I have, for almost two years, been pursuing the completion of the Four Corners of Maine tour, a motorbike (or auto) tour emulating the nationwide Four Corners motorcycle tour by bringing participants to each of the four corners of Maine.  Robin and I started in the eastern corner and visited Lubec in August of 2018; last summer Francis and I made it to the western corner and visited Grafton Notch State Park. A couple of weeks ago, Francis joined me again for a trip to the southernmost corner of Maine, the Kittery Trading Post.

Here we are disembarking upon arrival:

The Trading Post, I suppose, is not technically the southernmost point in Maine, but it IS the southernmost big landmark in the state.  Kittery Trading Post is an outdoor supply store on a staggering scale — it is as big as a Wal-Mart Supercenter but, unlike Wal-Mart, it has three floors in which you can buy every manner of outdoor sporting goods and apparel, from bikes to guns to fly rods to canoes and kayaks to camping equipment to tents to clothing to…..well, you get the idea.  In this regard it is comparable to the flagship LLBean store in Freeport, Maine, except that (rather than packing everything into one store) Bean distributes its various goods across several buildings on a campus. Here are views of the entry lobby, the kayak display and the optics section:

The Kittery Trading Post is, like Cabela’s in Scarborough, noted for its taxidermy displays.

There are also several interesting wood carvings located throughout the store, two of which can be seen below:

Before leaving, I purchased an enamel tea kettle for the Little Guy Max, and a hat/flashlight for grandson Jaxon (seen here modeling it during a recent visit toApplebee’s):

Visitors to Kittery typically arrive via I-95 (Maine Turnpike).  Kittery hosts a busy retail section as well as the naval shipyard, and (like Freeport) is usually crowded, especially on a rainy summer weekend.  Francis and I were grateful to have visited mid-week, missing the worst of the traffic.  But the Kittery Trading Post is worth a stop, even if you are not really an outdoors person — it’s huge and there’s something there for everyone!

Thus there remains only the northern corner of the state, the Four Corners Park in Madawaska, before my Four Corners of Maine tour is completed.  Madawaska is about 400 miles one-way from here, which means a multi-day trip. Given the plans I have with the Little Guy Max, it may be a while before I scooter up there, but I am hoping to be able to do it before this season is out.  We will see what August holds!