lobstah rolls and light houses

Jesse and I flew to Boston in October of 2017. There were SO many places in the New England area that we wanted to see, that we decided to rent a car and see as much of that area as we could. We started our trip in Boston, drove to Salem, Massachusetts and then to Portland, Maine. After that, we headed to Vermont and drove to several different towns there. After Vermont, we headed to Connecticut. We basically did the grand Gilmore Girls tour. Sigh. Tears. Still not over it. After Connecticut, we drove to Rhode Island and then back to Boston. We covered a lot of ground, but tried to make it as relaxing and fun as we could so that it didn't feel like work, ya know? One thing that made that easier is the fact that the Northeast is a pretty small part of the country, so everything is pretty close together.

First stop..Bahston. What a fun city.

Our Airbnb, super nice and looked out at Boston Harbor. 

As soon as we got settled into our Airbnb, we took the train to downtown Boston. 

Our first stop: Lobster!

We spent the afternoon walking around and taking in the city. This is the Old State House. 

Fried clams😋

Paul Revere's house

Donuts from Boston Public Market. My favorite was the donut on the left-- 

a vietnamese coffee donut.

The Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant in

 continuous service in the U.S.

Quincy Market

Faneuil Hall

Acorn Street

U. S. S. Constitution 

Boston Public Library

We tried cannoli for the first time at Mike's Pastry

CANNOLI!!

Ernesto's Pizza..SO GOOD

So we spent the afternoon we flew to Boston sight-seeing, then the next day we did the same. 

The next morning, we walked to the train and headed to pick up our rental car. 

My husband. What a cutie! 💖

We reserved the least expensive car we could find, but they were all out of those when we 

arrived, so they upgraded us for free! 

From Boston, we headed north to Salem, Massachusetts. 

This might have been my favorite meal of the trip. A simple lobster roll and fries. We ate outside and had a great view town hall in Salem. (Anyone remember this from Hocus Pocus?!)

Spoooooky

After walking around Salem, we drove to Portland, Maine. Driving from one state to another is usually pretty time-consuming, but the drive from Salem to Portland only took about an hour and a half.

Our cute Airbnb in Portland, Maine. We were only there one night, but we really 

enjoyed our stay there.

RAMEN 😍

Noticing a theme here? Finding fancy, delicious donuts when we travel is kind of our thing. These were from Holy Donuts and they are potato donuts and OMG they were amazing. Jesse has talked about these about one hundred times since we've been home (which has been almost a year.)

We headed to Cape Elizabeth to see the Portland Head Lighthouse. So dreamy!

I feel like I did not adequately capture how incredible this sight was. But it was pretty special. 

On our way back into Portland, we saw this AMAZING yard. Goals. 

When we are exploring a new city and trying to decide on what restaurant to choose, sometimes we look up restaurants that Anthony Bourdain visited and recommended (RIP 😔). We saw that he'd visited J's Oyster in Portland and that settled it for us. It did not disappoint. 

Lobster and clam chowder..again and again and again. 

The next morning, we left Maine and headed to Vermont. That was around a 4 hour drive, but we stopped a lot along the way and took our time to see what we could see. 

Our Airbnb in Montpelier, Vermont

The next day we headed to Stowe, Vermont. 

This covered bridge is called Emily's Bridge

We found a fun place to hike. I don't remember the name of the trail, but we got to see a pretty waterfall along the way. 

Grilled cheese sandwich with green apple slices and bacon. SOGOOD.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill. So much fun! We got to see how they make cider. And we got more donuts..

APPLE CIDER DONUTS

We also went to the Ben and Jerry's Factory in Waterbury. Did not regret. 

I've never met a farmer's market I didn't like. 

Ugh. Typical Vermont. 

We spent several nights in Vermont, then headed to Connecticut. Our first night in Connecticut, we stayed on a GOAT FARM. Sorry, I'm fine.  

Our Airbnb

So the place we stayed is called Beltane Farm. The nicest couple runs this farm and they sell goat's milk, yogurt, cheese and soap at all of the local farmer's markets. They have a sweet pupper named Fergus. The evening we arrived, they gave us a tour of the farm. I even got to milk a goat! They showed us where they make and store the cheese and yogurt. 

Me. Living my best life. 

The next day we headed to Washington, Connecticut. Washington is the town that was 

the inspiration for Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. 

We stopped in Hartford to get lunch and possibly see Emily Gilmore. JK. We all know 

Emily is living in Nantucket now. 

After Hartford, we headed to Washington, Connecticut. It was so perfectly Stars Hollow. 

😍😍😍

The Mayflower Grace Inn. This is where Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator of Gilmore Girls) stayed and was inspired to create Stars Hollow. 

coffee and cake at the local "Luke's"

their "Doose's Market"

Seeing Washington (AKA Stars Hollow) was magic. It was so fun to see the town that inspired my favorite show. After Washington, we headed south to New Haven, Connecticut.

pho, always 

and more donuts..

The next day, I channeled my inner Rory Gilmore, and we headed to Yale University. 

After we toured the campus, we headed to Mamoun's Falafel in New Haven. So yummy! After New Haven, we headed to the coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut. 

Mystic Pizza!

more lobster roll

After Connecticut, we headed to Rhode Island. 

Knead--fancy donuts in Providence, Rhode Island 

the FIRST First Baptist Church

It was really cool to drive through Rhode Island and see some of the history there, but we didn't stay long. After Providence, we headed to Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Our Airbnb in Plymouth. This is one of my favorite places we stayed. The owner of the house 

was so nice. She has two labs (we may or may not have chosen this place based on the fact that 

she had dogs 😋) and she was a teacher for special needs children. I loved getting to talk with her and hear about life in Massachusetts. 

Plymouth Rock!

Plymouth Plantation was a really fun, interactive museum to show how life was in the Colonial English community in the 1600s. We really enjoyed seeing this. 

The next morning we drive back into Boston. We did a little more walking around and sight seeing before returning our rental car and heading to the airport. 

We enjoyed seeing the northeast so much. If we didn't have so many other places we wanted to see, I think we would visit that area pretty often. Let me know if you have questions about the places we stayed and saw. Thanks for reading!