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July 6, 2019

We left Pond View House at 8:30 AM and begin stage one of our drive home.  We had booked in at the Hampton Inn in Worcester again (we chose the same room since it was so nice last week).  Traffic was light all the way to Freeport, which we had planned as our first stop, and we arrived at 11:15.  We chose Freeport as our stop for the day because this is the home of L.L. Bean’s flagship store and we thought it would be a shame to miss Maine’s most famous export (except for lobster of course).  The added bonus was this was exactly the half-way point between Bar Harbor and Worcester.

First made a brief stop at the Bow Street Market to get what we needed for a picnic and then parked in the large L.L. Bean parking lot.  The flagship store is expansive and didn’t disappoint.  We ended up spending an hour in the store and made a few purchases including hiking boots and a bathing suit.  We could have easily spent more time in there.  It really is impressive as they carry every item in the L.L. Bean catalog in this store.  The kids enjoyed all of the extras like the fish pond, the corn hole games, and the drawing wall.  Liam also enjoyed looking at the wide range of rifles available.  There is an entire complex surrounding the store and we didn’t even begin to explore it but it is big.  We did happen to see Runaway June prepping for their performance in the venue out the front door of the enormous store.  Eventually, we left L.L. Bean and headed to the park next to the Bow Street Market to eat our lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Freeport at 1:15 PM and by this point the traffic had caught up to us.  Traffic was very heavy all the way to Worcester and some very heavy thunderstorms complicated things further.  We reached our hotel in Worcester at 5:30 PM.  The only easily walkable restaurant from the hotel is the Fix Burger Bar so we decided to try that.  I made an online reservation for the earliest available time (7:15) but we got restless and so we made the three minute walk over at 6:30.  There was a line when we arrived but we were still able to be seated early (about 6:50).  We really enjoyed our meals.  The burgers are very good and they have a large selection of beers including many New England options.

Once we had finished eating it was back to the hotel where we settled in for the night.  This is our last night of the trip.  Tomorrow night is back to the real world.  What an enjoyable trip.

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