Posted on 04/15/2022 5:27:49 PM PDT by Mean Daddy
My wife and I are planning on flying into DC to see our son in Arlington and then taking a rental car and driving up towards Maine for a fall foliage trip. Looking for ideas on where to stay, what to visit etc. We have no desire to go into the large cities like New York, Boston etc. unless it's to go through. Also interested in what to avoid.
We're in our late 50's and my wife will want to stop and shop, see historical, natural sites etc. We also want to have places setup to stay vs. waiting until the last moment. Any suggestions on routes as we want to take our time and not in a hurry to get anywhere. Our plan is to stay close to the ocean on the way up and western edge of New England on the way back to Arlington, Virginia. Planning on staying maybe a week.
Any insights and experiences are appreciated.
3 years ago I stayed in the village of Lexington where the famous “Shot heard round the world” was fired. And of course Concord is close by. Definitely 2 sites for any history buff to visit while in New England.
My family was sentenced to 3 years in Maine when I was a kid. I’d stay in Iowa if I were you.
Agreed!
I was born in 1945 in Boston, lived in the region until 1977. Never going back there. The leftist smug is unbearable. Stay home.
There’s a country bar in downtown Portland Maine with saddle seats and live music thats fun even for the 55+ set. Kennebunk Port is a quaint stop for lobster roll at The Shack. The Bush compound should be empty but not sure if they’re taking reservations /s.
Fall foliage is beautiful in New England. Way better than here in MO where I am now.
I grew up in the land of the Pilgrims so Plymouth(or Plimoth as it was) wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
My parents always liked the White Mountains of New Hampshire and even honeymooned there back in the early 40s.
Maine of course would be coastal seafood area and cool to visit. Gloucester anyone? Proper pronunciation would be Glousta where a lot of lobsta comes from, ayup.
A week isn’t much time to do much but sight seeing. Plymouth has plenty of historical stuff as do the towns to the North. Salem Witch Museum, Sturbridge Village.
Also, Massachusetts is under complete and total CCP rule and is dangerous so if you take i90, get up to VT asap as its much less totalitarian if you can believe it then check out NH or ME. Avoid Mass as much as possible.
From DC you can travel a little west to get to 81 then up thru the pokies in PA, then head north thru catskills, taconic parkway in new york, see cooperstown if you want it’s the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. and then the berkshires in mass.
I hate to say it, but leaf peeping is a big business here in New England and places may already be booked.
It gets very crowded on the most scenic highways in Oct. Expect to spend a lot of time sitting in traffic.
Plus peak color can vary a lot by how the fall goes. There are no guarantees of what weekend will be the best.
You may want to consider borrowing or renting a camper and doing that and taking in some of the less touristy routes. You will still get breathtaking scenery, but likely with less traffic, and it will give you more flexibility as far as what weekend you do.
I have always wanted to see the Gilded Age “cottages” in Newport, Rhode Island.
https://www.newportmansions.org/explore/the-breakers
Rural western NY State’s sugar maples are stunning in the fall.
Lexington, Mass. Take the tour of the village green & colonial buildings - fantastic.
Go up through western NE instead of around Boston. I used to take Rt 302 from VT to Portland, ME. Very, very rural. Nice ride and you can avoid any urban sprawl.
Figure out a route now and start booking. I just booked a room in Central VT during foliage season..l$450 a night. For a mid range hotel. These places book early, so don’t dilly-dally.
What a silly thing to write.
For political buffs, Dixville Notch, way up in northern New Hampshire makes for an interesting visit. This is the site of the Balsams, an old resort hotel. Here, in the Ballot Room, located on an upper floor, the first votes of every presidential election are cast just after midnight on Election Day by the hotel's staff, the only voters in the area. In the past, every presidential candidate paid a visit to Dixville Notch. The hotel closed for several years, but I believe it is back in business.
If someone is going to do I-81 up into the Catskills, two other options that are breathtaking are I-87 in NY, known as the Northway, and I-91 up along the eastern edge of Vermont all the way up to the Canadian border.
That northern part is aka the Northeast kingdom.
VT is very eclectic, to put it nicely. In reality, it’s weird.
You do want to avoid a little town on Rt 4 named Bridgewater. It has a reputation for being family owned and the local LE will ticket you for going even the slightest bit under or over the speed limit, either for speeding or impeding traffic. And his in law, the judge, will NEVER dismiss a ticket the cop writes.
They have a neat little money making system all sewed up tight.
If that has since changed, I’d be glad to hear it, but we’ve been warned to avoid it at all costs.
Another interesting place to visit is Chappaquiddick Island, near Martha’s Vinyard. In 1986, I rented a bicycle at Oak Bluffs and pedaled to the island, about three miles away. The bridge where Ted Kennedy ended his presidential ambitions was still there, but on either side were stout railings made from logs that weren’t there in 1969.
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