Laughter may well be the best medicine, but you will not need it for medicinal purposes when you visit the Freeport Theater of Awesome. Imagine acts with exotic names like the light-tube routine, the black-light dancing ropes and a tennis-ball-and-Lego keyboard routine, and you will begin to appreciate the uniqueness of this show. Add some unusual refreshments including whoopee pies, Eli’s Soda and gourmet popcorn and you have an evening everyone is sure to enjoy.
L.L. Bean is a tremendous store and catalogue company, but it offers much more than just shopping as you will see when you attend the Outdoor Discovery School. Sign on for a weekend or just one class and you will be in for one of the most exciting adventures imaginable. You will kayak in Casco Bay, shoot clay pigeons, try your hand at archery, learn how to fly fish and more. There is a family weekend called Pedal and Paddle, which includes cycling through the area, kayaking and camping with guide-cooked meals under the stars. Take any Outdoor Discovery School class and you will also receive a discount coupon for the store.
If you did not get to see Casco Bay through one of L.L. Bean’s classes, make sure to explore Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, located a mere five minutes away from Freeport’s shopping district. The most famous birds are the ospreys nesting on Googins Island. You can read about these majestic birds’ lifecycle on easily accessible plaques. If you want to learn more, you can go on a nature walk with a park naturalist who will give you high-powered lenses so you can watch the baby osprey in their nests. Guided nature visits are available and picnic tables are scattered throughout the park, each of them offering a breathtaking view. There is also snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the park if you are feeling brave enough to visit in the off-season!
Would you like a somewhat less gentle visit? For a more strenuous one, head over to the nearby (and significantly smaller) Bradbury Mountain State Park, where the trails will take you on a hike that is a workout rather than a stroll. Bradbury is the only state park in southern Maine to offer shared-use trails for horseback riders, mountain bikers and snowmobilers and snowshoe rentals are available in the off-season. Once inhabited by the Wabanaki Native American tribe, Bradbury was acquired in the nineteenth century by the Cotton Family, who used the area to plant grapes (you can still see the grape terraces on the mountain); if you are near the ballfield you will see where feldspar was mined in the 1920s. But after hiking these trails, mostly you will be spending your time trying to catch your breath!
For the final park in your southern Maine hat-trick, check out Eagle Island State Park, the onetime home of Arctic explorer Admiral Robert Peary. The island itself is beautiful and in particular check out Peary’s house, where you can listen to an audio guide that explains the passion that led him to explore the most remote parts of the globe. The house is not just for adults. Your kids will be entranced by the secret peephole and the haunted closet! While you are there, be sure to take the Atlantic Seal Cruise, on which you will see seals, pull lobster pots and hear fabulous stories about Peary and Casco Bay.
Stay ashore for a while and take the Scenic Highway One North, where every view is breathtaking. Once you’ve gotten past the outlet stores and tourist shops of Freeport, you will find yourself with the ocean on one side and tall majestic pines on the other. Traverse quaint New England villages, check out some of the big mansions built along the coast during the Gilded Age and beyond and achieve that freedom-from-stress vacation.
Stay at one of our hotels in Freeport, Maine for a vacation you and your family will cherish forever. Explore the rugged Maine coast, check out rocks and lighthouses, stop and enjoy scenic picture-postcard views and spend hours having family fun that is priceless.