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I'm currently planning a trip with 2 other friends for the beginning of October. We'll be driving all around and may be doing spur of the moment planning, so I just wanted to get a list of locations that would be really awesome for us to visit. Also, I realize this is more of a subjective post, but I didn't know where else to put it.

Some background information:

  • We're all over 21
  • We definitely enjoy beer
  • We love being outdoors
  • There are 3 of us
  • We'll be on this trip for about a week
  • We love trying new food... really any type.
  • We don't have a budget, but not trying to do fancy everyday.

Ideas/things we're interested in doing:

  • Magic Hat brewery tour in Vermont
  • Cape Cod
  • Investigating haunted places... any ideas on where to go?
  • Visiting historic places... are there ones that we definitely should see? Monuments, forts, Colonial America places
  • Kayaking/Whitewater rafting (Heard of cool places in Maine, such as: Pemaquid, Waterville, Kennebec, and Mt. Katahdin)
  • Cisco Brewers in Nantucket
  • Hiking/scenery
  • Camping... any ideas? I was thinking along the lines of national parks.
  • I know Maine's got to have some cool lighthouses... which one would be the best?
  • Places to eat... any extremely famous ones?

So yeah, I know this is pretty broad, but I'm basically looking for ideas/reviews of some of the things I've mentioned. New England is a huge place, so instead of Googling for hours (and missing out on some awesome, low-key places), I figured I'd ask y'all to see if there are any great past experiences. Any information would be helpful!

Jonik
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incutonez
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1 Answers1

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Well, my friends and I did our trip... it was a blast, but a ton of driving. We also planned too many events in such a short amount of time, so a lot of things seemed rushed. Either way, we were not disappointed. Not really sure how to give this as an answer, so I'll just give the major attractions we did.

Loved

  • Yale, which is a beautiful campus
  • The drive to and from Gillette Castle was well worth it... just raining leaves on roads less traveled
  • Ate at Mystic Pizza, which was definitely delicious... not sure if it beats Jersey pizza, haha
  • Walked around in Boston... saw the Boston Common park and ate at a really cool pub
  • Lye Brook Falls in Vermont... incredible waterfall at the end of a 2.3 mi trail. Definitely worth it
  • Visited Omni-Mount Washington Resort in NH, which would be really awesome to stay at... had a great view and just looked like an incredible resort
  • Ate at Friars' Bakehouse in Bangor, ME... extremely tasty muffins and very cheap
  • Acadia National Park is incredible... the drive up the mountain is awesome and has an amazing sight at the top, but watch out, it's very windy!
  • Ate a Lobster Roll at JP's Pub in Westborough, MA... delicious and reasonably priced
  • The foliage
  • The architecture of the cities/towns/neighborhoods
  • Really didn't hit much traffic

Liked

  • Saw Gillette Castle, which was under construction but still neat to see
  • Did the Cliff walk in Newport, RI... very touristy but still cool to see tons of mansions and be next to the coastline
  • Ate at Iggy's Doughboys and Chowder House... delicious chowder
  • Saw Amherst, Northampton, and Greenfield MA... cool little towns
  • Went to Mount Sugarloaf in South Deerfield, MA, which has a great view at the top
  • Franconia Notch's Basin in NH was really cool to see
  • Bar Harbor was a neat little town
  • Portland, ME was a cool city... very hip

Disliked

  • Went to Salem and saw that it was very touristy, so we left
  • Kind of rained for some of our outdoor events, so we just had to make the best of it
  • If you wanted to do anything at White Mountain in NH, it cost money, and because it was raining, we opted out of most of those things... would've been really cool to do the Auto Road and hike around
  • Didn't see any moose!
  • Providence was insane to drive in, but it looked like an awesome city... unfortunately, it was dark out and raining

Advice

  • Book hotels in advance... we thought it'd be easy to get hotels the day of... wow, were we wrong
  • Don't try to plan a ton of events... instead, gather a large amount of events and take your time doing each event (I know, better said than done)
  • Make sure you prepare for rain
  • Look things up ahead of time... we were very naive with our entire trip, like not noting when certain places opened/closed/if they still existed

Statistics

  • Saw all 6 New England states (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine)
  • Visited 4 out of 6 capitals (Hartford, Providence, Boston, and Concord)
  • Drove 2400 miles in 7 days
incutonez
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