Life with the Hernandez's: Hernandez's in L.L. Bean Land!

Hello Everyone,

On Thursday (8/26) we arrived in Freeport, Maine, home of the L.L. Bean headquarters and outlet wonderland! But before we got here, on Tuesday (8/24) we played minigolf, drove a go-cart, jumped on a trampoline, and climbed a rock wall (well, our kids did anyway) and we all went on a horse and carriage ride on Day Mountain in Acadia. On Wednesday (8/25) we got wet, a lot, but more on that adventure later. Finally, on Thursday, we packed our soggy campsite into plastic bags and left for Freeport Maine, where I write this blog tonight.

First things first, while I write this my teams are working hard on a software rollout that will span through the night and into tomorrow. To them I wish the best of luck and I want to thank them for all the toil and struggle they had to slog through to get them through today and ultimately the next few weeks. You guys and gals are a great team and I know you will get through it all in flying colors!

So, on Tuesday we went to Seacoast Funpark where we all played minigolf, and the kids got to climb a rockwall, jumped on a trampoline, and I got to chauffer my daughter on the raceway in a gas-powered go-cart and beat the snot out of three other racers... ok, so the three other racers were 13 and 14 year old girls, but I was weaving in and out of the track, outsmarting my oponents with a false parry to the left, then cutting to the right. Jeff Gordon would have been proud... proud, that is, if he could look past the fact I was racing a bunch of girls... Outside of the mini-golf game turning into a hockey match (the sun was hot and nobody seemed to be in the mood for some reason, except Diana who was kicking butt...) the kids had fun.
We had lunner at the BBQ Pit and Lobster Pot, which was really good in Trenton (right over the bridge from Mt. Desert Island). We didn't have lobster but we did have ribs and chicken and it was delicious.
Next we drove to the Wildwood Stables at Acadia National Park and went on a horse and carriage ride to the top of Day Mountain. As I've mentioned before, the park is beautiful and the ride was really nice. Even Luke came with us and was the center of attention (as usual). The view from Day Mountain's summit is spectacular and we got to spend some time up there just looking around from the coastline to where the Rockafeller's used to have a summer home. I guess I know I'm a biker because all I could think about as the horses rode the carriage trails up the mountain was that their hooves were softening up the ground for the other bikers. If I was a horseback rider, I would be thinking that I wish the horses could soften the ground more so that the silly bike riders would stop riding up the mountain and scaring the horses, those menaces to society! That night we went to the best ice cream place in the area, in our opinion: The Old Dutch Treat. The ice cream was excellent, and all home made. The cookie dough, and brownie cookie dough were excellent.

On Wednesday, it rained, and rained and rained. When it finished raining, it rained some more just to show that it could. Of course, that didn't stop us much so we decided to drive to drive around Mt. Desert Island and see the Bass Bay Light House (AKA the little red light that could), the seawall (we heard that there were seals here...) and to the Pretty Marsh (which was kind of nice, though I'm not sure Pretty fit). Our ponchos got a workout as we hiked and explored all we could and Luke got thoroughly soaked. We went to the tourist town of Bar Harbor to walk around and shop and get wet some more. We stopped at a pretty good ice cream place called "Bill & Ben's Chocolate Emporium" where if you want to flex your gastro-intestinal fortitude, you can have Lobster Ice Cream. I don't think so...

On Wednesday evening we had lobster at the Union River Lobster Pot, and it was excellent! We all had different desserts, including a s'more pie, summer berry crisp (soo good!), creme brulee (good), and toll house cookie pie (really good!). I wish it wasn't raining so much so that we could have sat on the hill in the backyard on the adirondack chairs overlooking the union river. Beautiful. The restaurant was very nice also, wall-to-wall wood, with a half the restaurant screened-in with propane heaters in the ceiling for when it's cold outside. The place was very busy.

On Thursday, in the rain, we packed up our wet gear and stuffed it in plastic bags, squeezed it into our van and trekked to Freeport, Maine where the sun was shining, the hotel room was comfy, and the L.L. Bean store is as big as a city block (i.e. really big store). We had lots of fun exploring the stores in Freeport on Thursday night and Friday. We went to Buck's Naked BBQ (great ribs), Classic Custard (soft serve ice cream, really good malted milkshakes), and Johnny Rockets (same everywhere, but always good burgers). Also worthy of note is the cafe at the Best Western Freeport Inn, which has very good breakfasts.

Here's a few pictures from this set of days. What I don't have pictures of is the wet tents in my van, which I will be setting up on Sunday in New Hampshire. Wish us luck!