l.l. bean outdoor discovery school

What a great introduction to skiing. Great instructors made it fun and easy. My new favorite winter sport!

You can't go wrong with this class! A $20 registration fee will get you a three-hour lesson and use of the LL Bean snowshoe equipment, and two instructors devoting their time to less than 15 course participants! LL Bean provides a shuttle bus to take course participants to their very beautiful, private property, the Fogg Farm, for the lesson. This is an antique farmhouse on 900 acres of field and woods. The farmhouse serves as the classroom and storage area for skies and snowshoes, and has a couple of bathrooms for the convenience of participants. The instructors are extremely knowledgeable and experienced. They made us all very relaxed and comfortable and they are good with all ages including the kids in the group. They demonstrate the features of the snowshoes and how to get them on and off, and then go over basic skills. They make sure that you are safe and they have goggles, sun glasses and sunscreen on hand. The morning of our class the temperature was hovering at 0 degrees with a stiff wind. They had us all outdoors and had us walking on snowshoes within 30 minutes of the start of the class. They took care to keep us in the woods, out of the wind, and stopped halfway through and brought out thermos bottles of hot cocoa to warm us up. The only disappointment was that the LL Bean retail store was completely sold out of snowshoes! And this was on Jan. 17th! I would have gladly walked in and spent $200 to get started with equipment right away! I ordered a set of snowshoes from another supplier instead. This was a great experience and the most fun I have had in a long time! The sport is easy to learn with their help! Looking forward to years of winter fun now!

We never thought we could do this on Boxing Day but we went snowshoeing! It was great fun and not hard at all.

My fiancee and I recently came to Maine for vacation to visit family, and had the privilage to check this out!!! One word AWESOME! Thank You LL Bean

My husband and I enjoyed the 2-hour Paddleboard class taught by John M and Barb D. After gathering at the flagship store, we boarded a small bus with 8 others and were taken to a river launch a few miles away. John and Barb were thorough and patient as we attempted to find our "water legs". Within minutes, most of us stood paddling down the scenic- and calm- river. It was a delighful way to spend a summer afternoon.

Took the clay shooting class with my fiancée. Neither of us had ever shot before. The instructors were great at keeping everyone safe and teaching us to shoot. Really unique experience. Would highly recommend.

3 of us (two parents, one 13 year old) signed up for the intro to shooting clays mini-class and we all loved it. the price was reasonable, the check in process was efficient and after a short intro we each got individual instruction on how to shoot. None of us had shot before but we were all able to hit the flying targets - much better than we ever expected! Overall it was a very fun way to spend a few hours.

We went to the discovery school and shoot clay targets. We had a group of experienced and inexperienced shooters and our guides were a great help. We had a good time and got to shoot targets that came from two different directions. Guns, ammo, targets, eye protection, and ear protection were all included. Our guides were not only extremely helpful, but they were a lot of fun, too! If you have a few hours while in Freeport, you should definitely do this!

Spent a few hours at LL Bean shopping for a few things for the upcoming Winter season. Have every thing you can imagine if you are interest in their type of clothing. The Ladies are very helpful and know their product.

Took a paddle board lesson & thought it was great. Instructors made it very easy & fun. Really enjoyed the lesson & it was not expensive. Can't wait to try it again.

My children (11 and 13) took the SUP course at the Outdoor Discovery School in Freeport. The teachers were good and the ratio of two teachers to 12 students was great. Equipment was excellent. We had a great time and felt confident enough to rent SUPs later in our vacation up at Acadia. Got a new skill, had fun and would try another course. Definitively would recommend to a friend.

Instructor Sam F. was knowledgeable and encouraging in our archery class. Very small class, only 6 people. This was a great activity our teenage sons and my husband and I could engage in together. The entire staff was very helpful and courteous. Clean, fun, and we all learned great skills. We returned without our target, full of the proof that we had shot well.Tip: Reserve several days ahead. We tried to book on a Wednesday, and some of the classes we wanted were filled up through Saturday, when we were leaving Maine.

Our Instructor was fun and knowledgeable as well as a good teacher! Highly recommend any of their schools.

This is highly recommended for adventure-seekers and anyone who is traveling to the greater Portland area for the first time. The sunset kayak tour is very peaceful and relaxing. It is in Casco Bay with very little boat traffic. We were lucky enough to get to see the wildlife up close (seals, ospreys, even an eagle).The LL bean guides were great, made us feel very comfortable in the water. I would do it again the next time we are in the area. I'm very happy I did it.

My husband and I went with guides Moe and Jamey on a 3 day kayak 2 night camping adventure trip to Gosling Island in Casco Bay. We really wanted a short trip where we could get some kayaking in as well as camping and we looked to LL Bean to make that trip a reality. There were 9 people in our group, a couple of single parents with older kids (in their 20s) and a couple of single adults, we were the only couple. We were able to use solo kayaks, which at first I was apprehensive about since I've only kayaked on our local lake. It turned out to be awesome and I was able to ride the waves, make it across windy rough water (the last day) and not freak out. The campsites are great, you're not sleeping on top of one another and you all have your own space. LL Bean provides clean sleeping bags (they are brought off island and washed after use), pads and tents, as well as 2 dry bags to get all your gear out to the island. They provide all meals and snacks as well. The food was amazing. Moe is an outstanding cook and we ate better than we would have ever thought. He even will customize a meal for you if you don't like something (egg sandwiches with sunny side up eggs for me was an egg sandwich omelette style cooked hard). We used the wag bag system which like the reviewer donjenks35 mentioned, was not so bad. It was clean, not smelly (better than any porta potty) and had a nice view of the little harbor as well. We took a couple of nice walks around Goslings. We were totally alone and I recommend walking to the south side of the island (wear the paddling shoes they give you) and check out the shell beach, it is pretty cool. The rock formations on the island are also very cool to look at. I highly recommend ear plugs and a eye sleep mask. The first night I didn't have my ear plugs in because I went to sleep there was just the sound of the waves. But after midnight there was an orchestra of seals, birds and whatever else that was out there, and although it was beautiful to listen to, I couldn't sleep until I put the ear plugs in. Also the sun comes up very early, so I put my bandana on my eyes and slept till 7:30. You can bring alcohol. If you bring beer, they'll put it in their coolers. If you bring wine, you can carry that on the kayak as well, or they can bring it over when the support boat brings the food. We didn't know that, but if we did we probably would have brought it. 'The kayaking was amazing, we saw seals, birds, eagles, fish, etc. The weather was great and the people on our trip were amazing everyone got along. If you're like us and you don't want to go on a long kayak/camping trip, get on a plane (we live in Boston), love adventures, then this is the trip for you. I can't wait to go again next summer.