Help Me Plan A New England Road Trip For October

My wife and I took a trip to Portland, ME; Stowe, VT; and Providence, RI in September. We flew into Boston and rented a car for the week. We enjoyed all 3 locations and took some day trips to other spots too.

I would definitely recommend Portland. Good food and a has a pretty good assortment of lighthouses in the area. Some restaurants of note: OTTO pizze and Duckfat. 2 can't miss places in my opinion. Also Standard Baking Co. for pastries and The Holy Donut for potato donuts. Potato donuts sounded odd to me at first, but I wish I could go back and have more. So damn good.

We went to Bath, ME one morning and went to the Maine Maritime Museum. It was cool to step back in time to see where they built massive wooden ships and how lobstering has changed over the years. The lobster rolls at Libby's Market were fantastic. Its a small convenience store off the beaten path, but definitely worth it if you make it near that area.

We drove from Portland, through NH over to Vermont on the White Mountain Trail and Kancamagus Scenic Byway which take you right down the middle of the White Mountain National Forest. Definitely recommend taking that route, if it is anywhere near where you are going. Its a beautiful, relaxing ride and is known for its color during the fall leaf color change. There are a few working covered bridges over small streams, with hiking paths all over the place.

Our time in Stowe, VT was the most relaxing portion of the trip. We stayed at a little place called Edson Hill. It was expensive at $300/night, but definitely worth it. If you aren't looking to spend that much, I definitely wouldn't recommend showing it to your wife. Showing it to my wife is part of how I got pulled into it. I remember seeing a few other small resorts and stuff around, but they were more spread out.

While in Stowe, we visited the Ben and Jerry's factory, a cider mill, an apple orchard, and the Cabot cheese company store. Ben and Jerry's was cool to see, but was a very short, stand behind the glass kind of tour. There are small hard cider places all over NH and VT, so find one that looks interesting and check it out. We found a couple and enjoyed our time drinking one afternoon.

Lastly, we were only in Providence 2 days with one of those spent in Newport. Providence itself was just alright. We visited the Breakers mansion in Newport and did the audio tour. Definitely recommend it. The opulence is 2nd only to Versailles. We caught lunch at Rosemary and Thyme in Newport, but had to wait 45 minutes. Worth it, especially since they took our cell phone number and called when it was ready. Back in Providence, we went to Federal Hill, which has terrible parking, and ate at Enoteca Umberto. Small place run by a guy and his wife who are straight from Italy. I cannot recommend his restaurant enough.

If you have any more questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

It's been a while (2005) but wife and I flew into Boston rented a car.
Spent two days in Boston, one morning drove to Salem. Nice city, they are making a fortune off of those witches.
Drove from Boston to Bar Harbor Maine (about 6 hours if I remember correctly).
We stopped in Portland along the way and did the lighthouse tour there.
Stayed two days in Bar Harbor. If you go I recommend Jordan's for breakfast. Spent most of the time driving around Acadia National Park, beautiful place.
Drove from Bar Harbor to Conway, NH. Only stayed one day and did the Cog Railroad to the top of Mount Washington.
Drove from Conway to Newport, RI. Only stayed one day here and did the cliff walk. We really didn't care to do any of the mansion tours.
Drove from Newport to Hyannis (Cape Cod). Stayed two days, went to Martha's Vineyard one day and went to Plymouth the other day. The day in Plymouth was great. See the rock and visited Plymouth Plantation.
Drove back to Boston and flew out.

We flew into Boston, spent the night and rented a car to drive to Cape Cod for a wedding. On the way there we went to Martha's Vineyard. SPent 2 nights on the Cape. MV was on Friday and then Saturday we drove to Provincetown at the tip of the Cape. Pulled off here and there to see the Atlantic and play in it (well stuck my toes ... it was COLD and it was right after Labor Day) and then some lighthouses.

The next 2 nights we spent in Boston itself .. on the way back we went through Plymouth and visited the Mayflower II (the replica) .. super neat. We only had an evening and a day but on the Sunday when we made it back there we scored Red Sox tickets and then the next day walked the Freedom Trail with a group tour. My husband said that was his favorite part and he's not that type.

Have fun. I really would love to go back!

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stop at the L.L. Bean Flagship headquarters store in Freeport, Maine is pretty cool, too.

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We're definitely doing Bean. It's actually the reason I suggested the trip to my wife Wish they'd build a store in the Dallas area. Went to the on in Tyson's Corner VA during our trip to DC. It was so nice to actually get to try things on before buying them

I can definitely help out with the Boston portion of your trip if you'd like. Lived here about 3 1/2 years.

Are y'all beer people? Foodies? Outdoorsy? An idea of what you like to do when you travel would be helpful.

Outside of Boston, here are my recommendations (in no particular order):

Newport, RI: Check out the Cliff Walk, the Breakers, some great food and even a winery there. Really beautiful town.

Portland, ME: Great breweries and restaurants.

Stowe, VT: Hiking, skiing, one of the best breweries in the country (Alchemist) and about two hours from Hill Farmstead, the best brewery I've ever visited.

Burlington, VT: Amazing town with a little bit of a college feel. Picturesque.

NH: Just skip it. It's like VT but trashy.

Glouchester, MA: Depending on the time of year, the whale watching tour is a lot of fun.

Newburyport, MA: Great town next to my favorite beach outside the Cape.