The Downeaster Amtrak train has service from North Station in Boston all the way to Brunswick Maine! I was able to talk my wife, Debora, and my father in to a train ride up to Freeport Maine for a day of shopping and eating (it was the eating that talked Debora into it!)
This summer Dad and I will be taking Amtrak from Boston to Chicago for our family’s trip to Wisconsin. Mom, Debora and Matthews will be flying out but Dad and I are going to take the 22 hour train ride all the way to Chicago, but that will be a whole story on its own.
As for me, I had never been on a train other than the commuter rail to and from Boston and I wanted a little better of an idea as to what I was in for. I was looking around Amtrak’s site and I noticed that there was a rail line that went up into Maine. I checked it out and saw that one of the stops was in Freeport, which is a favorite destination of ours for the L.L. Bean flagship store. It is a long ass drive through up to Freeport from down in MA so it is not a trip that we get to make often.
I really wanted a test ride on a train before the trip to Wisconsin. Also I had a couple of things that I wanted to get at L.L. Bean. I asked my father and my wife if they might be up for a train trip to Freeport for a day of food and shopping and they were in!
So I whipped out my trusty FieldNotesBrand® notebook and started my planning. The downeaster only ventures up past Portland twice a day (I have the weekend schedule here, but the weekday is quite similar with only a minor adjustment to one of the midday trains)
The options for getting from North Station (closest stop on the line to our home) to freeport are limited. There are only two northbound trains that service Freeport so we have to be on the 9:05 am train from North Station (train #691).
As for the return trip the options are just as limited. Only two trains head southbound from Freeport each day. The first is earlier than we even get to Boston so in reality (for a day trip) there is only one train to get back to North Station on and if we miss it for any reason we will be spending the night in Freeport or waiting for a VERY long time for someone to drive up and get us. Or maybe trying to get to Portland to catch a bus down to Boston. So we need to try and make that 6:05 pm train (#698) from Freeport station to North Station!
I did some searches on Google and found a great little restaurant guide for Freeport. Breakfast is going to be in Boston before we get on the train. And for us we have a great little mexican place in Quincy Market that serves great chorizo & eggs for breakfast. With how much we all love chowder and with the great reviews I picked Freeport Chowder House for our lunch destination when we get off the train at noon. Dinner, before we get on the train after a day of walking around is going to be at the Lobster Cooker. But since we are from Boston it will be the “Lobsta Cooka” that we are going to!
I got the trip locked into my FieldNotes notebook and all we need to do now is set up a time to take the trip! The month of March is out with all the different parties and engagements we have scheduled but it is looking like the first week or two in April may work out.
Can’t wait for the trip and to add a Part 2 to this post.
