Freeport

About 12 miles northeast of Portland, off the I-95, is the town of Freeport, made famous by the L. L. Bean store which is open 24 hours a day. Here you can find everything from a canoe or camp stove to a ski cap. This famous institution has now expanded into selling almost anything you can use in your home. Freeport has also become home to more than 120 brand-name outlet stores of every type which have been very cleverly and appealing incorporated into the heart of the old downtown. If shopping is your thing, this is the place to “shop till you drop.” Of greater interest to me is the Desert of Maine, a phenomenon of former forest where the winds of time have laid bare more than 500 acres of sand, now formed into sand dunes—in an area nowhere near the sea. To reach and view this phenomenon (open from early May until mid-October), take I-95 to exit 19 and then drive 2 miles west on Desert Road.