Northeast Road Trip
A few weeks ago, I packed my boyfriend and my bags into a rental car and drove from NYC through the New England. This can be done in less time but I had a week of vacation, so we decided to take our time. Below is our itinerary and some tips!
Friday:
We picked up our rental car from JFK airport and drove 5 hours to the Adirondacks in Upstate New York. Read my blog post about the High Peaks here!
Saturday:
We hiked Mt Colden from the High Peaks Trailhead via the Mt Colden Loop. It was 13 miles and took us about 8 hours round trip. The Mt Colden Loop is gorgeous throughout the whole hike - it features a rocky forest incline and a massive lake that in itself is worth the hike. We accidentally went down steep instead of up, so our way back down was quite the incline. On our way down we heard numerous people saying things like, “wow, I’d rather take a helicopter off this mountain that go down the way we just came up!” And, “that would be nearly impossible to hike down, thank God we hiked up it!” We were a little intimidated, but it turned out to be fine with proper hiking boots and we made it safely back to our campsite.
Sunday:
We hiked 2 miles out of the Marcy Dam area back to our car and made our way to Vermont. Since we were driving through Burlington, we stopped to get lunch at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill. This is definitely worth the stop, it was so good! Since it was the beginning of fall when we went, we also stopped at the Champin Orchard to get some Vermont apples, apple cider and cider donuts for the following morning. We also cannot drive to Stowe without stopping at the Ben and Jerry’s factory so we got our usual Half Baked cones and carried on to Stowe. Our home for the next three days was the Golden Eagle Resort so Paul could work remotely while I explored.
These are a few of the things I would recommend you do while in Stowe, VT when it’s warm out:
Outdoors:
Hike the Stowe Pinnacle Trail - 3.7 miles
Mount Mansfield - 7.3 miles
Walk or bike Stowe Recreation Path - 5.5 miles
Food:
The Bench
Matterhorn
Doc Ponds
The Ranch
Cold Hollow Cider Mill Bakery
Drinks:
Idletyme Brewery
Von Trapp Biergarten
The Alchemist
Stowe Cider Company
Wednesday:
I made Paul work from the car as I drove the beautiful 6 hours to Bar Harbor, Maine. We were here right as the leaves were changing so driving through the White Mountains in New Hampshire was amazing. We checked into our motel in Bar Harbor and started our seafood tour. Bar Harbor is a cute, touristy little coastal town that boasts one of the greatest wonders of the northeast - Acadia National Park! We ate at the tourist hot spot, Geddy’s, where we got the lobster roll, clam chowder and a slice of blueberry pie. The blueberry pie was so good it changed my life, so make sure you stop by and get a slice! Maine is known for their wild blueberries and high-quality lobster. So naturally, we lived off blueberry desserts and lobster roll for the entirety of our time in Maine. After rolling out of Geddy’s, we walked around the pier and called it a night.
Thursday:
I woke up early and did a solo hike of the Cadillac North Ridge Trail. It was about 4 miles long and took me around 2 hours with time spent at the top. I then went back, met up with Paul and read my book at a cute coffee shop while he worked. He took a break for lunch and we went to the Thirsty Whale for- you guessed it- more lobster rolls. They had great beer and great food. It was definitely my favorite restaurant in Bar Harbor. For dinner we went to Paddy’s Irish Pub & Restaurant and had lobster rolls, clam chowder and beer. We always considered ordering something other than lobster, but always went with the lobster anyway because when in Rome, right?
We camped at the East Acadia Campground on Thursday night, which was a small, primitive campground about a 40 minute drive from Acadia. The Acadia campsites were closed for the season due to COVID-19, but those seem like a great option.
Friday:
This was our big hiking and exploring Acadia day. We started off our say but getting breakfast early at Jordan’s Restaurant to try their wild blueberry muffins and pancakes.
Then it was off to Acadia. We parked at the Sand Beach Trailhead parking lot and did the famous Beehive Loop Trail. It is only 1.4 miles but it’s straight up and you have to hold on to metal rungs, so it’s not for everyone. This trail is extremely popular because of the amazing view, so hike it early. We made up our own little loop and did the Gotham Mountain trail as well as Ocean Path - Thunder Hole and Monument Cove and a small detour to Otter Point.
We had a late lunch at Side Street Cafe and then went back to Acadia to do the Jordan Pond loop. We then drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain to catch the sunset and surprisingly were too full to continue eating for the day so we drove back to our campground and went to bed.
Saturday:
We woke up, packed up our campsite and drove 3 ½ hours to Portland, arriving just in time for brunch. We originally wanted to go to the famous Becky’s Diner but there was a line down the street to get in and no one likes me when I’m hangry, so we opted for The Porthole Restaurant instead. It was located right on the wharf and we got to watch the fishermen come and go as we ate lobster benedict and another lobster breakfast special. After walking around downtown and stopping in all the cute stores, we drove out to Cape Elizabeth to see the Portland Head Lighthouse in Fort Williams Park. It is such a cute, classic lighthouse and we are glad we went to see it.
From here we drove to our hotel to check into the Clarion Hotel Airport. This was a great hotel for a reasonable price and is located right down the street from the outdoor beer garden at Bunker Brewing Co., which was our next stop. We then drove around to a few more breweries, had some dinner at Amigos Mexican Restaurant and Bar and called it a night.
There are so many breweries in Portland, you can make your own brewery tour! Some of the ones that I looked up that we’re well-loved were Bissell Brothers, Liquid Riot, Lone Pine, Rising Tide, and Bunker Brewing.
Here are some other lobster spots in Portland that we didn’t get to go to because you can only stuff so much down your esophagus in the matter of a day and a half:
Portland Lobster Co
The Highroller Lobster Co
Maine Lobster Shack
Sunday:
We decided to stop in Boston for lunch, walked around the piers and then drove to Newport, RI for dinner before heading back to NYC. It was a lovely week in the northeast and featured some of the most beautiful fall colors I’ve seen!