my visit to foxborough ... bass pro shops

here are a few photos from my visit to foxborough <> gillette stadium <> patriot place last thursday ... this batch focuses on the bass pro shops and surroundings ... the pic above is of the entire bass pro shops complex ... which includes outdoor world <> tracker boats <> redhead

the photo below is of the approach to the bass pro shops' outdoor world ... the tracker boats shop and outdoor tracker boat showroom are to the right ... the redhead shop is to the left

i did get to spend a little time inside bass pro ... but to be perfectly honest ... i didn't see more than 20% of the complex ... my goal that day was to buy some souvenirs for an upcoming vacation ... take some photos ... and get to patriots' practice on time ... so i will definitely plan to go back another day when i can spend more time checking out all the bass pro shops have to offer

this next image was taken from the bass pro shops parking lot ... looking north ... what you are looking at from left to right are the route 1 highway <> the framing for patriot place's renaissance hotel & spa which will open in 2009 <> the water tower (foreground) and gillette stadium (background)

the final image for this post was also take from the bass pro shops parking lot ... again to the north and from left to right ... what you are seeing are a sliver of gillette stadium <> the white roofed dana farber field house <> which is the indoor training facility for the new england patriots nfl football team and the new england revolution's mls soccer team <> and a year-round private /meeting/function, exhibition, youth activities and convention facility on other occasions <> the south retail center of patriot place <> which includes bed, bath & beyond, the christmas tree shops, circuit city, staples, off broadway shoes and 3 vacant retail spaces

the title of this post is "i'm impressed" ... and as i reported last thursday ... i was impressed with most of what i saw ... but i was not impressed by the south retail center ... it's big, bland and boring looking ... it's stores are the usual big boxes ... the facade of the 4 vacant spaces is low rent ... and the block of stores is surrounded by vast parking lots and little landscaping ... considering how much more impressive the rest of the complex is ... the south retail center is almost an eyesore