My sister has suddenly deceided that she wants to see the fall foliage for her 50th birthday. We need to leave from Houston on the 10th of October and be back around the 18th. Suggestions? Should we drive or fly? Where do we stay? What do we do? I'm a lighthouse kinda girl, shes an antique lover. Just want to have fun and see some great sights!

Think about Cape Cod, MA. Should meet all your goals. Also, the Maine coastline. I know there is a great lighthouse near Portland.

Given the amount of time, seems like flying is your only option

I would suggest north of Boston to get foliage that time of year. The coast of New England is great (lighthouses and antiquing there. You can do southern Maine or the northern suburbs of Boston. If you can do without proximity to a tourist city, the Berkshires in Massachusetts is beautiful, although I don't know of lighthouses, there is lots of antiquing.

I would split the week between the southern ME/Portsmouth NH area at the beginning of the week and then Rhode Island. Color is coming on pretty quickly in central NH. Google Maine lighthouses for the ones you can see in that area. Take a harbor or inland rivers cruise from the dock in Portsmouth. If you can fly into MHT Manchester NH and leave from Providence RI that would be perfect. If you have to return a rental car to the same location, don't fret Providence is about 2 hours from MHT. Near Portsmouth is Northwood NH's Antique Alley with quite a few antique shops. Rather than taking rt 95 from Portsmouth to RI, take a detour via Concord NH to go thru Antique Alley. Portsmouth has some terrific restaurants but you might find nicer, small inn type accomodations in southern ME. Have heard good reports on Wentworth by the Sea in Newcastle (near Portsmouth) which is a very beautiful area.
The only hitch is that Providence might be having a full lighting for Waterfire on Oct 11. Columbus Day weekend is very popular in Providence and restaurants will be very busy. If you can still get a hotel room, the Biltmore is a lovely older hotel. The Westin is new and connected by a skywalk to the downtown mall. Both are within walking distance of Waterfire, the Westin is closer. I got the Westin thru Hotwire a couple of weeks ago. There are several other hotels within walking distance of Waterfire. See the website if you aren't familiar with it. There's a partial lighting on a weeknight which might be less crowded.
Unfortunately I always think NH foliage after Columbus Day is past peak.

Cape Cod is not known for foliage. The trees down there are mostly scrub pines.

Personally, I would recommend staying in the Portsmouth area for at least a portion of your trip. Wentworth by the Sea is a lovely old hotel that has been nicely updated. The spa is very nice as is the indoor pool. There are several lighthouses in Portsmouth Harbor and Nubble Light in York is about a 15 minute drive away. There are outlet stores across the river in Kittery but really seeing the coast would probably be more appealing. The Kangamangus Highway in the White Mountains has great scenery/foliage and is a nice day trip from Portsmouth.

Also for antiques you can't beat Essex Mass. Its only about an hour at most from Portsmouth. There are beautiful antique stores there and I highly recommend Tom Sheas restaurant - the baked stuffed lobster is excellent. From there you could drive out to Halibut Point State Park in Gloucester/Rockport. Beautiful views with just a bit of a hike. There's a tour to climb to if you are up for it. Its not a lighthouse but still cool. Of course Rockport is neat to poke around in.

You can fly into Boston or Manchester - which ever one is the cheapest keeping in mind that Manchester is smaller and more managable. The rental cars tend to be less expensive due to less taxes than at Logan.

Essex is a good place for antique browsing, but for restaurants in that town, I'd opt for The Village over Tom Shea's for sitdown seafood if it were my choice. There are also (if still open) some really good clam shacks in the area -- the best are the Clam Box in Ipswich and J.T. Farnham's in Essex (am less a fan of Woodman's, also in Essex).

Northwest has a Sat morning flight out of Houston and a Sat afternoon return, into Portland Maine for $300.
Camden/Rockport sounds right up your alley, with day trips to Acadia, Belfast, Boothbay etc.

i too think portland maine (pwm) is a good choice to fly to. numerous airlines fly from hobby for around $450. portland gives you access to maine coast, maine & nh interior.
lots of antique stores on maine coast but some will be shutting down for the season.
here's an excellent guide for the lighthouses: http://lighthouse.cc/me.html
click on a house to see pics and where it is.
portland gives you the option to go where the leaves are best - sort of central for leaf peeping.
manchester would be my other choice. delta has a good flt for $450.
from manchester it's an easy drive into the berkshires if that's where the best leaves are then. and about 1 1/2 hrs drive to the maine coast. good antiquing in northern mass/berkshires. williamtown mass might make a good place to drive to and then back to nh, and then off to the maine coast to see a couple lighthouses.
i live in central maine just north of bangor. our leaves have hardly started to change, but a few are. i saw a seriously bright red maple today...
check out leaf progress site to help you plan: http://www.state.me.us/doc/foliage/
here's a similiar site for nh: http://foliage.visitnh.gov.ns1www.si...dex-flash.html

These are great ideas! Didn't really look at different airports. Restaurant ideas please! We southerners do love to eat.

Well, I have to disagree with the folks here. I would fly into bradley airport in Hartford and drive up Route 91 into Mass and towards NH. I live in southern mass and the trees are half-turned already. I think you will get a nicer view of foliage in this area and up around the Mohawk trail just north of here. It's a very nice scenic drive and you can still get to NH in a few hours. I would avoid the cape as it will be cold and no colors to be seen. Food places along the way...Friendly's family restaurants are popular and good cheap food.

Take a look at www.yankeefoliage.com to get updates. I noticed they also have some driving routes in different areas.

Our foliage is a little behind in Massachusetts, do not know about Maine and New Hampshire. We are not near peak but trees are changing. I think you'll see a lot of color next weekend.

For lighthouses go to Maine. Antiquing is along Route 9 or 1. Other places to visit in NE that are interesting: the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. For ocean, that's hard, I like Maine and Rhode Island but others like the Cape. For mountains, the Berkshires and New Hampshire. Antiquing is anywhere along these areas. There is a place called Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts that is a living, working museum and the area is briming with antique shops. It's very interesting and very old New England.

Airports to fly into - BOS Boston Logan; PWM Portland, Maine; BDL Hartford/Springfield; PVD Providence, RI; MHT Manchester, NH.

You'll should have a good time wherever you go and it is a great time of year to visit New England.

Sorry, I can't agree with Friendly restaurants. In our area the service is extremely slow and the food is mediocre. In New England you have the chance to eat at locally owned restaurants. Chowhound.com is the best website for local recommendations once you decide on what area you are visiting. For great and varied food choices on the coast I would definitely go to the Portsmouth NH to Portland Maine area. Color is turning quickly here in NH and Columbus Day weekend is going to be one of the biggest tourism weekends of the year. If you don't have hotel reservations yet you might have to pick a place simply on room availability.

Oh my gosh, Friendly's? That's like saying, come to new England and eat at McDonald's.

WHAT? You haven't booked your flights yet? You need at least 7 days advance in order to get decent airfares? Do you think the airlines are just leaving some seats open for you while you make up your mind?

You might find some decent last-minute fare into Boston I suppose. Check rental car rates, too, as they go sky-high during foliage season.

I have a feeling your sister is going to have to be happy with some ice cream and a cake and maybe "The Perfect Storm" on video.

Don't think I haven't threatened her with her life and then some at this point. What blood shed there's not before the trip will happen on it. Have air and car out of Philadelphia very reasonable. Will do some kind of a coastal drive up I guess, maybe inland back. Need places to stay now. At the rate we're going we're sleeping in the car.

How late do you get into Philadelphia? This will determine how far you can go first day, and where you should stay. Vermont might be your best bet at this point.

Do you have a budget for hotels? How many nights 6, 7? And by what time/what day do you have to be back at Philadelphia airport?