Leaf Peeping
May 10th, 2000 | 04:30 AM
#1
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Leaf Peeping
Help,
My 60ish parents are retiring this year and my siblings and I are want to give them a trip to New England as a gift. They have expressed on several occassions a desire to see the leaves change in New England. Being from Dallas I don't know much about this part of the country. I am thinking fly into Boston and spend a couple of days there seeing the sights. Then a rent car to travel around. Questions.. What is the best direction to travel? NH?, Stay in Mass? Also is there a time that they can avoid the largest crowds and still see the scenery. (My Dad is notoriously cranky in crowds!) Also any suggestions for quaint B&B's or inns would be greatly appreciated. Fodorites to my rescue please !!!!
My 60ish parents are retiring this year and my siblings and I are want to give them a trip to New England as a gift. They have expressed on several occassions a desire to see the leaves change in New England. Being from Dallas I don't know much about this part of the country. I am thinking fly into Boston and spend a couple of days there seeing the sights. Then a rent car to travel around. Questions.. What is the best direction to travel? NH?, Stay in Mass? Also is there a time that they can avoid the largest crowds and still see the scenery. (My Dad is notoriously cranky in crowds!) Also any suggestions for quaint B&B's or inns would be greatly appreciated. Fodorites to my rescue please !!!!
May 10th, 2000 | 01:00 PM
#2
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Depending on what time you send your parents to New England depends on where in New England they should visit to get the best foliage viewing. Late Sept/Early Oct foliage is best in Northern New England and around Columbus Day is best in the Boston area. The Berkshires (Western MA), Vermont, and the White Mountains of NH are my favorite places to go. Yankee Magazine has a great website that has all kinds of info on it pertaining to this season, including lodging. http://www.newengland.com
Start planning soon because this is a busy time to visit and hotel rooms are few and far between. Also, consider flying your parents into Manchester, NH. It's a much easier airport to navigate and you can often find cheaper fares compared to flying to Logan (Boston). Good luck!
Start planning soon because this is a busy time to visit and hotel rooms are few and far between. Also, consider flying your parents into Manchester, NH. It's a much easier airport to navigate and you can often find cheaper fares compared to flying to Logan (Boston). Good luck!
May 10th, 2000 | 03:56 PM
#3
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Sharon, My husband and I lived in Plano for 17 years, but I grew up in the Berkshires and we returned each fall to visit my folks. The contrast to North Texas is startling and it should be a wonderful trip for them.
If they too live in Dallas, I might skip the city. Its beautiful with plenty to do, but it is just another city and with traffic that will make LBJ look like a picnic in the park. You get a better feel for New England by getting out into the countryside.
I flew into either Albany or Hartford when visiting my folks. There are direct flights from DFW to either airport at reasonable rates and both are convenient to leaf peeping.
The things we loved most about NE after years in Texas were the hills and mountains, the small roads leading through it all, the picturesque New England homes and villages, tons of trees (not mesquite
gt;), small streams and real lakes. It is such a contrast to Texas. You'll get all that in Berkshires, VT, and NH. You can do loop tours with practically every mile spectacular, as opposed to, say, the featureless Dallas-Austin drive on I-35, equivalent timewise in New England to driving from the Berkshires into upper VT! The Berkshires usually hit their peak around Oct 11, and 1-2 weeks earlier in VT and NH depending on how far up you are. The crowds aren't terrible, esp if they travel during the week rather than the weekends. They can tour around the Green Mtns of VT through some of the most picturesque villages...Manchester, Grafton, Newfane, drive over to NH White Mtns and do the Kancamagus Hwy loop, then depending on how much time they have, head to Maine and drive up the coastline, perhaps as far as Bar Harbor. The scenery along the Maine coast is an awesome sight for landlocked Dallasites. We did the coast of Maine one year the last week in October and it was one of our favorite trips. There was still color but the crowds had left. Visit the lighthouses, watch the waves crash on the rocks, catch a boat tour around Boothbay Harbor and some of the islands and eat lobstah!
Don't misunderstand...I love Texas, and tho we were transferred, can't even bring myself to take the TX tags off the front of my car. Scenery-wise when I go back I even enjoy the mesquite and bois d'arc trees, but scenery in New England is just incredible. This a great gift--they'll love it!
If they too live in Dallas, I might skip the city. Its beautiful with plenty to do, but it is just another city and with traffic that will make LBJ look like a picnic in the park. You get a better feel for New England by getting out into the countryside.
I flew into either Albany or Hartford when visiting my folks. There are direct flights from DFW to either airport at reasonable rates and both are convenient to leaf peeping.
The things we loved most about NE after years in Texas were the hills and mountains, the small roads leading through it all, the picturesque New England homes and villages, tons of trees (not mesquite
gt;), small streams and real lakes. It is such a contrast to Texas. You'll get all that in Berkshires, VT, and NH. You can do loop tours with practically every mile spectacular, as opposed to, say, the featureless Dallas-Austin drive on I-35, equivalent timewise in New England to driving from the Berkshires into upper VT! The Berkshires usually hit their peak around Oct 11, and 1-2 weeks earlier in VT and NH depending on how far up you are. The crowds aren't terrible, esp if they travel during the week rather than the weekends. They can tour around the Green Mtns of VT through some of the most picturesque villages...Manchester, Grafton, Newfane, drive over to NH White Mtns and do the Kancamagus Hwy loop, then depending on how much time they have, head to Maine and drive up the coastline, perhaps as far as Bar Harbor. The scenery along the Maine coast is an awesome sight for landlocked Dallasites. We did the coast of Maine one year the last week in October and it was one of our favorite trips. There was still color but the crowds had left. Visit the lighthouses, watch the waves crash on the rocks, catch a boat tour around Boothbay Harbor and some of the islands and eat lobstah! Don't misunderstand...I love Texas, and tho we were transferred, can't even bring myself to take the TX tags off the front of my car. Scenery-wise when I go back I even enjoy the mesquite and bois d'arc trees, but scenery in New England is just incredible. This a great gift--they'll love it!
May 11th, 2000 | 05:11 AM
#5
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Sheryl,
I second the flight into Hartford--used it for my trip with my mother to see the leaves last fall and it is a small airport, easy to navigate. One of the best drives we had was along back roads in western Massachusetts and souhern Vermont. I had a good map and we just wandered in the general direction we wanted and drove under canopies of gorgeous leaves. The towns listed as most scenic in Vermont were a zoo on Sunday (some bumper to bumper traffic), but empty on Monday. We also enjoyed the cranberry harvest south of Boston. We stopped by the cranberry festival and then drove around and got some lovely photos of harveting cranberries from the flooded fields in front of a row of crimson and yellow leaves. Your folks should also plan a tourist stop at one of the maple syrup and apple products stores. My Mom enjoyed seeing the apple cider presses, eating apple pie out under the falling leaves, etc.
I second the flight into Hartford--used it for my trip with my mother to see the leaves last fall and it is a small airport, easy to navigate. One of the best drives we had was along back roads in western Massachusetts and souhern Vermont. I had a good map and we just wandered in the general direction we wanted and drove under canopies of gorgeous leaves. The towns listed as most scenic in Vermont were a zoo on Sunday (some bumper to bumper traffic), but empty on Monday. We also enjoyed the cranberry harvest south of Boston. We stopped by the cranberry festival and then drove around and got some lovely photos of harveting cranberries from the flooded fields in front of a row of crimson and yellow leaves. Your folks should also plan a tourist stop at one of the maple syrup and apple products stores. My Mom enjoyed seeing the apple cider presses, eating apple pie out under the falling leaves, etc.
