new england

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2009 8:27 pm

well, when we found out that Pam had lost 1/2 of her job and N1H1 flu scare hit, we canceled the cruise. Since then Pam has found out that most of her job is back and secure.

That said, we're looking at heading up north to New England and Niagara Falls. What are places of interest up yonder? We're going to have about a week on the road, so we have some time. I'm not stopping in NYC. I'll do that when I have someone to show me around. We were thinking about Boston, Martha's Vineyard and few other touristy places.

Any ideas and thoughts on places to visit and eat you can throw my way would be appreciated. Also looking for places that would be fun to stop at for 4th of July since we'll be on the road during that time.

thanks....

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

I highly recommend making the trip up to Maine and Acadia National Park.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2009 10:21 pm

Les Davis wrote:

I highly recommend making the trip up to Maine and Acadia National Park.

I'll second that. We did a family trip through New England with the kids back in 1998, and we had a great time in Acadia. We hiked the Bee Hive trail (think that was the name) that was a bit scary once we got into it (they were 11 and 9 at the time) -- definitely go "up" the trail and not down. Once you go up, you can take a different route down. We stayed there on Mount Desert Island at a pretty neat place on the water (can't recall its name now).

We went up through Mystic Seaport, Groton (nuke sub tour), Providence RI, Boston, Cape Cod, Maine, NH, VT and then home. Tia had a whole list of places we went that were fun for the kids like factory tours and such. Salem MA was a waste, but just about everything else we did was worth it. We did a whale watch trip out of Gloucester, MA on a beautifully calm day and saw a bunch of whales. If you want to drive up Mount Washington, get there early as they close early.

Chuck

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 12:03 am

Agreed on the New England comments so far. You may have a hard time adding a Martha's Vineyard trip in, though- it's actually farther out of the way than it looks and may add more time to your trip than you want to spend. If you think you want to try, call the ferry company now and get reservations. Boats start to fill up this time of year.

Vermont is a really pretty place- just driving around on the state highways (as opposed to interstates) is really nice. Burlington's a great town, but it's pretty far north and not on the way to much besides Montreal.

You mentioned Niagra Falls in your initial post too. That may not combine too well with a Boston trip- it's 500+ miles due west. But if you decide to go there, by all means check out Toronto, only an hour or so north (bring your passport now).

Maybe you could drive up to Boston and check it out, then drive up through NH and VT (back roads recommended) to Burlington, then on up to Montreal (great town), down along the St. Laurent (not a very interesting drive unfortunately) to Toronto, then Niagra Falls and home. Just a thought.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 8:55 am

Carl Fisher wrote:

You mentioned Niagra Falls in your initial post too. That may not combine too well with a Boston trip- it's 500+ miles due west. But if you decide to go there, by all means check out Toronto, only an hour or so north (bring your passport now).

Just another note about Niagara Falls...it's worth it, IMHO, to take your passport and go to the other side just for the Falls, so the Toronto thing may make a lot of sense. The only time I've been to Niagara Falls I couldn't help but wish I could have gone to the other side. The views appear to be MUCH better.

I'd highly recommend visiting the summit of Mt. Washington. Pretty awesome place. We drove up, but it looked like more fun to take the cog train up the side. Also wish I could have taken a glider tour of the area...we saw several gliders the day we were there.

--Donnie

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 9:36 am

A buddy of mine that lives in Boston said this place was a hoot.

http://www.f1boston.com/

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 10:07 am

MarcusMcRae wrote:

A buddy of mine that lives in Boston said this place was a hoot.

http://www.f1boston.com/

Eric Peterson may want to pipe up if he's reading this, but in case he's not, he spent a couple weeks up there a summer or two ago and said while it is a great facility, the people running it when he was there were not so great. If you BRUSHED a wall they were on you like white on rice about it. He likes to go get fast laps like you're supposed to, and all he was doing was driving hard. He's not the type to go out there and start bashing stuff, and he said they made it REALLY not-fun to be there, which surprised him.

Could have been a bad staffing day, could have been that they are overly protective so as to make it not fun. YMMV.

--Donnie

Brad Mackey · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 10:23 am

Go to Baaston!!!
Do the Freedom Trail.
Hang out with Fitzy: http://www.townienews.com/site/archive/fitzys-getting-caught-up-on-everything-webcast/

Then travel North through Gloucester, Portsmouth NH, Portland (great local bars on the Waterfront) and spend a couple of days in Bar Harbor.

Makes a "wicked pissah" of a trip.

To hell with Niagara Falls... damn tourist trap anyway.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 10:50 am

Brad Mackey wrote:

To hell with Niagara Falls... damn tourist trap anyway.

I kind of agree with that. Of course it's really impressive and all, but the surroundings are a tourist-Myrtle-Beach-type area. Once you've spent an hour in the park (US side, probably worth going to Canadian side if you're going all the way up there just for it like Donnie said), you're either done or you go for a boat ride toward the falls. If you're in the area, then it makes sense to see; however, if it meant planning a trip just for that, I'd pass and do the eastern side of New England instead. Freedom trail was fun in Boston. Cape Cod is "interesting", more from a novelty standpoint for me, lol, as the beaches are full of small rocks and the water is sub-zero, etc.

We did some cave exploring in NH that was a blast for the kids especially. Definitely get off the main highways and explore some. I would suggest laying out the whole trip ahead of time as opposed to just wondering around up there.

Patrice Bousquet · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 11:04 am

I will agree with Chuck about Niagara Falls. Bar Harbor is nice for sure. You can maybe take the Ferry to Yartmouth NS. Then drive back to Bar Harbor around the bay of Fundy. 1 week might be short for this. There is also Quebec City

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 11:55 am

Just remember that Montreal can be annoying and anything outside of that toward Quebec City can be downright bad as far as needing to know a little french to get by. I've been in a Tim Horton's between Montreal and Quebec City and found nobody that could speak english to take my order, for example.

And yeah, Niagara Falls is pretty cool if you're going to be close by, but don't plan on too much time there. And if you're not going to be close by, well, don't go far out of your way for it.

Eastern New England is pretty amazing all by itself. I need to get to Acadia sometime...

--Donnie

Eric Peterson · **Joined:** Mon Sep 01, 2003 10:24 am **Posts:** 494

Donnie Barnes wrote:

MarcusMcRae wrote:

A buddy of mine that lives in Boston said this place was a hoot.

http://www.f1boston.com/

Eric Peterson may want to pipe up if he's reading this, but in case he's not, he spent a couple weeks up there a summer or two ago and said while it is a great facility, the people running it when he was there were not so great. If you BRUSHED a wall they were on you like white on rice about it. He likes to go get fast laps like you're supposed to, and all he was doing was driving hard. He's not the type to go out there and start bashing stuff, and he said they made it REALLY not-fun to be there, which surprised him.

Could have been a bad staffing day, could have been that they are overly protective so as to make it not fun. YMMV.

--Donnie

F1 Boston - 10-4 on what Donnie said. Track is cool, but they black flagged you if you even touched the wall or anyone else - it was ridiculous. The crazy thing was that I was literally running times just off the track record and they were still busting my gonads, so it's not like I was driving stupid or aggressive. I would not go back. As Donnie said, it could have been a bad staffing day.

FWIW, walking the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston is great. And, a trip to the Kennedy Library just west of downtown (easily accessed by rail) is a worth a stop if you have any interest in JFK.

Eric

jakepressley · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 12:54 pm

I'm originally from Maine, and would suggest skipping acadia, as you'll be rubbng elbows with NJites, and others that live "the red lobster lifestyle." Check out Baxter State Park, if you want to see real Maine.... Greenville Maine is probably the best kepts secret in the NE, and if you decide to jump the border you can be in Montreal from Greenville in just under 3 hours.

Might I suggest Burlington VT as well, seeing the 4th of july fireworks over lake champlain is awesome. Plus Vermonters have a great attitude towards life, its the closest thing to southern hospitality.

If you do go to Maine, remeber to spend all kinds of money there!!! as mom and dad could use a break on their property taxes...

have fun
jake

p.s I found a use for those Hoosiers you looked at. I now have 6 raised bed Hoosier sponsered tomato plants.

Patrice Bousquet · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 1:05 pm

Donnie is right, the farther East you go along the St-Lawrence the more difficult it is to find someone speaking English.
Quebec city is Ok because its a tourist place. Also this summer there is a lot of road construction plan for in Montreal. It might be a mess.
There is some English pocket in the Eastern Township or should I say Irish. Kathy father English is better than is French.

Brad Mackey · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 2:11 pm

Patrice Bousquet wrote:

You can maybe take the Ferry to Yartmouth NS. Then drive back to Bar Harbor

There now is a High-Speed Catamaran (The Cat) that runs from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, NS. in 3 hours. http://www.catferry.com/index.php Runs Mon, Tues, Thurs. Return trips can be back to Bar Harbor or Portland, or you can drive around through New Brunswick.

Really fine place with a great kitchen in Bar Harbor: http://www.barharborhotel.com/

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