This blog entry is being written months after our Fall 2020 New England Trip. It was our first vacation amid Covid and quite the experience, some good some bad. I was also in recovery from retina detachment surgery so was pretty most of the trip.
Of course, it is not the vacation we had planned. We had previously rescheduled our Ireland/Scotland Trip to be taken at this time. However, Covid was still in full swing and travel restrictions fully in place. We rescheduled again for May 2021 (needless to say that isnt happening either and it is now scheduled for May 2022)
In this blog I will just be going over some of the highlights. It will mostly be a pictorial blog. Let me start with the good, the bad, and the ugly. The ugly, southern New Hampshire, no need to go there. Manchester and Concord are very, shall we say, not overly progressive. We were actually yelled at by some local yocals for wearing a mask. The Bad, end of season travel in Bar Harbor. The town itself is great, but our mistake to be there the last weekend of the season when
several good restaurants are closed for the season. The good, Adair Country Inn in the White Mountains, Portland, Maine and Boston (except one exceptionally bad seafood dinner).
The original plan was to spend 4 nights in Burlington VT, then a night in New Hampshire, 3 night in Bar Harbor, then Portland, Boston, finishing in Litchfield CT (this can also go on the bad list). Vermont was not possible because they had a quarantine in place unless you cold prove a negative covid test within 3 days of entry and you drove straight to Vermont with out getting out of your car. That wasnt happening. Instead, we swamped Manchester for Burlington.
The highlight of Manchester was a table made Caesar Salad at Piccola Italia in Manchester. Definitely in the top 5 of all Caesar salad we have had (Jerrys excluded).
Highlight number 2, the Adair Country Inn. A very quaint bed and breakfast in the White Mountains. Staff was very friendly, room was huge (breakfast a bit lacking) but Tarragon loved the fresh mountain fall air and all the windows in the room.
drive on a crisp fall day was spectacular. Dinner at Gaylns in downtown Bar Harbor was also exceptional.
Portland Maine is always a good time and great food. Fore Street was the standout dinner here. The room at the Hyatt was also worth noting. A private balcony overlooking Casco Bay.
Boston, well Boston is Boston. We have pretty much done all of the historic sites in previous trips, so we hit a museum, Julia Childs house in Cambridge and Harvard Yard. The highlight here was brunch at Alden & Harlow in Cambridge and the turkeys walking the street.
The last night, which can be added to the between ugly and bad category was Litchfield CT. A quaint small town, but bad food and a room that smelled of mold and moth balls, it made us all sick, especially poor Tarragon. Took him several weeks to get back to normal.
That is the trip in a nutshell. I spent a great deal of time in the room (especially Portland) just not using my eyes.
