My mother and I often roadtrip around the US. It’s our thing. And since I was a teenager, we’d promised to go on a Fall Foliage trip around New England, and stay in a B&B – just like that episode of Gilmore Girls.
So over a decade later – I flew from London, mum from Arizona. We landed in Boston, drove up to Salem, and found ourselves in our first typical, floral, New England bed and breakfast.
The next day we wandered the town and harbour – America’s oldest candy store, the graveyard –
We drove up the coast of Massachusetts a little further. We stopped at Rockport by the seaside, and had lobster on Bearskin Neck.
Next day, we drove up towards Maine, stopping at the famous Ipswich Clam Shack for fried clams.
We dropped into Appleton Farm, the country’s oldest continually operating farm, to say hey to the dairy cows.
Onwards to Newburyport, where we stopped for pumpkin vanilla lattes, walks along the waterfront and vintage shopping in barns.
Next up, Portland, Maine. A strong contender for best foodie stop of the trip – we had copious seafood, oysters and lobster at the hit-restaurant Eventide:
Cocktails and duck-fat fried poutine and lobster rolls and the best donuts I’ve ever had at The Holy Donut.
Onwards to the White Mountains, we hunted down the most beautiful fall colours we could find. Staying overnight at one of America’s historic hotels, we spent the evening on the porch watching the sunset while drinking maple martinis.
On to Vermont, where we visited maple houses for maple ice cream, dairies, farms and cheesemakers. We stayed deep in the woods with a lovely host, in an Adirondack lodge.
We went up to visit the Von Trapp Family lodge, and Maria Von Trapp’s grave.
Driving down through Vermont to Connecticut, we stopped in at North Adams and New Milford and all of the little towns that inspired Gilmore Girls.
We stopped at markets for pumpkins, got lost in corn mazes, and head back down to the waterfront. Along to Rhode Island, and then out to the very tip of Cape Cod. We stayed in Provincetown, the LGBT capital of the US, and had the most buttery lobster rolls of our life by the seaside.
Back to Boston for a few more days of eating and wandering. We visited the Taza Chocolate Factory, and tried the original Boston Cream Pie from Parker House. We wandered all around Harvard University.
Then, home.