We make a move down the coast of Maine from Acadia National Park to Kennebunkport, stopping along the way in Freeport to check out the famous L.L. Bean flagship store which turned out to be one of several L.L. Bean specialty stores on their campus (their headquarters was actually just a bit further down the road).
OK, it was pretty much a giant outlet center with lots of different brands getting in on the action.
And the narrow streets were pretty much a nightmare for hauling a 30ft Fifth Wheel but we survived.
Day one was a trip back north to Portland just to check it out. And it is a really cool old New England seaport town with lots of interesting shops, taverns and restaurants.
A whole lot of the downtown streets are still the ancient (looking?) cobblestones.
And it is a working seaport so the dock areas are pretty cool.
We had a nice dinner on an outdoor patio overlooking one of them.
Day two was spent in Kennebunkport on a foggy & cloudy day with intervals of light rain.
This could be a quaint little village except everybody comes here and it's just way too overrun and crowded. And not cheap either ...
The Shipyard brewery and Federal Jack's pub helped get us through the day.
On a rainy day three we head south towards Portsmouth, NH which is only about 20 miles to the south.
The USS Albacore submarine museum is an important destination for John.
She was the first US submarine to have the teardrop shape which all subs since have had.
She was a total experimental boat to test the new hull shape, the different configurations of the stern planes, the use of dual counter-rotating propellers and new sonar systems.
Also - No weapons systems and no bow planes.
A model in the museum shows her with the original stern planes and a set of bow planes - all very cool stuff for John .... Mary a bit less excited.
Across the street was the John Paul Jones house where we learned how it became a shipbuilding center in the 1700s and how Teddy Roosevelt helped end the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 with a peace conference at the Wentworth By The Sea hotel.
The skies have cleared so it's back to town to Prescott Park and some beautiful gardens.
Across the river from the park is the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard which now specializes in nuclear submarine work.
Curious that the Portsmouth shipyard is actually in Kittery, Maine and Not in Portsmouth New Hampshire.
Go Figure ....
We then tour the Strawbery Banke historic village where all of the houses are actually still on their original foundations and most are fully restored.
It's a real time capsule dating back to the early 1700s.
The town of Portsmouth was originally named Strawbery Banke because when the settlers first landed the banks along the harbor were covered with strawberries.
A trip to Trader Joe's was the final stop of the day. Mary's first TJs fix since leaving Colorado.
And our final day in these parts was spent doing some more driving around the Kennebunkport area.
Of course we had to do a drive by of the Bush Family compound and supposedly they were in residence. We waved but they didn't come out to wave back.
Then we drove south along the coast to the town of Wells to see what are supposed to be some of Maine's best beaches.
Who knew that Maine looked like this ....
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