Terry and Nancy Flynn

My wife and I are traveling to New England the first week of October. Flying to Boston and driving to Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Any ideas on driving routes and nice hotels and B&B's in Maine? Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions.

Donna F

Make your reservations NOW. There's a B&B finder on Yankee magazine's website www.newengland.com which we have used. Expect heavy traffic northbound on Rt I95 to Maine on Fridays/southbound on Sundays. Get to Maine has quickly as you can but get OFF the interstate. I'm not familiar with the EW routes over to VT but Rt 112 thru NH's White Mtns is the famous and popular Kancamagus Hwy. Very scenic but will be congested, esp the the North Conway area on the weekend. Pick a scenic area to explore and travel on backroads. If you're brave, you can get a road atlas for each state which shows ALL the roads. One weekend I saw the bus from Concord NH to Boston traveling down a secondary road and I knew it was a sign that Rt 93 was very congested. (That runs North/south thru the middle of NH). If you're flying in mid-week, you might want to explore a local area on the week-end. Maybe attend an event such as a country fair, concert, theatre. Have fun!

mike ward

In Maine, Ogunquit is a nice spot (Barnacle Billy's for cheap lobster. Camden is a beautiful area as well.

Vermont, Grafton Inn is a great B&B with large fireplace in one of the lounges. Manchester-the Equinox is a nice place.

We do your trip (Vt, NH, anbd Maine) every couple of years from Chicago because we love the Fall season there. Might see you there.

patty

In Maine you sould check out a southern costal town called Ogunquit. It is beautiful! Lots of really nice b&b's there. Once you get to Maine take the US 1 that rides along the water.

Neal Sanders

Terry and Nancy, New England is one big color extravaganza in October and, if this part weekend's newspapers are right, this autumn will be the most color intensive in years (it rained all summer).

That said, Donna's counsel is on point: reserve your rooms now. Her suggestion of the Yankee Magazine (newengland.com) is also an excellent one. October attracts the "leaf peepers" en masse, and they'll crowd every highway. You may want to try to get a sense of what areas will be approaching peak color the week of your trip (higher elevations will be past peak while coastal areas are still just 10-20% color). I believe Weather.com starts this service around mid-September.

Route 2 from Boston west to the Berkshires is a wonderful foliage route, as is Interstate 91 north through Vermont. The glory, though, is in the small towns where many kinds of trees provide the entire color panorama.