About Us:Kathi, Sarah & JennHere's where you can discover the real & unvarnished truth about us... the real live people who are behind the Discover Acadia website...
And this website is a labor of love... or passion you might say... for the 3 of us. Actually, Acadia is a place we kind of stumbled upon one year, the first camping vacation we took as a single mom, little girl family, way back in 1992. I had always loved to camp and hike, and when married, had camped a great deal. But after a couple of disastrous rain-soaked camping vacations in the waning days of my marriage, I'd pretty much decided that I was "too old" for camping (at 30-something!). Then, a couple of years later, as a newly single mom, I needed a budget-friendly vacation idea for me and my girls (who were 10 & 8 at the time). So, I took a second look at camping, provided I could make camping in the rain reasonably tolerable. A new family-sized, easy to pitch tent from Herman's Sporting Goods did it and the planning for our July vacation began! I'd always wanted to see Acadia National Park, though I didn't know much about it. But it was at least a 12-hour ride from where I lived in southern NJ, so we decided to break the trip into a few days and make some stops (at Mystic, Connecticut and Marblehead, Massachusetts) along the way. Once we got to Acadia, though, we were sorry that we tarried, because... we fell in love with the park! We only had 5 days there, and it wasn't enough. So, we went back every second year... six times in all, until we'd discovered Acadia in all her nooks and crannies. And we plan to keep going back, again and again... Kathi's Story
Well, my girls are grown and on their own now, and I am in a committed relationship with a great guy, but our bond is one that will never be broken. It is forged of many, many wonderful shared memories, and central to those memories are our many trips to Acadia National Park. Not only are my girls grown, but they are now living in Austin, Texas, while I live in north central Idaho (in the mountainous boonies). Thanks to modern technology, we are able to still keep in close touch through IM, cellphones and email, but I still miss them immensely every day. As I was growing and living through being a single mom, I was also going through a number of career changes. First, I forged a wonderfully rewarding career in home health care administration that I loved for many years. But I need new challenges, so I eventually moved on... first into a career in technical writing and support, then to healthcare writing for the web and pharmaceutical communications. Eventually, I realized my entrepreneurial dreams and went into business for myself as a freelance writer, content specialist and then website building consultant. I also started building websites for myself, which is what I love doing the most. In September 2006, when trying to think of ways to stay connected with my distant daughters, I suddenly got the brainstorm to build a website about Acadia! It would accomplish several things...
So, I pitched the idea to them and they embraced it enthusiastically. We immediately launched into planning, and so here we are! I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about me, and I'm going to try and get my girls to add their perspectives on the site, as well. You'll find that this site may have 3 slightly different "voices", as we'll all be contributing to different sections, though there will be collaboration throughout.
Hope you enjoy our approach to discovering Acadia... Sarah's Story
Yes, this is Kathi, and I'm writing Sarah's portion for her... you see, she's not much of a writer. :-D She generally prefers to work behind the scenes. So, the words you read on this site will mostly be Jenn's and Kathi's, but... don't be fooled... a lot of what you see here will come from Sarah. You see, she's an expert researcher, plus we can count on her to remember every detail about every trail and every location we visited in Acadia. Just like she has always provided direction on our hikes, she will also be our guiding compass in the development of this site. But, we will try to bring Sarah to life on these pages too. She's a bright, talented young woman who is also a world traveler with a gift for languages. Her latest adventure was a stint teaching English to students in Athens, Greece. For now, she has just recently moved to Boise, Idaho to live with me while she works and saves money for graduate school. In all likelihood though, she will always be a proud "Jersey" girl who loves going both "down the shore" and into Center City for the nightlife! Jenn's Story
I got my Bachelor's degree from Syracuse for Entrepreneurship, but then I went on to more schooling for my Patisserie and Baking certificate from the Texas Culinary Academy. I've been working in the bakery at the original (and largest) Whole Foods market ever since. One day I want to own my own bakery, catering service or bed & breakfast. Who knows... maybe I'll even move to Bar Harbor and open up shop there. Acadia has always been a special place for my mom, Sar and me. It's hard now knowing that we won't be able to go there as often as we used to. As I work on this website, I get more and more anxious to return. Look for us soon at Acadia National Park. We'll be the three women hiking around in Discover-Acadia.com t-shirts handing out stickers and flyers! 
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Hi, we are the mother-daughters team behind this site! That's us in the picture to the left—Kathi (Mom), Jenn (in the middle, the "baby"), and Sarah on the right (the oldest child).
I was a single mom for more than a decade, during my girls' most formative growing up years. It wasn't what I would have chosen for us when I became a mom, but it turned out OK. I think my girls and I developed a closeness, a bond, that we would never have had if I had stayed married. For a long time, it felt like it was "Us girls against the world!"
Sarah is the "older" daughter and our steadying influence. She's the one Jenn & I could always count on to get us around—and back home—whenever we vacationed at Acadia (and anywhere else!).
Hi! I'm Jenn. I'm the baby in the family. Of course I'm not really a baby anymore. I live in Austin, Texas now with my boyfriend. I've been down here for a couple of years now, moving only two weeks after graduation from Syracuse University.
