour and six out of 10 it was truly something nightmares are made of what first the company crams way too many people onto one boat good luck finding a seat anywhere outside the boat goes at an insane speed I have been on multiple boats and have never been on one so fast the entire time on this boat that is like the quickest way to show that you haven't been on that many boats when you say I've been on multiple boats that's like like three yeah like that handful yeah and they were all rowboats right it's comical that the company casually tells you over the speakers before taking off that passengers are free to walk about the boat as they desire when in reality the boat is going so dangerously fast that walking around is incredibly difficult requires you to hold on tightly and I saw multiple people fall how is this safe this doesn't even compare to the vomit horror I've witnessed for five hours straight I can't stand they can't walk I prepared with multiple doses of draminine hydration and pressure point bracelets but due to the speed and waves I have never felt so sick in my entire life it took all of my husband and I strength to not get sick meanwhile over 50 percent of the passengers were vomiting on the floor into bags and off the side of the side are you a contact vomitor oh no 100% I would clap especially if I'm already nauseous like I'm done for you know like 50% plus like there's something else is going on there's a move on that's crazy I just jump off at that point yeah well the water's filled with vomit I feel like yeah it's careful that water is cold too people including myself were in tears and in the fetal position on the floor waiting for the horrible ride to end oh my god this is like a nightmare from hell not one person on the boat appeared to be having a good time except the guy driving it so he's having a game he's driving that might be having a great time I don't remember having to watch him vomit I yeah that's a good yeah all of this horror for 20 minutes of apparent whale watching which I could not even see due to the fear of getting out of my seat and having a breakdown I'm in fetal position on the floor I couldn't see the whales I am so frustrated that I had to pay $150 for my husband and I to endure such horrific conditions and so many hours out of our short vacation especially since we got to see a whale jump out of the water while we were on our hike along otter point in Acadia the next day for free I'm gonna give this company and tour zero stars if I could wow wow that's rough yeah I think we ended with a great cliche that we love I'd given zero stars if I could oh my gosh um that's I can't get I'm just picturing all these people vomiting I mean don't get me wrong it sounds like a nightmare I mean yeah I'd hate to be on that boat if it actually happened this way I am so doubtful that this many people were like yes I do get seasick yes I've only been on multiple boats I'm gonna do this and throw up everywhere 50% I don't know I'm also trying to picture this what's happening here because every whale watching tour I've been like especially if you're going out to specifically to see wildlife you're not fucking gunning it like you're kind of yeah that's what I was wondering like are they chasing the way it's probably a normal speed yeah and also they didn't mention like any sort of like bad weather or waves or anything so like I will say if you get seasick it doesn't really matter like I know that Cassie got seasick after we stopped oh my god yeah I got used to oh you're like suddenly wobbly yeah and then when we got on land my body was just like so thrown and I didn't throw up but I was so nauseous for like two days just because it's a worse feeling yeah yeah I've been I don't get seasick so all my shit talking about yeah I'm like what are you talking about I get seasick like instantly yeah but like I'm sorry the way they described it I'm like there's no way yeah going so fast and it's because of all this stuff it's like no you just get seasick normally and then everybody's sick you know I got you but I don't know I don't know I have more inclined to believe this but then they they stop at places there's no way yeah they're just like doing circles around this pot of whales that obviously doesn't exist never mind but what are they doing just I don't know and I also love that like the crew or like captain was just like letting it ride out they're like oh well 50% of you are fine so we're gonna keep going I yeah I feel like this like happened to an extent but it's probably exaggerated because I'm thinking of when we did the puffin tour when we were in Acadia there were definitely people who are seasick but there was probably like I don't know six or seven people who were seasick and then you saw a couple other people who like clearly weren't feeling okay but it was fine you know so I feel like it probably happened but it was probably a less percentage of the ship but I remember is how many people there were like a few hundred people so like yeah one ship all right in the fetal position on the ground no like these cruises are huge I mean I assume this one too I don't know if it was the same company I was on how many people are on this boat would you say do you think I would say probably at least a good hundred oh shit okay well that changes everything I was on was like a giant fairy looking thing I'm thinking 50% is like three out of six people on like a private tour no I was thinking like tens of people minimal yeah I suddenly have a lot less picture this is a lot less credible to me now 50% is a little much I think so yeah my experience was different not that that necessarily means anything at all I was picturing much closer quarters and also like I mean I guess it's close quarters with a hundred people but like I was picturing like a group of six yeah yeah okay yeah I don't know I don't know there are some people though that are like you just gotta ride it out like when we were in um we did a like it was different because we were on like the little zodiacs you know like the little rubber boats that kind of like get deployed off of a bigger boat we were doing that we were going out to like this seal colony and that was kind of sketchy like talk about maybe we should turn around like and didn't it was the weather was like getting really bad the waves were crazy and they're like we'll get on this boat we're gonna we're gonna actually done it I've been on multiple boats so I have some experience on this but they were like even I was like this feels a bit sketchy but they're like we're going we're going the fastest you've ever been on water you're straddling the you're not they're like hold on to this rope with your fingers and you were like wet your thighs into the side wet your side into your side hard exercise or something we're going out there and then they're like okay we're here we're next to this cliff side that all these waves are crashing so hard they're like don't get too close because you'll get smashed onto the rocks jump in and no life jackets whatever we're just on this in these like wetsuits they're like jump in didn't ask if we had like strong swimming experience nothing we go in there we're surrounded by hundreds of seals and we had just been talking we're like oh yeah this is where they film like Shark Week for South Africa like of all the great whites like coming and eating all the seals and stuff people are fighting for their lives like drowning people are getting like hypothermia the waves are crazy i just wrong with you and nobody none of the people were like yeah we should probably call it until after they're like oh yeah we canceled every other tour that day well me i'm not a strong swimmer and i'm in like these waves and i see everyone swimming around i'm like fuck this i got back in the boat and i and i asked the captain i was like is this normal like is how you normally operate your tour normal that's a bad thing to have to ask and he was like no we've canceled everything for the day like we're getting out of here after this and he like we all load up and we're going in and we can see the shore but we're at the point right before the waves start breaking for the shore because we've been riding out these pretty large waves and i'm feeling a little seasick and a couple other people are too and he stops us and he's like all right everybody what i need you to do is you're gonna have to hold on tight he's like this is either gonna go really well or really bad he's like i have to hit one of these waves he's like the waves are so big at this point that i have to hit a wave just right or we might flip so i'm gonna ride this boat onto the beach hopefully yeah there was no like dark you just like gunned it onto the beach onto the beach and he was like prepare because we might flip in the water we might flip once we hit the beach like we're gonna go and i'm just sitting there i'm like what are we doing here oh my god how did i end up here i'm so far from home i just get me out of this ocean right now and i remember vividly i hold onto these ropes and i close my eyes and my husband was with me at the time and he just looks at me and i'm like close my eyes put my head down and this guy just guns it and he hits the wave just right and we land on shore and we slightly tip over oh my god and i was just like i have never jumped off a boat so fast after that like a long nap yeah yeah and then we took a group photo and we all look so i know we're like we did it we lived but i was like oh yeah they're two it can go really well or really bad it sounds like it just could have gone like really bad or less all around we were out here for too long this storm came in and we're yeah like good luck everyone have your everyone buckled up everyone have your life pass on uh yeah well i did add one other review for this whale watch um from the same company because i thought it was funny this one is from rachel three years ago and they gave one star they said great experience we saw numerous whales and seals the only negative part was when your employee yelled at me a bunch of people were crowding around trying to see a whale that surfaced in an attempt to see a little better i put my feet on the sea and leaned against the railing the boat sorry i'm like why are you doing that rule number one on this what i just got it i thought it was the other way around on the railing that's worse well i thought like sitting in the seat and put feet on the railing oh and i thought oh you're just like putting your feet up but no okay it's like you wait are they over the boat railing yeah oh yeah they're leaning over the boat okay being higher off oh my gosh it's standing on a sea leaning over they tried to justify it by saying the boat was stopped your employee came over very short with long brown hair and yelled at me to get down like i was a dog she was very rude and disrespectful i understand it was a safety concern but she went about it completely wrong my fiance and i spent a lot of money to go on this trip and your employee's behavior idiot like i'm doing my job literally please don't die on me but she could have asked nicer she could have said please do you mind getting your less off the railing my fiance and i spent a lot of money to go on this trip and your employee's behavior definitely negatively affected the remainder of it teach that snot nose some respect jesus like it's always when the like the the vitriol on the other like comes back so much more intensely i'm like what is happening like there's no reason you should be getting this upset upset like cruel with your work admitting you did something wrong that was unsafe and then to be like yes i'm no dog how dare they treat me that way jesus what do you talk to your dog like i don't want to know whatever you go on one of these ships like one of the very first things that they say is keep all your limbs inside the boat do not lean over the railing hammer into you for the first like 10 minutes of the ride but it's like yeah you sometimes have to be like stop it that's dangerous you know like when you ran in the street that one time to try to get by car as a toddler not recently not recently okay and then she had to be told you don't do that and i went she was like i wanted to i wanted to get hit by a car okay you did am i wrong who's older who's older she's older oh okay weren't even there were you born yet you were in an infusion i was in the car no she wanted to see if our mom would cry when she died oh yeah i mean that is a litmus test that yeah and then my mom goes you wouldn't have even seen me because you'd be dead and i went oh yeah well thanks guys so much for do you want to come to akadia now did we sell it for you actually very much wanted nothing more i have heard amazing things about it so i will be very disappointed but i look forward to going there uh in september i get open September open light no okay that's the thing is yes i was technically in akadia but i was focused i had i had a goal lighthouse lighthouse like i saw like at least i think 10 whitehouses that day so i was like i thought that's impressive i yeah you were on a schedule i really was and i actually didn't even hit my number that i wanted i think i wanted to get like 30 um so i have to come back for like think another 14 or something did you go are you trying to get all of them in main um that would be nice there are so many that are like you know as you know on like islands that aren't as accessible but um at least he's a strong swimmer i am just kidding that's yeah that's not i'm not a strong swimmer but no i want to see all of the lighthouses in the country ideally 700 um one day we'll see um but yeah no main for sure i do want to see as many as i can at least yeah and so i'm kind of better up there too i'd love to see a puffin so that is yeah well it's a lot of fun yeah it's good recent they are really small and it's so interesting that they're only they're just really concentrated to that one area yeah they're like it's a guarantee we know they're here which is super rare in like wildlife viewing stuff it's like it's a crapshoot it's like maybe we'll get lucky but they're like oh no yeah we got this poppin moose tour reviews that mad was talk about not sure don't even get us started on moose oh you already know about the moose yeah all right well did people see them are they pissed that they didn't see them is that yeah oh yeah yeah and then i never pissed even if they saw it didn't matter because then then the tour was just a dvd on the bus about moose and they were like the driver kept having to leave the bus to fix the dvd this is a night tour anyway so yeah i've daytime puffin tour i'm in yeah we say moose aren't real because we've never seen them in new england even though they're like supposedly all over the place everywhere they're hard to miss um i've never seen one myself i don't know we've seen them in other parts of the country but never here and allegedly i had to look it up because i well we're from new hampshire and like new hampshire kind of small right and we're like how many moose can really be in new hampshire but now that i'm in main like how many moose are in main allegedly there's almost 70 000 moose here jesus allegedly i i love that because i'm like i haven't seen them anywhere what where yeah they're certainly not anywhere in a little city so anyway well thank you for watching guys so much for coming on and tell everyone about your show really quick yeah thank you so much for having us this is an honor um i know we do have a lot of crossover of listeners and you guys put on such a great show so thank you for having us um we host a podcast called beach to sandy water to wet we read one star reviews in a dramatic fashion as you just kind of encountered all of us doing and you can find us anywhere you listen to find podcasts such as this one what has been before you go i have to ask do you guys have like a favorite topic topic that you've covered that's a great question i will say and i'm not just saying this what did we just record we recorded something that was so oh dude ranches we just recorded an episode on dude there was a lot of horse humor in that one too wild like that was one of the most surprising funny like times searching for reviews i think it's when people go outside think all bets are off like people in my self included are like whoa what's happening out here like help you know you've seen all the national park reviews that people are like they've discovered bugs for the first time yeah yeah this is crazy i wasn't expecting this nobody wanted a live show in salt lake city and that has one of my favorite reviews because it was someone going i don't think was salt lake but it was or it was a park right by the salt lake or something and there are so many bugs and they were talking about oh antelope island yes that sounds right and someone did their wedding photos there there was someone dressed as a vampire like the person went outside and experienced like 10 things that you shouldn't experience outside and she's like i started complaining about the things you do experience she was in a wedding dress she's like i started sinking into the sand and then i realized this wasn't sand it was just tens of thousands of bugs i remember on my there and then someone dressed as a vampire was there like and then the guy dressed as a vampire took my ticket and i'm like are you in dimension are you in now where are you yeah it's hard to pick but i will say like the outdoor ones really do yeah always kind of present some yeah some challenges for humanity i'm excited for what we've got in store for you because you're gonna be on that's right oh my god we got to say that too yeah yeah yeah we're gonna do like a part two type of that's right you got to follow up to find out what happens you know that's right um i'm interested cassie if you listen to the dude right because she kind of worked on one i did work on one cast he's so curious if any of the reviews are from the one i worked on yeah hate for you in was it we're we're in we're okay did we read i read a lot of wisconsin i wouldn't be surprised yeah you had a week i feel like you only read wisconsin because i only read reviews from that one person named andy who lives in good old andy who just was like oh i know and then gave a lot of good reviews but i'm trying to think why only feels like one of those places like a cowboy country but it also feels like a place where people understand how dude ranches work like was you'd be surprised when you're like trying to experience yeah anyway yeah did you know i've never read the reviews on that branch that i worked at so now i feel like i need to do you have do you have any a review of any like specific people you interacted with and a crazy experience a counter review if you will counter review um i not a bad review there i remember there was this one woman who she it's not a bad review of her it's she went horseback riding and she was older and she fell and she broke her hip and she ended up having to stay out there way longer and she was such a good sport about it and her husband was like well i guess i'll just hang out at the dude ranch and go horseback riding and do all those things while she's in surgery and then i actually came back to visit i mean i'm sure he was at the hospital when she was in surgery and stuff but then i came back to visit a few years later and she was back visiting again horseback riding and i was like that is and it was just such a freak thing that i was there at the same time because it was like years later i just happened to be in the area stopped by to visit old co-workers and she was there off riding she was on a horse when i saw her wait a second it's nice to know after all those one star reviews to be like oh those people exist who break their hip and and come back immediately yeah place broke you know she didn't leave a bad review yeah she's like i'm back i love that yeah awesome well thanks guys so much and we'll um i guess in like a week or so maybe we'll do it this all again perfect can't wait can't wait yeah we're excited to be on your podcast thanks for having us thank you thanks for joining us for another episode we hope you learned something new and have another location to put on your list if you want more mpad content make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at national park after dark for more stories just like this one with the added bonus of exclusive content you can join us on patreon or apple subscriptions if you prefer to watch our episodes head over to our youtube channel and if you're enjoying the show please take a moment to rate review and subscribe on your favorite listening platform my name is sarah attorney i spent years fighting for justice for my missing sister elissa attorney before an arrest was finally made in her case after nearly 20 years but after my experience with the media law enforcement and the court system i knew i couldn't stop with elissa's case i know what it's like to fight for media attention for answers and for justice after i stopped telling my sister's story i knew i wanted to help as many other victims survivors and families as i could on my podcast voices for justice i provide unique insight into these tragic cases because i know what it's like to not just listen to these stories but to live them and more importantly how to help them by being a true voice for justice listen to voices for justice in your favorite podcast player today you can be so much more than just a passive consumer of true crime you have the power to help