New England Information?

[SCBillandJane]

We hope to tour New England in Sept./Oct. We want to go to the western side of the states to Maine and return by the eastern sides. We want to see the fall colors as well as scenic and historic places. Here are my questions.
1 Do campgrounds stay open through the end of Oct?
2 Are reservations necessary?
3 Any advice on timing where I should be to see the colors?
4 Any suggestions on a campground near Boston and public transportation to get to historic sites?
5 Any "you shouldn't miss places".
6 We have been to as far NW and SE as you could go by continuous paved road in the United States. I thought it would be fun to try to do the same in Maine for NE. Does anyone know where that would be in Maine, or how I would find out?

[Bill]

1. Yes, but check with the specific one you have in mind to confirm. Some will close early, before foliage season. Some will close as soon as foliage season is over and traffic starts to dry up. Some will undoubtedly close because of the general state of the economy.

2. Leaf-peeper season is very busy in Maine. I would strongly suggest reservations, especially if you plan to be here on a weekend.

3. The onset of color moves from north to south over the course of a couple weeks. The timing is different each year, and there are a number of web sites that make and update predictions. As the time gets closer, you might check the web site of the Maine Office of Tourism (www.visitmaine.com), for example, for this year's projection. In fact, go to this web site right now, since they have a lot of good planning info.

4. Getting into Boston is not bad, as long as you don't plan to tow your TM into the city. Dick (Commodor47) can probably suggest some good campgrounds just west of the city. There are campgrounds in southern Maine or NH along the coast that will be open. If your schedule suggests that you want to be further south at that time, then there will certainly be campgrounds down toward Cape Cod. AMTRAK runs from Portland, Maine to downtown Boston, with stops in southern Maine and NH. There are commuter trains going in from the west, and undoubtedly from the south as well. Once you are in Boston, local transportation via the subway will take you about anywhere. Boston is a good walking city - the Freedom Trail is fun - but there are also bus tours. I don't know if the Duck Tours around the harbor will still be running. About a year ago, I think, there was a thread about getting into and out of Boston that had a lot of good info.

5. At foliage time, Moosehead Lake is spectacular, though a bit remote. A little later on, the colors in the midcoast (Bar Harbor area) are not to be missed - and you can eat lobster as you look at them! I think the whole city of Portland is a "don't miss", especially along the waterfront (Commercial Street, Fore St, etc). Try a mailboat cruise among the islands in the harbor - www.cascobaylines.com. You can just cruise, staying on the boat, or you can get off on any of the islands, and catch a later boat to get back. Or stay overnight - there are hotels on a couple of the islands - and walk or bike around the island. Bring jackets, though. Foliage season can be cold.

6. Defining the "most northeast point" may be an intersting proposition, since Maine has a chunk of border that runs NW-to-SE. Anywhere along this border will be very northeast, but finding the "most northeast" will depend on whether you are using true north or magnetic north as your reference (declination is about 19 degrees in that area). A quick check suggests that the most NE location may be just off US Rte 1, somewhere between Van Buren and Limestone. Probably you'll find it on Rte 218 just outside the small town of Hamlin. Sounds like fun, but Maine is a bigger state than most people think - be sure you understand just how far away this place is from "anywhere". I-95 ends 100 miles south of this point, so it can be a long slog up Rte 1.

Bill

[commodor47]

Bill and Jane,

Bill has answered most of your questions. A few years back I listed several campgrounds in our area and provided a link to each, along with a brief description of the facility. I just checked each link to make sure they are still valid. I have not visited most of them for several years and assume not much has changed.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=4542

If you do plan to be in our area don't hesitate to look us up - we'd love to meet fellow TrailManor travelers.

Dick

Hi Bill and Jane,

We travel in these areas quite a bit and live on Cape Cod so I'll try to give you a few things to consider.

First, the furthest NE point in the US is Eastport Me. There's a great campground owned by a guy named Basil Pottle called the Sea View that's close (it might be in Lubec or something- it's been a while). It's a slog up there because there are no interstates- just Route 1, which you might guess snakes around all over the place.

Someone mentioned Bar Harbor but the real attraction is Acadia National Park. It's a wonderful park and the only national park of any size in the NE. As you travel south, there are plenty of scenic places- you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a scenic town along Route 1. If you like shopping, stop in Freeport at the LL Bean outlet. They have free concerts...I think on Friday's...but don't hold me to it. South of there is the Kittery Trading Post which I actually like better, although I'm not sure why.

Portland, as Bill mentioned, is a must see. Hit the art museum. It's small but world class in my opinion. We are planning a trip there in June when we send one of the grandkids to violin camp.

As you head south toward Boston, it becomes more difficult to justify yanking the TM around on all the pitifully maintained roads. You'll have to research where to stay to get into town quickly. There are places you can stay (even here on the cape) that will get you close enough to the bus to get you into town but it won't be quick.I'd be curious myself to know if there's anything close that offers some way into town. The Boston T (subway) is pretty good so if you can get close to a T-stop, you have pretty much solved your in town transportation problem. When in town, you should eat your way through Fanieul Hall, have a bloody mary and some peel and eat shrimp at the Salty Dog and again hit the Art and Natural History Museums. Walk past the old church and take a stroll in Back Bay on Newbury street. Bring your walking shoes.

Heading South again, I think one of the coolest places (albeit a bit expensive to get in) is Plimoth Plantation. It's a re-creation of an original Pilgrim Village replete with it's own Indian Village. It'll probably be in full swing in October. You may as well go see Plymouth rock to get your ticket punched. If you don't care, skip it.

A place to consider staying is at Scusset Beach. It's a state run park right on the Cape cod canal. If you like fishing, I hear the striper fishing from shore is some of the best- especially as the tide is coming in. The park has electricity and water but no sewer. They've seen TMs before too (ours).

Traveling onto the Cape keep in mind that it's about 80 miles from the canal to Provincetown. There are many pretty places here but you have to imagine it's a pretty beachy place. I'll try to suggest a few things to do. I'll cover shopping first. Most people think the Christmas Tree Stores are a don't miss. If you come across the Sagamore bridge (one of two that connects us to the mainland), there's a big one with a thatched roof right on the other side. Getting to it can be tricky so I'd go there in just the TV if you can. That's it for shopping and, yes, we do have a small Home Depot in Hyannis so we're not totally backward.

One of the first towns you get to is Sandwich. There's a place called the Heritage Plantation that is nice. They have an antique car museum and carosel. They frequently have special exhibits- some better than others. In Sandwich proper there's an English style tea room that's very nice if you like high tea (or low tea in my case). It's right across the pond in town. There are three roads that go up the cape: Rt 6 (highway-very speedy), Rt 6A- the scenic route and rt 28. If you're towing, stick to Rt 6 to get to camp. Once you unhook, do drive 6A especially between Sandwich and Orleans. In Dennis, stop in at the Scargo Cafe and order the fish and chips. I think they're the best I've ever had anywhere. There's also a nature center and a world class playhouse in Dennis. The nature center itself is mainly for kids (probably why I like it) but there's a great walk out to the beach behind the place. Oops, I forgot to tell you to stop into the Cape Cod Art Association in West Barnstable. It's on 6A and they feature many local artists- you never know you might be able to pick up a masterpiece from a budding master.

In the elbow part of the cape you have the own of Chatham (cute village) and Chatham light (next to the Coast Guard Station). BTW- there are tons of lights on the Cape. The next one up the way I think is in Eastham. There's a national seashore visitors center in Eastham that you should stop at. Head toward Provincetown from there. You can stop in at Wellfleet and eat oysters. The cheap tee shirt place is just before Truro (might stil be in Orleans). Stop in there to get some Tees with cape logos on them. They're like $5 and beat paying $25 for one in Provincetown. When you get tired of them you can paint in them.

Final stop on the Cape is Provincetown. It's an artisan community with a fairly gay population. There are at least two decent campgrounds up there- one within walking distance to the town. There are plenty of really good restaurants in town including my lunch favorite, the Lobster Pot. Try the Portuguese Kale soup. Commercial street is the main drag and don't even think about pulling the TM down it. Maybe you can still catch a whale watch- although if they're smart, they would have headed south by then. One of the best whale watches I've ever been on was out of P-town. Some of the finest artists in the US are on display in this town so take your time. Sorry, I like art as you might have gleaned from all of my "art museum" stops.

Anyway, hope you enjoy New England. There are many other places in-land in Vermont and NH that I haven't really said anything about since you sounded like you were mainly interested in the coastal areas.

The time of year you're planning on coming can be hot or chilly. My advice is to dress in layers and always have a good shell or windbreaker in your arsenal.

Have fun.

Phil

[Bill]

Originally Posted by P and B

Hi Bill and Jane,

First, the furthest NE point in the US is Eastport Me.

{Chuckle} I told you that finding the "most northeast" point would be tricky. Eastport is the easternmost point - well, no, Lubec is actually a bit farther east - but "easternmost" is not what you asked about.

Take a look at the attached picture. I pulled up a Google map of Maine, and drew the red northwest-to-southeast dashed line on it. Northeast is the direction that is perpendicular to this line. In other words, as the arrow shows, northeast is toward the upper right corner of the picture. And the "most northeast" point is the last place that the dashed line touches as it moves out of the state of Maine in the direction of the arrow. And that is pretty close to Van Buren. Eastport isn't even close.

Now the interesting thing is that Google maps are oriented with true north at the top, and that is what is on my sketch. But if you use magnetic (compass) north as your reference, then you have to rotate the dashed line and the arrow counter-clockwise by 19 degrees. And when you do so, the "most northeast" point is even farther north, somewhere near Madawaska, Maine, just across the river from Edmunston NB.

So I'll stick by my original answer.

Bill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme..._United_States

Pretty good summary of all extremes.

[SCBillandJane]

Bill, you must be an engineer. What a definitive answer! I have printed your map, and it goes with us. Last summer while in Alaska we saw a sign that the town of Anchor Point said it was the most NW town in the United States that could be reached by continuous road. On another trip we went to Key West, Florida, and when we saw signs there, we connected the dots figured out where we had unintentionally traveled. As our plans for New England began thoughts of finding the most NE point started. Now thanks to you we have an expert answer.
Bill, you have mentioned how big Maine is. Phil, you have mentioned slow roads and roads that we shouldn't take pulling the Trailmanor. Thanks Phil for the information and your favorite places. It too will make the trip with us. We are retired and can start the trip whenever, but we have a budget of time and money like most everyone else. I say this before I ask a difficult question. We have only traveled in "big" states where many times it didn't make sense to have a base camp and tour the sights because of the distances involved. Can you give us some idea if base camps in different parts of the New England states would be a good plan? (Also, we do plan to include Vermont and Hew Hampshire.) I am trying to get a handle on distances, time of year, and how much time to spend in each state, but I am having trouble figuring out these things. Any advice would be appreciated and thanks for the information you have already given us.

[Bill]

Well, start with this. New England as a whole is more than twice as big as South Carolina. And Maine makes up more than half of it, which means that Maine is bigger than SC. None of this rivals the big western states, of course, but perhaps it gives you some perspective into the distances involved.

To me, a base camp makes sense if you will visit sites (and sights) that are less than, say, 50 miles from the camp. If the spots to visit are, say, 100 miles away, you'll spend a lot of time just driving to them. In much of Maine, the sights are, indeed, more than 50 to 100 miles apart, depending on what you decide to see. On the other hand, when you get down to the midcoast (Acadia, as Phil points out, or Camden or Boothbay Harbor - all beautiful ocean locations) you can easily put a base camp in the middle, or at the southern end of an area, and drive from there. This is even more true as you get to Boston, which is really quite compact. A base camp south of the city would give you access to Boston, and also to Cape Cod, which is another beautiful place as Phil noted. I'm not as familiar with the south shore as I would like to be, so I'll defer to Phil on anything having to do with this area.

The bad roads that Phil mentions (and they can be quite bad) are mostly inside Rte 128, aka I-95, the inner loop road around Boston. Once outside the loop, the roads are all pretty good, and the outer loop, I-495, is great. And US Rte 1 in Maine is painful only because it is old, curvy-windy, mostly two lanes, and goes through the middle of every town that has a stoplight. Often quite scenic, though.

At risk of being branded a heretic, let me make two other observations. First, if you are also going to Vermont, some of my answers might be different. During the summer and fall, one of the most scenic roads in New England is I-89 across the Green Mountains in the middle of Vermont, from Burlington down to Lebanon, NH. I-89 is a relatively new road, and was built to accentuate the incredible countryside in Vermont. Rolling green hills, tall mountains, blue rivers down deep in the gorges, white birches, incredible fall color - it is beautiful everywhere. Whenever you see a picture of "Fall Color in New England", it was probably taken in Vermont. By the way, there is a car ferry that crosses Lake Champlain from the Adirondacks of New York to Burlington, if that has any effect on your plans.

Second, the only reason to go to Van Buren or Limestone or Madawaska is to say that you've been there, to the most northeast place in the country. There is basically nothing to see. And they are a long way from anywhere (GoogleMaps says 4 1/2 hours from Bar Harbor to Van Buren), so you'll need to balance the two considerations.

'Nuff

Bill

I think someone on the forum (or maybe it was another RV site) said the had a rule about stopping. It went something to the effect that they liked to stay some place for at least three days if possible to make all the setting up and tearing down worth it.

We've owned a Class C and now the TM. The TM kind of forces me into the three day rule and, truthfully, I like the model where you sit the thing down, unhook and then go off on daily jaunts, coming back to a nice hot shower and all of your toys. So, I think it's totally worth doing a base camp kind of arrangement.

A lot of where you decide to "hang" will depend on what you like to do. If you like hiking and just seeing nature, I spend three days around Bar Harbor ME. You can drive up to Lubec etc. but there's not much to do up there unless you're a fisherperson (it is a pretty place though). I rarely go past Bar Harbor (used to own property in Eastport so I'm a little burned out on the place).

After Bar Harbor, I'd consider staying in Bath Me or there abouts. You'd have good access to Free Port and can hit the freeway to get into Portland. You can go north to Camden as well. I looked on the web and from there if you go 495, there's a place called the Minuteman Campground just West of Boston. That just might work to get into town. There might be others but I thought I saw that they had some kind of shuttle service.

After I was burned out on Boston, I'd go to the upper cape and stay around the canal area. From here you can hit Plimoth and Sandwich. You can also go over to Woods Hole (home of the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic institute) and take a ferry over to Martha's Vineyard. Its a nice ride and only about 40 minutes to Vinyard Haven. Head over to Oak Bluffs via one of the Island site seeing buses and then on to Edgartown. Nantucket is nice to. It's more quaint than the Vineyard so, if you can only go to one, I'd pick the Vineyard. If you can do both, the ferry to Nantucket leaves from Hyannis. If you stay in the canal area, getting to either Falmouth or Hyannis always seems to be about the same amount of time (30 minutes or so).

At long last, I'd probably stay up in P-town and enjoy the sights and sounds.

This would be what I would do but obviously half the fun of a trip like this is planning it all out. Hope we didn't spoil it for you.

Phil

For our two cents Arcadia N.P. is must stop and base camp for Bar Harbor. Do the whale tours if they (the Whales) are still around, also in Gloucester. We went north through Michigan, Ontario, Quebec and down through Vermont and New Hampshire then into Maine. On the way down to Mass. we stayed at a place in West Gloucester, Cape Ann Camp site, it wasn't fancy but the folks were nice. 200 spaces close together, but works for base camp for Gloucester and Salem, even Boston if you want to drive, there is a great beach near by (about 1/2 mile). We took the advice of couple from Rhode Island and stayed off of Cape Cod especially towing. We headed back through Lexington and Concord; again worth the stops. Continued through New York and lower Ontario to Southern Michigan. Picked up the ferry in Muskegon, Mich. to Milwaukee. $450 to by pass Chicago and 5 hours of driving, IMHO well worth it, even if a little spendy (if you do it, make a reservation, makes life much easier). Anyway hope this helps.