Kelly and Evan

Nantucket

Nantucket is one of the two famous islands off the cape, and the one the Clintons and Obamas do not vacation on. We normally spend at least a weekend here (there is a large wine festival Kelly volunteers for). We stay at the Brass Lantern Inn (dog friendly). Kelly loves Oran Mor for upscale food and drink (pretty much everything on the island is upscale), Brotherhood of Thieves for a good beer list & a burger, Cru for seafood, and Cisco Brewers is fun to get a beer and play games at. The island is very dog friendly, and many restaurants having a dog friendly outdoor patio.

Berkshires

Portsmouth

If you would like to take a day trip, I would sugget Portsmouth, NH. It’s a nice town, with some cool shops and restaurants. You will need a car to get here, and get to a few of the recommended places, as the Amtrak Downeaster makes a stop in Dover, NH (near UNH), and not in Portsmouth. But parking is cheap and plentiful here, and they have a Row 34 you might be able to get into if you don’t have a reservation.

White Mountains

By the time you see this, Kelly & Toby will have hopefully finished their New Hampshire 48 (hiking the 48 peaks in New Hampshire over 4000 feet). The Whites are include the place that used to have the worst weather in the world, Mount Washington. (If hiking this mountain in September, be very careful, as it can snow.) At the base of Mount Washington is a very famous hotel, the Mount Washington Hotel, in a town called Bretton Woods. You too can go have a seat at the table where modern day montetary policy, as well as the IMF, was formed. As we spend many weekend up here year round, we know a lot of the places to go to in the area.

For hotels on the cheap we suggest Swiss Chalet Inn on the East Side, Notch Hostel on the West Side, and Cottage Place on Squam Lake on the South Side (all are dog friendly). For food & beer we suggest Woodstock Inn on the West Side (there are also rooms here, but they are expensive). We’ve heard Common Man in Lincoln is also good. On the east side we normally end up at Flatbread Pizza Company, though we’ve heard Tuckerman Brewery is suppose to be pretty good too.

Portland

No, not the Oregon Portland, the original US Portland (in Maine). This is a great day trip, or a good starting point if you are going to mid-coast Maine or Acadia & Bar Harbor. It’s an easy trip up from Boston, without a car, as the Amtrak Downeaster train starts at North Station (which sadly isn’t connected directly to South Station, where the East Coast Corrider trains are). There are many cute shops and lots of great pubs & restaurants in Portland. And there is lobster, because it is Maine. If you take the train a bit further North, you will hit Freeport, Maine, which is the home to LL Bean, a 24 hour LL Bean store, and lots of factory outlets for major US brands. Because this is a day trip for us, we do not know hotels to stay at in Portland. I am guessing Trip Advisor, or your choice of travel website or book will be perfectly adaquate to find one though.

Some suggestions: Eventide is the seafood darling of Portland (dog friendly patio). Next door is an asian fusion joint, the Honey Paw. Hugo’s is the mainstay upscale restaurant in Portland. Kelly really enjoys Central Provisions whenever she goes. Novare Res Bier Cafe has a nice patio to drink their pretty large selection of Belgium beer on. Finally, Gritty’s is the local brewpub. The Portland Museum of Art is also pretty good for a small city art museum, focusing on American Art. Be careful though: the city can get crowded this time a year, as it is a major port for cruise ships going up the East Coast.

Mid-Coast

Mid Coast is the area on Route 1 between Brunswick, ME and Mount Desert Island. It is a beautiful area with many small towns. It is also a great place to get Lobster. There are many places you can eat Lobster in Mid Coast while looking out and seeing the Lobster Boats come in. We will mostly focus on Rockland and Camden, as we spend a lot of time between the two. If you want information on Boothbay Harbor, Kelly can get you in touch with her parents, who have spent more time there (do not ask Kelly’s father where to bowl in Boothbay though, it’s a sore subject for him).

We suggest staying in Camden at the Windward House, as we always have a beautiful time there. The hosts at this Inn cater to all food allergies/preferences. We particularly like Long Grain in Camden and Sushi Suzuki’s in Rockland. Cafe Miranda, in Rockland, also has an eceletic menu and is very child friendly. The art museum in Rockland, Fansworth, focuses on American Art from Maine, and has an extensive collection of art by the Wyeth Family. On the way up/down 1 there is always a back up in Wiscasset due to people trying to get to Red’s Eats (it’s worth the stop, but the line is always crazy long).

Mount Desert Island

Mount Desert Island, is spectacular, which is why one of the Rockerfellers advocated and donated land to the federal government to create Acadia National Park (and then spent a lot of money creating carriage roads which one can now bike or cross country ski on). The biggest town on the island in Bar Harbor, which has lots of cute shops and dining options. There are a few more towns sprinkled across the island, such as Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, and Kelly’s favorite, Barnard. You will need a car to get to/from Bar Harbor, but to get around Acadia National Park there are free shuttles one can use, many starting in Bar Harbor.

Vermont

Kelly thinks of Vermont as off of route 89. There are a lot of great places in Southern Vermont, but we really haven’t been there. We will focus on White River Junction to Burlington in this section. Kelly also recommends taking an extra 2-3 days and going up to the Adirondacks, as she use to spend summers in Lake Placid (if you are looking to do this, please don’t hesitate emailing Kelly).