A cloudy morning with the slight threat of rain today. Radar shows a shower over our destination of Lake Winnipesaukee at Wolfeboro NH. Since it is a relatively short drive of about 100 miles we opted to do some sightseeing on the way... and what better sight than shopping. Since the gals have been so understanding of the guys desire to drive the cars, clean the cars and fiddle with the cars, it is only right that the gals get to shop a bit... and L.L.Bean's stores are located in Freeport, just 10 miles from Brunswick.
L.L. Bean is open 24 hours a day, except for their outlet store which has more normal daytime hours.
This is our little group of crawlers.. the Hardman's, Buckley's, Leo's, Kneisley's and Reg Hahn.
The Bear Park.. parking lot.
Stores, several, jam packed with L.L. Bean stuff. Clothing, home goods, bikes, skis, hiking, hunting and fishing.
Crawlers Vern and Sandy Campbell were shopping the Bean complex too.
A good community company, the Bean company sponsors community concerts for the town and their customers.
I asked Google about who and how L.L.Bean started, here is part of the story:
In 1911, an avid outdoorsman named Leon Leonwood ("L.L.") Bean returned from a hunting trip with cold, damp feet and a revolutionary idea. L.L. enlisted a local cobbler to stitch leather uppers to workmen's rubber boots, creating a comfortable, functional boot for exploring the Maine woods. This innovative boot – the Maine Hunting Shoe® – changed outdoor footwear forever and began one of the most successful family-run businesses in the country.
After a couple of hours looking, we headed southwest toward our destination for the day.
About noon we were looking for a place for lunch and happened on this friendly looking family owned seafood restaurant, the Ocean Garden, in Gorham, ME.
A very nice, clean and delicious choice...but the service was very slow. We left nearly two hours later, and didn't get to Wolfeboro until almost 3pm.
They even had a parking space blocked off for our collection of cars.
Meanwhile, Missy McKenna is on a quest and writes to me: "Keepsakes Quilts is one of the largest quilt shops in the USA. And I was truly Gobsmacked by the size of it. Bob has very kindly driven me to 9 quilt shops on the pub crawl. I was collecting patterns from a nation wide quilt challenge called The Row by Row Experience.
He sure earned his brownie points!!
And Jim and Colette Clark were the only ones adventurous enough to climb Mount Washington in their Morgan though they invited us all to join them. (Thanks Colette, for the photos.)
Jim said if you slid off the road you could go down 5000 feet.
Coveted locations for radio transmission towers are summits of mountains.
It is a victory to get up here.
Jim points out a world record.
Jim's Morgan is a rare sight in this parking lot. He said the road was paved except for the last couple of miles when it was too narrow to make the improvements necessary to pave it.
Congratulations Jim and Colette for your adventure, top down, in the rain and cold up there. You have the bumper sticker to prove it. He explained that there is no way.... absolutely no way you can get this bumper sticker without driving up the mountain.
Flat Bill and Flat Ellen also enjoyed the wonderful summer skies of Wolfeboro NH.
Downtown Wolfeboro.
Our afternoon noggin was on the deck of the third floor library at the Inn.
More tomorrow about our discoveries of this resort city in the middle of New Hampshire... beautiful country.
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