We had a pleasant and uneventful drive to Freeport, ME. No low overpasses, or police escorts.
We traveled to Freeport expressly to visit the L.L. Bean Flagship store. L.L. Bean was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. Bean was an avid outdoorsman who grew exasperated with leaking leather boots and developed a waterproof boot. “I took a pair of shoe rubbers from the stock on the shelves and had a shoe maker cut out a pair of 7 1/2 inch tops. The local cobbler stitched the whole thing together.”
The Flagship store in Freeport opened in 1917 and has been in continuous operation at the same site.
We only have shopped with L.L. Bean by catalog and in its retail store in King of Prussia, PA and were impressed by the 155,000 square-foot, two-story retail store. It is amazing to see so much camping and outdoor gear in one spot. Not just L.L. Bean-branded items but lots of major brands like Sea to Summit, GSI outdoors, Hellinox and Nemo. It is extremely helpful to be able to compare products in person.
In addition to the Flagship store there is also an L.L .Bean Home, an L.L. Bean Outlet, and an L.L. Bean Bike, Boat & Ski retail store. The main store is open 24 hours a day. L.L. Bean announced it would spend 50 million dollars on its retail campus in 2023 and it’s clear that they made major investments in their four stores. The Flagship store in Freeport receives more than 3 million visitors a year and is the second most popular tourist destination in Maine.
We were in Freeport for two days and shopped and made purchases at each of the L.L. Bean stores.
Luckily we have a larger motorhome to store all our purchases!
We stayed at a campground just 10 minutes outside of Freeport called Cedar Haven: A lovely campground with sites nestled among trees. It was still early in the season and we shared the camp with only about a dozen other visitors. It was quiet and the weather was perfect for camping with temperatures in the low 70’s in the day and low 50’s at night.
The campground also held a special surprise. It featured chainsaw carvings by Tim Pickett. The carvings are whimsical and fun. Here are a few of our favorites:
We are reminded again and again that while there are many spectacular places to visit in the US and Canada, there are also many not widely known locations that also spark joy in our souls. It’s likely that we never would have heard of Tim Pickett or seen his work unless we were traveling by RV and staying in places that most people would drive by or fly over. We have the luxury to take time to explore without worrying if we have the right clothing or where we will eat or go to the bathroom, because those necessities are always with us.
Here are some previous posts that also illustrate this feeling. Please take a look if you haven’t read them:
Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
As we continued traveling through Maine, Autio provided a story about Bangor, ME that featured a clever song that made us smile: We now know how to pronounce “Bangor” for the next time we visit.
We camped in two states for the first time so far on this trip: Massachusetts and Maine. We’ve stayed overnight in our motorhome in 38 states since 2020 and look forward to camping in a few more states and Canadian Provinces for the first time on this trip.
Tomorrow we cross the border into Canada. The Canadian Border Service workers have been on a “legal strike” and currently do not have a contract. Hoping we get through the crossing with minimal delay and don’t have to toss out any food.
We haven’t been this nervous since crossing the border by car from Botswana into South Africa in 2016!
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