Freeport, Maine

If you travel along the picturesque coast of Maine you can easily make a stop in Freeport. Just two and a half hours from Boston, Freeport is a shopper's paradise that began in 1911 with the opening of L.L. Bean's store in downtown. Now it boasts over 200 retail shops and businesses including some of of the biggest names in retail and outlet stores as well as charming and eclectic small shops and specialty boutiques.

The very extra large sized Maine Hunting Boot, L.L. Bean's signature product, at the main entrance.

Being a tall family we do tend to have big feet, but even Jasmin's size 9 sneakers look minuscule next to this monster boot!

L.L. Bean's flagship store covers a large area of the town. It's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and was just named the state's Top Tourist Attraction drawing 3,500,000 visitors annually.

We didn't plan to 'shop' as the luggage was already bulging and our airline - shame on them - charged for ALL checked bags, each way. However, looking around the gigantic shop I was intrigued by the attractive display of the original sewing machine used to stitch the hunting boots.

Original L.L. Bean hunting boots.

We were so good................enjoyed the shop but left empty handed. After all, there's always the catalogs arriving in the mail box!