Monday we had rain forecast for all day, so we looked for indoor things to do that would still be Maine-related. We struck on going to L.L.Bean’s, a world-famous outdoor store that is based out of Maine. The stores (note the plural) are in Freeport, which is a little over an hour south of Livermore Falls.

It seems as if many people had the same idea that we did – we had trouble finding parking in the lots (note the plural). We found parking in a remote corner of a remote lot, so we were good. The rain had stopped for a bit, so we didn’t get wet while wandering around. It was like that all day long – some rain and then it would stop.

Bean’s has three stores – the home store with bed and bath stuff, the bike/kayak store, and the main store, which is clothing, camping, hunting and fishing. We popped into all three. The employees we interacted with were all very friendly. You may pay a premium for Bean’s, but there is good service.

After Freeport, we drove up to Auburn for lunch. We swung by the Auburn Mall because they advertised a for-nerds store, but that store (along with many others) was closed at 3:00 in the afternoon, which was odd. For lunch, we ate at Roy’s Hamburgers, which is a must-stop for me when in Maine. We ate in the car since it was windy and starting to rain again.

I took back roads home so I could show Brianna the Norland’s Living History Center, an old farm still run as if it were two hundred years ago. We also went into the actual town of Livermore Falls so Brianna could see my old high school building, which is now empty.

Today (Tuesday) was supposed to be good weather by early afternoon, but the day started out rain-free, so we left in the morning around 10:30. We wanted to explore western Maine, and we started about an hour away at Coos Canyon. Coos is a canyon with cool rock formations that are easy to climb around on. Normally. Maine has had an unusual amount of rain over the last six weeks, and Coos Canyon showed it – there were very few rocks showing, and the torrent encouraged wise viewing distances.

From Coos, we drove northwest toward the Rangeley Lakes region, going over the Height of Land, which is a dramatic pull-off overlooking several of the lakes and multiple layers of western mountains. We lingered there for some time.

We drove into Rangeley, where we ate lunch on a patio overlooking a small lake (on the back side of the town) that I hadn’t even known had existed. Brianna then got tea from a coffee shop, and we walked down to Rangeley Lake to look at the mountains and the water.

Then, on to a scenic drive west, dipping briefly into New Hampshire and back into Maine near Grafton State Park. We drove slightly past the park to Step Falls, a nature preserve of seven falls and pools. When we had been there a decade ago, the pools were crystal clear and great for wading in. Again, not today. We walked the mile back in to the falls, and the water rammed its way down over the rock faces. What pools were visible were churning masses of water. We still managed to find a few rocks to sit on and watch the water and mountains, but no wading today.

One last stop – Mer wanted to go back two miles to the park to see Screw Auger Falls, so we did that. The falls there drop into carved-out shafts of rock. It’s very dramatic, and more contained than Step Falls.

That left the hour-and-fifteen-minute drive back home, getting us to Livermore Falls around 8:20 pm, completing our ten-hour tour day. We took good advantage of the pretty weather.