My Van Life: Day 36
Saturday, August 14, 2021
Portland, ME – Freeport, ME – Lyman, ME
Today was one of those not so sexy van life kind of days. It did start on a high note however. Last night we signed up for Planet Fitness after deciding it would be good for us to have a guaranteed gym destination to visit and get some regular workouts in AND enjoy the (hopefully, fingers crossed) hot showers onsite. Good news is I can confirm they were HOT – I actually had to turn it down because it was so hot – can you imagine?? I would say I couldn’t myself but after this morning I actually CAN! Praise be.
Anyway, this morning we visited Planet Fitness in Portland, ME for the first time. I’ve actually never been to Planet Fitness in general so I didn’t really know what to expect but our Black Card Membership for $22/month gets us everything we could ever ask for and then some. Obviously we get access to the gym BUT we’re able to visit any location across the US and there are THOUSANDS. Not sure if there’s actually thousands or just hundreds but there’s a lot. Point being we will have a gym no matter what state we’re in which is g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s.
After my workout this morning I honestly felt like my old self. I’ve been feeling bloated, dirty and just off as of late but today really turned that around for me and I’m so grateful to Planet Fitness for kicking that off. Not only did I have a glorious workout (GLORIOUS – I could actually cry from the joy I was feeling oozing out of my body simultaneously to my sweat), but I had an even better shower and then got ready for the day while Adam worked out. That is the only thing about the whole gym situation. Of course we have Coco so Adam and I have to take turns working out but during the work week that won’t be a problem at all. Just on the weekends it takes a 1.5 hour workout to 3 hours (or more) essentially.
After we both had our glorious workouts and showers we popped over to a local laundromat (Soap Bubble – not coin only – can use credit cards!). Again, one of us has to pop in usually and get the laundry set up while the other person waits in the car with Coco. Laundry is one of those not so sexy van life necessities but for us today it was most certainly a necessity. I think it had been close to two weeks since we visited a laundromat so it was needed!
The process of doing laundry takes at least two hours which is a long time if you ask me. Thankfully we were able to be a bit productive and escape to fill up our water tank while we were waiting for our clothes. Water has been getting progressively harder to find as we’ve made our way out east but thankfully we were able to fill up and we’re back to a full tank now. Once our laundry was wrapped up it was getting pretty late in the day, shops were closing, etc. but we made a couple last pit stops before settling in for the evening. In the Old Port area of Portland, there’s a shop called The Maine Souvenir Shop which I popped in to stock up on our souvenirs for Portland. That entire area is SO cute (it’s where we visited The Crooked Mile the morning prior) and it’s a destination I definitely want to come back and visit. The cobblestone streets, the old brick buildings, it’s like stepping back in time.
After souvenirs were secured we drove up to Freeport, Maine to check out the L.L. Bean Flagship store. I didn’t even realize it was here until my Grandma told me (thanks Gram!) and I’m glad we made the trek. Again, it was late in the day and while the L.L. Bean store is open 24/7 – yes, it's literally open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – most if not all the other surrounding shops were closed at that point so we only got to experience L.L. Bean but considering it’s essentially a compound with multiple buildings to walk through, that was kind of okay.
The sun was rapidly setting and we wanted to make it out to the Portland Head Light lighthouse before dark so we hopped back in the car and dashed back down to Portland. We made it just in the knick of time as they were closing the park right after we snapped our photos and experienced the beauty of one of Portland’s most renowned lighthouses. With the sun setting and the sky deeping its hue to beautiful blues and purples, it was a pretty magical time to visit.
Once we made it back to the car after our brief walk around Fort Williams where Portland Head Light is located, we received a confirmation from our Harvest Hosts destination for the evening. Adam had requsted it earlier that day so we were pleasantly surprised and grateful. The Funky Bow Brewery & Beer Company was our home for the evening and I’m pleased to say Harvest Hosts came through for us again. The brewery was hosting a special event that night so we pulled up to leftover pizza and live entertainment. We grabbed a couple drinks, sat down and enjoyed them before pulling into our parking spot for the night. A seemingly unsexy van life day turned out to be pretty special after all.