New England Part 2

So continuing where I left off.   We stayed in the town of Rockport, MA and it was the cutest little town!!!  We walked around that night trying to find a place to get ice cream (a daily craving) but by 8:00pm the whole town was closed down.  The B&B we stayed at was owned by two very hospitable people.  The wife was a Mac user and Jason just happened to be wearing an Apple shirt, so she talked Jason's ear off about how superior they are and how she is trying to convince her husband that they need one.  If you ever happen to be in Rockport check out the Linden Tree Inn, we had a great experience there! The next morning we got up, had a delicious breakfast, then walked along the downtown area again. It was a little more lively this time. There were tons of cute little shops and restaurants. That afternoon we headed up to Portland, Maine. We got a hotel for two nights in South Portland. That evening we walked around Portland and ate at Gilberts Chowder House.

On Monday we visited Cape Elizabeth where the "most photographed lighthouse" is.  The lighthouse or the Portland headlamp, was so beautiful (see pictures below).  After that we headed up to Freeport, Maine. This is where the headquarters of L.L. Bean is, as well as lots of fun outlets. We got some really cute stuff for our little guy. We ate at a delicious Mediterranean grill, the owners are Turkish, so we tried some Turkish dishes and now we may just have to visit Turkey someday, they were so good. That evening we just got ice cream and hung out at our hotel. Since we had seen so many of the historical sites, and since we were driving so much, we bought the book 1776 by David McCullough. We have been reading it together (mostly I would read to Jason while he drove us around) and it is excellent. We are both learning so much, I feel like a bad American for how little I knew!

Tuesday we spent a good portion of our day driving from Maine to Vermont. We took a scenic route which was so beautiful. It took us through New Hampshire, and it was gorgeous, although the weather could have been better, it rained the entire 5 hour drive. We finally made it to Waterbury Vermont, headquarters of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. We just happened to be there on free cone day, so we had unlimited ice cream (which sounds way better than it actually is, I was sick after 1 1/2 cones). We also got to take a tour of the factory. It was such a fun place! That night we headed into Montpleier, where we found a B&B and a yummy Italian restaurant for dinner.

Wednesday, on our way out of Vermont, we stopped at the Bragg Farm Sugarhouse, where since it is no longer "sugering" season, we watched a video of how maple syrup is made and sampled lots of syrup. Real maple syrup is so delicious and worth the extra money it costs. The process is also very fascinating, we really enjoyed ourselves. From there we visited the Cabot Cheese Factory where we got to watch truckloads of cheese being made. This was also VERY cool, and we sampled LOTS of cheese...yum.  After that we visited Joseph Smith's Birthplace in Sharon, VT.  We were the only visitors so we got a private tour.  It is a very special place and really beautiful countryside.  From there we headed through New Hampshire stopping in Hanover to see Dartmouth College and eat yummy Thai food. We spent Wednesday night in Manchester, NH.

On Thursday we needed to head back towards Boston so we could make our 6am flight on Friday morning. We didn't want to stay right in the city so we chose another small town to check out. We went through Salem, MA which probably sounds familiar because this is where the Salem Witch Trials were. We then spent some time in Marblehead, MA, another darling little town (seriously the Northeast is full of great little towns, we loved exploring them). But there is only so much to see in these towns so we ended up going to a movie that afternoon. Then we watched the Office and hit the hay...we had to get up at 4am Friday to catch our 6am flight, it was killer. After some slight weather problems in Chicago, we finally made it back. We had an unforgettable trip, but it is always nice to come home. If you ever get a chance to visit the Northeast...DO IT!! Jason and I were thinking about some of the travel tricks we have learned that allow us to be able to travel on a budget, maybe in a few days I will post some of our ideas for traveling on a budget.

***If you want to see ALL the pictures from our trip, check out our website, and click on pictures.

All the towns have signs like this welcoming you
Jason and I in Rockport
I know this one is pretty much the same as the one above it but I liked them both
Drinking hot chocolate at a bakery in Rockport
This was a fun little shack that sold fresh seafood
The Linden Tree Inn, where we stayed
Jason enjoying his mussels in Portland
Banana split in bed, nothing better!
Us with the Portland headlamp
Seriously how gorgeous is that!
Us with the Ben and Jerry mobile
Peace, Love, Ice Cream...sounds good to me
Introducing Ben and Jerry
At the Bragg Sugarhouse, look at all that syrup behind us
Jason with his own syrup to take home
I love cheese
Us with the monument at Joseph Smiths birthplace