New England Road Trip (1 Viewer)

[The Dreaded Marco]

So it would probably be:

Drive to Burlington and get a place.  Next day, check out the lake and surrounding area, then take off later and hit Ben & Jerry's.  Drive for a while and get a hotel closer to Mt. Washington.  Next day, is Mt. Washington.  Then head towards Portland and get another hotel.  Last day, drive down the coast of Maine ending in Newport, RI.

My daughter lived in Southern Maine for 5 years for college and then a year working after graduation.  I've been to Portland many times over those years to visit her and have tried several Portland restaurants.  There are dozens of great ones but of those we've tried our favorites are Central Provisions, Scales, Fore Street and Duckfat.

If you're definitely going to spend part of a day in Portland you can't go wrong with any of those spots.  

And I'll second the Kennebunkport recommendation.  Not far off the highway and cool to see the Bush compound.

 

[TheIronSheik]

My daughter lived in Southern Maine for 5 years for college and then a year working after graduation.  I've been to Portland many times over those years to visit her and have tried several Portland restaurants.  There are dozens of great ones but of those we've tried our favorites are Central Provisions, Scales, Fore Street and Duckfat.

If you're definitely going to spend part of a day in Portland you can't go wrong with any of those spots.  

And I'll second the Kennebunkport recommendation.  Not far off the highway and cool to see the Bush compound.

Can you actually see it?  I only ask because we "drive by" Camp David all of the time and we always make a joke about where it is, even though you don't see anything and there is no signage.  

 

[TheIronSheik]

interested in a similar road trip at some point, also coming from the philly area. 

Did you also see the Man v. Food episode?  Asking for a fat friend.

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

Can you actually see it?  I only ask because we "drive by" Camp David all of the time and we always make a joke about where it is, even though you don't see anything and there is no signage.  

Yes.  It's easily visible from the road.

It's not advertised but it becomes pretty obvious which property is theirs.

 

[MAC_32]

Can you actually see it?  I only ask because we "drive by" Camp David all of the time and we always make a joke about where it is, even though you don't see anything and there is no signage.  

I'm fairly sure you can pull off to the side of the road and get a photo with it in the background.

 

[Deepster]

If you like donuts. I got the best donut I've ever had in my life at Holy Donut in Portland.  It was the Blueberry with Blueberry Glaze.  Here's the link: https://theholydonut.com/

Was just there two weeks ago.  Had the cannoli donut.  Good lord.

 

[Don Quixote]

Can you actually see it?  I only ask because we "drive by" Camp David all of the time and we always make a joke about where it is, even though you don't see anything and there is no signage.  

Yes.  It's easily visible from the road.

It's not advertised but it becomes pretty obvious which property is theirs.

Yeah. There's a place to pull off the road, and a big anchor across the cove from the house.  Nice place to get out and take a picture.

 

[Don Quixote]

Since you were interested in the Bush compound, is history a bit of a draw, or not really?  If you are not sold on driving all the way up to Burlington and Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, you could spend the night further south in Manchester, VT (which will give you plenty of a VT vibe), then hit up the Calvin Coolidge birthplace and homestead in Plymouth Notch (he was a bit of a boring President, but Plymouth Notch is a pretty awesome spot for a history buff). Then make your way over to Mount Washington in NH from there.  Saves you a bit of driving time.

 

[JetMaxx]

Wife is from NH. Can’t spend enough time up there. Many great suggestions in this thread, I’ll add one more since you’re big on food. If fried seafood is an interest, a relatively convenient stop on the way up or back depending on your itinerary is Ronnies Seafood in Charlton MA. Just off the TPK. They’re closed now but open in the spring. Never been disappointed with a stop there

 

[TheIronSheik]

Since you were interested in the Bush compound, is history a bit of a draw, or not really?  If you are not sold on driving all the way up to Burlington and Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, you could spend the night further south in Manchester, VT (which will give you plenty of a VT vibe), then hit up the Calvin Coolidge birthplace and homestead in Plymouth Notch (he was a bit of a boring President, but Plymouth Notch is a pretty awesome spot for a history buff). Then make your way over to Mount Washington in NH from there.  Saves you a bit of driving time.

History is huge for me.  For my wife and daughter, not so much.  So I get to sneak in small things that they don't realize are historical until it's too late.  And then they have to be quick because they'll veto the stop and have us on the move again.  Our family is a democracy and unfortunately, I'm the only one that likes cool stuff.  #OutvotedTwoToOne

 

[TheIronSheik]

If you only are going to go to the top of Mt. Washington once, do you guys suggest driving up or doing the Cog Railway?

 

[Don Quixote]

If you only are going to go to the top of Mt. Washington once, do you guys suggest driving up or doing the Cog Railway?

As I mentioned upthread, I did the railway, but (a) I'm a wuss, and (b) I have a younger son that loves trains.

I'd suggest looking at the road on Google Maps and seeing if you think you want to drive it, or pay the extra money for riding in comfort on the cog railway if you think you will be white-knuckling it on the road.  

See this link.

 

[TheIronSheik]

My plan is running into some small snags.  I was wanting to rent a car and do this drive, but if we end the drive with a week at the beach, I'd be paying for the rental car for that whole week.  I might need to rethink the plan of attack here.  

 

[MAC_32]

As I mentioned upthread, I did the railway, but (a) I'm a wuss, and (b) I have a younger son that loves trains.

I'd suggest looking at the road on Google Maps and seeing if you think you want to drive it, or pay the extra money for riding in comfort on the cog railway if you think you will be white-knuckling it on the road.  

See this link.

You're not a wuss- that thing is no joke, especially in those volatile weather conditions - and ESPECIALLY going back down.

 

[JetMaxx]

You're not a wuss- that thing is no joke, especially in those volatile weather conditions - and ESPECIALLY going back down.

Nah I did it in a ‘93 5speed Honda Accord back in the day. Hit the corners hard with a downshift, a little drift here and there for good measure and got the “This car climbed Mt Washington” bumper sticker as a trophy. #onceinalifetime

 

[NajehHejan]

OP specifically didn’t want to go to Martha’s Vineyard area, but in lieu of starting a new thread, felt it would be wise to revive this one.

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

OP specifically didn’t want to go to Martha’s Vineyard area, but in lieu of starting a new thread, felt it would be wise to revive this one.

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

if you're driving up, Newport RI, maybe? it's a town that used to know how to have fun and the Gilded Age mansions are somewhere between a hoot and a horror

 

[johnnycakes]

OP specifically didn’t want to go to Martha’s Vineyard area, but in lieu of starting a new thread, felt it would be wise to revive this one.

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

You'll have plenty of time to see the Vineyard when you're there Monday thru Friday.  One of my favorite places in the world is Nantucket..... if you can get accommodations, that's where I would spend the weekend.  Second choice would be to see the Cape from Chatham up to Provincetown.  

 

[Don Quixote]

OP specifically didn’t want to go to Martha’s Vineyard area, but in lieu of starting a new thread, felt it would be wise to revive this one.

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

Not on the way, but if you wanted to go a bit further north and work your way back down, you could go to something like Wentworth by the Sea in Portsmouth, NH.  Further up the coast, Kennebunkport, ME has a lot of great resorts too (I stayed at Hidden Pond awhile back).

ETA: I’m not sure how open these places are to out of state tourists right now.

 

[bostonfred]

OP specifically didn’t want to go to Martha’s Vineyard area, but in lieu of starting a new thread, felt it would be wise to revive this one.

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

https://www.wcvb.com/article/massachusetts-coronavirus-response-update-governor-baker-july-24-2020/33414447#

You might need to get everyone tested right before you come up because there's a new 500 dollar per day fine in place for failing to quarantine starting august 1st 

 

[wilked]

OP specifically didn’t want to go to Martha’s Vineyard area, but in lieu of starting a new thread, felt it would be wise to revive this one.

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

If you're driving north, then don't go north of the Cape.  Minimize travel, maximize enjoyment.  Fri nite - Sun is really just two days (Sat and Sun).

The advice above of Rhode Island is a good one.  Here's some suggestions:

-Charter a boat and go fishing for half a day out of RI

-Don't do Nantucket.  Not enough time to get there and relax.  Save that one for another day.

-Staying on the Cape can be fun.  Does the family like to bike?  Cape Cod rail trail is great, can make a full day of it and stop at cool spots along the way. If you pursue I can help with an itinerary.  

Your main issue is going to be finding good lodging at the right price.  If it were me I'd look at Airbnb / Vrbo for those dates and work my around the coast at your price point, find a good spot close to water and then plan from there.  

 

[wilked]

Also, if the fam likes to bike bring bikes to the Vineyard.  Great place to bike around and explore. 

 

[brun]

...

We live in the Philly area and will be visiting friends in Chappaquiddick in 3 weeks. They have a house from Saturday to Saturday and invited us up. We don’t want to impose and stay the whole week. We’re thinking of spending Monday through Friday with them. Since we’ll be heading up to that area, where would you recommend us going for that first Friday night through Sunday? Other parts of Martha’s Vineyard? Nantucket? Cape Cod? Anywhere else close by? I really know nothing about the area other than looking at maps. We’re a family of four with 11 and 12 year old boys. We like the beach and water. Not huge into boating or water skiing or anything exotic like that. More just chilling. Love good food and drink. If you have any specific hotels or B&B’s you could recommend, would be greatly appreciated! Looking to squeeze something else in that makes sense geographically. Thanks in advance. 

The Submarine Force Library and Museum is in Groton CT. Closed now for COVID-19, it may reopen Aug 1st. Haven't been there in years but IIRC it's a quick visit and you can explore the USS Nautilus. Bonus - it's free.