7-4-2010 Maine Day 1

Left the house for BWI at about 7:15 - the weather was warm, not too muggy. Got to BWI by 8 and were sitting at the AirTran gate by 8:30 - 2 hours to flight. Flight went fine. Portland airport is really small. We drove to Freeport to visit the complex of LL Bean stores. There was an outlet but the only thing we got was a crank up flash light. Poked around some other stores - lots of outdoor clothing and gear places.

Watched the local Fourth of July parade at 4 pm. It was a real small town(s) parade - lots of fire trucks from Freeport and surrounding villages. Then off to Bangor. More of the "driving in a green tunnel" effect we saw when we drove down to the southeast coast. Sue commented on how dense the forest is just off the road. Stayed at a Hampton, ate dinner by the River (Penobscot) at a fish place. Afterwards we sat by the river and waited for the fireworks to start. We started waiting at 8:30 and finally at 9:30 they started going off - and we couldn't see them! They were behind a set of trees. Not hard to find a better place but lots of people. Show lasted only about 15 min and the ride back to the Hotel took about an hour - big traffic jam. Watched the Washington DC fireworks on TV when we got back - that show must have gone on for over 30 min. Lots of people and it didn't get over until about 11:15 or later. That would have been pretty hard though it was an impressive show.