The next day we took in some of the sights in Portland. Our first stop was the Portland Head Light…it was a gorgeous sunny day, and this popular tourist attraction was bustling. I absolutely adore seeing history “up close”. It’s so powerful to stand in the very same place that the lighthouse keepers stood over 200 years ago! It was finished in 1791. I loved reading everything about the lighthouse and also the adjacent (former) military base, Ft. Williams. I was especially interested in seeing the list of “keepers”…and what years they worked there. It was so interesting to see how many years each one worked there…and how some were even passed on from fathers to sons. They had such dedication and passion for their job. Wow. If you’re interested in history, there is an interesting write up with lots of stories about the Head Light here. Bella had fun running in the huge expanse of green grass overlooking the lighthouse. There were tons of people up there flying kites and enjoying the day. This is just the beginning of the history we will see along the East Coast…we are so excited to learn more about our country in Boston, D.C., Philly…so much knowledge to be had!
After the lighthouse, we headed downtown to the “Old Port”. There were lots of really cute shops and fun places to walk. We had lunch at O’Naturals…a natural “fast” food restaurant. It was SO delicious. There are only 4 locations right now…but I hope they do well because the food was fantastic. They are focused on providing natural and organic meals…with many vegan/vegetarian options. The location in Portland is in an old bank and they have a toy room in the vault…and it’s just all very charming.
We enjoyed our lovely day in Portland…and decided to head north to Freeport. Freeport is a mecca of consumerism. Every shopping outlet you could ever want is there. We stopped there because Matt’s parents had found an old LL Bean gift certificate and gave it to us to use. The store actually honored it even though it was 13 years old! Now that’s customer service 
LL Bean is based out of Freeport, so they had a huge facility. We had fun looking around, and checked out the town a little bit…but all the frenzied shoppers around there were stressing us out. We went to the local thrift store there and found Bella some LL Bean footy pajamas for $2.00. Weeeee!
After all that, it was time to move on to a more peaceful setting…a little town called Thorndike, Maine.
Photo album here.