Northeast trip end Sept to early Oct ideas help!
Jul 30th, 2019, 04:00 PM
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Northeast trip end Sept to early Oct ideas help!
Hi all,
My husband and I will be flying into Manchester, NH 3rd week in September and taking a road trip through NH, Vermont, and Maine. We would love any help with must see stops and any challenges we may face. I appreciate the suggestions.
Brenda and John
My husband and I will be flying into Manchester, NH 3rd week in September and taking a road trip through NH, Vermont, and Maine. We would love any help with must see stops and any challenges we may face. I appreciate the suggestions.
Brenda and John
Jul 31st, 2019, 01:50 AM
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Third week in September is a little early if you're looking for color so head north. Traffic will be a challenge as well. I'm in NH and tried heading south on I93 on a sunday at noon. It was already congested and crawling so we got off the next exit for an alternate route. Fridays northbound are also bad starting around noon. This is almost year round. On Saturday northbound on I95 (heading to Maine) was already heavy at 8:30 am.
Must see stops depends on your interests. In Rockland ME I would go to the Farnsworth Art Museum but my husband would choose Owl's Head Transportation Museum. Stowe might be very busy that week due to a car show. If you like beer or wine, you might head for tastings at various places. There are some great orchards which grow varieties of apples you might never have seen. Some make hard ciders. There's some new distilleries. One of the newest is in Tamworth NH (Lakes region). We shared a tasting but most was too strong for me but the building and equipment are beautiful. One orchard has a viewing area for hawk migration.
If history is more to your liking you could visit Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, Canterbury Shaker Village, the Fells Estate, St. Gaudens, etc. Warner NH is one of my favorite small towns. It has a telephone museum as well as the Kearsarge Indian Museum. You might still be able to rent a kayak. There are hiking trails everywhere. In Maine, google best lobster roll and try to visit as many places as possible. Take a boat ride - Portsmouth NH or Portland's Casco Bay are great rides. Visit Yankee Magazine's website for ideas and route suggestions. Try to travel back roads although going north on I93 once you get as far north as Concord can be pretty and it goes right thru the White Mountains.
Depending on where you go first, you have a choice leaving MHT to travel north via I93 or I293. They merge north of Manchester so it doesn't matter which one you take. I293 follows the Merrimack River and you can see the old mill buildings on the east side of the river. Some are colleges, some are restaurants and offices, and one is a science museum. It's a curvy route while I93 is more straight and more boring. When you head east to the seacoast, gps prefers you take Rt 101 which is a very boring limited access highway. We prefer the more northern Rt 4 which also provides the prettiest ride over Great Bay as you approach Portsmouth (it connects with I95). Otherwise there's a more northern route from the Conway NH area over to Portland which we seldom take. When you head west to VT, most people opt for I89 which is actually kind of scenic but from MHT you can also take a more southern route which is also nice and not an interstate (Rt 101).
BUT
have a really good map so you can find other ways to get where you want to go if traffic is heavy.
Post some of your interests to get more specific suggestions.
Must see stops depends on your interests. In Rockland ME I would go to the Farnsworth Art Museum but my husband would choose Owl's Head Transportation Museum. Stowe might be very busy that week due to a car show. If you like beer or wine, you might head for tastings at various places. There are some great orchards which grow varieties of apples you might never have seen. Some make hard ciders. There's some new distilleries. One of the newest is in Tamworth NH (Lakes region). We shared a tasting but most was too strong for me but the building and equipment are beautiful. One orchard has a viewing area for hawk migration.
If history is more to your liking you could visit Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, Canterbury Shaker Village, the Fells Estate, St. Gaudens, etc. Warner NH is one of my favorite small towns. It has a telephone museum as well as the Kearsarge Indian Museum. You might still be able to rent a kayak. There are hiking trails everywhere. In Maine, google best lobster roll and try to visit as many places as possible. Take a boat ride - Portsmouth NH or Portland's Casco Bay are great rides. Visit Yankee Magazine's website for ideas and route suggestions. Try to travel back roads although going north on I93 once you get as far north as Concord can be pretty and it goes right thru the White Mountains.
Depending on where you go first, you have a choice leaving MHT to travel north via I93 or I293. They merge north of Manchester so it doesn't matter which one you take. I293 follows the Merrimack River and you can see the old mill buildings on the east side of the river. Some are colleges, some are restaurants and offices, and one is a science museum. It's a curvy route while I93 is more straight and more boring. When you head east to the seacoast, gps prefers you take Rt 101 which is a very boring limited access highway. We prefer the more northern Rt 4 which also provides the prettiest ride over Great Bay as you approach Portsmouth (it connects with I95). Otherwise there's a more northern route from the Conway NH area over to Portland which we seldom take. When you head west to VT, most people opt for I89 which is actually kind of scenic but from MHT you can also take a more southern route which is also nice and not an interstate (Rt 101).
BUT
have a really good map so you can find other ways to get where you want to go if traffic is heavy.
Post some of your interests to get more specific suggestions.
Jul 31st, 2019, 05:10 AM
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I live in north central Vt and peak foliage color here is the end of September/very early October. Farther south and along the coast you won't see much. You can get tips on the best color at web sites maintained by the different states.
One of my favorite foliage festivals is the Northeast Kingdom festival held during the week of September 29 to October 5 in different towns around the area. I can't find a link to the overall schedule that works but you can see the offerings in different towns on this events calendar
NEK Chamber of Commerce
Last year dfrost, another Fodorite and I went on a very interesting naturalist cruise through the Nature Center at Squam Lake in New Hampshire. These run through early October
https://www.nhnature.org/programs/notl_cruise.php
One of my favorite foliage festivals is the Northeast Kingdom festival held during the week of September 29 to October 5 in different towns around the area. I can't find a link to the overall schedule that works but you can see the offerings in different towns on this events calendar
NEK Chamber of Commerce
Last year dfrost, another Fodorite and I went on a very interesting naturalist cruise through the Nature Center at Squam Lake in New Hampshire. These run through early October
https://www.nhnature.org/programs/notl_cruise.php
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