By Anastasia Czarnecki, Acadia National Park Centennial Social Media Intern

A couple of years ago, I sat on the hood of my best friend’s bright blue car with my best friend, her little sister, and another friend. My eyes were dusty and tired from lack of sleep, but I kept them open and gazed out to the east. A few hours earlier, on our drive up from Boston that night, I had stared out the window as the city lights faded away and the stars became more and more prominent in the sky. When we finally reached Bar Harbor we drove up the steep road to Cadillac Mountain. The little sister was smart enough to grab the blanket that had been kicking around the backseat of the car, so she was wrapped up and warm. But, I told myself, the cold will help me stay awake.

It was subtle at first, the lightening of the sky, but I started to notice that I could see the outlines of trees and was almost able to distinguish the difference between ocean and island in the great stretch before me. The blues faded to purples that passed to lavender, which then started to garner a rosy hue, before the first little bit of sun popped over the horizon. It was so bright for just a tiny pinprick of light.

Soon the pinprick became a pool of molten gold, and the four of us got back in the car and turned the heater on full blast (it was still early spring), but we stayed atop the mountain in silence watching the sun continue to rise. We didn’t start our drive back down the mountain until the sun had well cleared the horizon and the little sister had fallen back asleep in the seat beside me.

When people ask me why I love Acadia National Park, I wish I could share with them the feelings of that cold spring morning. I wish I could express to them how beautiful the sunrise was and how warm my cup of coffee felt clutched in my hands, and how wonderful it was to be able to share that incredible experience with my friends. Sometimes I try, but I don’t think that words can really do it justice. Instead, I try to convince anyone who hasn’t to take that same magical journey that I did.

I am so excited to be the social media intern for the Acadia Centennial Celebration. Four years ago, I moved here from Boston to pursue my degree in Human Ecology at College of the Atlantic. This summer, I am here to spread the word about the wonderful events that Friends of Acadia and our partners are hosting. I hope to encourage as many people as possible to go on an adventure and experience the wonder that is Acadia for themself. I will be Facebooking, Instagramming, and Tweeting about many of the Acadia Centennial events this summer. I hope that as you make your memories this summer, you also share them with us, with the tag #Acadia100.