Getting the Itch for a Summer Road Trip

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I need to be in Montana this summer for some video shoots and other job site visits. Was planning to fly the family out to Spokane and rent a car, but we're wondering if maybe we ought to seize the opportunity and drive the whole danged way.


This route would take us through Niagara Falls to Chicago where we could pick up Route 66. We could drive 'America's Main Street' to St. Louis where we'd head west to Colorado, then north to Montana.

The drive back could swing through Michigan's Upper Peninsula, through Ohio, and across Pennsylvania.

It's been about 13 years since Tinsley and I have had a 2,000+ mile road trip, and maybe time to really break in the kids (or break them down?)

What do you think?
What would YOU do?

Bridge of Flowers -- Shelburne Falls, Mass

An abandoned street trolley bridge transformed into a Footbridge for your senses.



On a trip between Brattleboro, VT and home, I had an extra hour or so to kill, so I followed the sign I've been wondering about for so long: "Bridge of Flowers Next Right." This time I bit: the light was going to be good, and I had a camera with me, so I took the exit to Shelburne Falls.

One problem, which I suppose is understandable: No Dogs. This is a sensitive topic with me because we just added a new puppy to the family roadtrippers (her name is Moxie).

It's not a long walk -- 400 feet -- so it wouldn't be that great for dogs, it's mostly a nice place to stroll with an ice cream cone after dinner. And there happens to be a nice little tavern with a porch overlooking the bridge. And I saw people walking around with ice cream, so I suspect there's an ice cream store there as well.

The Shelburne Falls Women's Club tends more than 400 species of flowers, shrubs, and vines on the bridge which blooms early spring through late fall. The trolley ran twenty years over this bridge before closing in 1928. The following year it was converted into the bridge of flowers. Don't forget to leave a donation in the can at either end of the bridge.

Dyce Head Lighthouse in Castine, Maine

Another light house in the quiver of Familyroadtrippers. Me and the kids went for a side trip along with my Dad to Dyce Head Light in Castine, Maine. Tinsley stayed back at Dad's to fix the zipper on our tent (it's what she wanted to do). The drive from Belfast to Castine is beautiful and worth a day trip.

Dyce head light house is a private residence but there's an access trail that goes along side down to a rocky cliff at the shore. This not a place where you want the little ones running around.




After the visit, head down to the Castine waterfront for hot dogs, hamburgers, lobster rolls and/or ice cream.

This Gas Staion "Doesn't Have a Bathroom"

View Gas Stations that won't let kids use the bathroom in a larger map

Gas stations that won't let little kids use the bathroom have always irritated me. Especially after I fill up the tank with $45 worth of gas. It just seems like a basic hospitality issue.

"Restrooms are for customers only" is fine. But after you fill the tank, and unstrap your three year old from the kid seat, and they walk in having to pee really bad and the man (or lady as in the most recent case) says something like "No, we don't have a bathroom." Right. Like the employees pee out back. Can't they just let one little girl pee?

That bothers me.

Doesn't it always work out that when one tank is empty, the other is full? So it seems like common decency that "service" providers recognize this and accommodate their customers with full-service. Please let us pee!

We at Familyroadtrippers.com have started a Google map of these types of gas stations. I think anyone can contribute to the map (at least I checked a box that seemed to allow it), let's, as a family of family travelers, revolt against these un-feeling hoarders of relief. It's in the name of our kids, not us; heck, we can hold it, right? At least till we get out back.


So here's the first entry on the map of shame: Mort's Grocery in Spofford, New Hampshire:


If you're unable to add to this map, add your stations of shame to the comments section, and I'll add them to the map.

A Scenic New Hampshire Drive

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Yankee Magazine featured a loop around Mount Monadnock recently.

The Many Views of Monadnock: A Driving Tour
There's a slower pace and evidence of bygone eras in southwestern New Hampshire.



We haven't road tested this route yet, but we will soon enough.
Have you road tested this route?
Download the directions here

Upper Penobscott Bay, part 2: Bucksport, Maine

Bucksport has great attractions: A haunted, spooky grave, a huge granite and grass fort, and an observatory that's 42 stories high



North of Belfast and Searsport is a little town called Bucksport on the Penobscott River which is guarded by Fort Knox. The fort was built in the middle if the 19th century to deter British invasion (the Redcoats closed off the river twice -- during the Revolution and the War of 1812).
The bridge over the Penobscott River has recently been replaced and the new one features the fastest elevator in Maine shooting up to an observatory that offers views spanning from Camden in the south to Mount Katahdin in the northwest. But there's more than a fort and a bridge to Bucksport.
There's a legend.

Begin with the curse of Johnathan Buck
The town of Bucksport is named after Col. Jonathan Buck, a Revolutionary war hero and one of the first settlers of the area in 1762. After the British seized the "plantation" to choke off the lumber communities up river (Bangor among them) from supporting the colonists in the revolt, the town lay dormant. It was resettled after we whooped the king.

But there's more to the story. A whole spooky-lot more. Look at the stocking foot on Col Buck's grave stone. Where did this come from? How could it appear even after replacing the original stone? The curse of Johnathan Buck first appeared in the Haverhill (Massachusetts, Buck's home town) Gazette on Marsh 22, 1899:

"Jonathan Buck was a Puritan to whom witchcraft was anathema. When a woman was accused of witchcraft, he sentenced her to be executed. Then according to the paper, "the hangmen was about to perform his gruesome duty when the woman turned to Col. Buck and raising one hand to heaven, as if to direct her last words on earth, pronounced this astounding prophecy: ‘Jonathan Buck, listen to these words, the last my tongue will utter. It is the spirit of the only true and living God which bids me speak them to you. You will soon die. Over your grave they will erect a stone that all may know where your bones are crumbling into dust. But listen, upon that stone the imprint of my feet will appear, and for all time, long after you and you accursed race have perished from the earth, will the people from far and wide know that you murdered a woman. Remember well, Jonathan Buck, remember well."
Many other variations of this tale are here.

Burn off some steam at America's First Fort Knox!
The other Fort Knox is near Louisville, Kentucky and is full of gold, so you can't run around and play. Fortunately, this Fort Knox is mostly empty, save for some cannons, so running through the battlements and over the grass is perfectly acceptable.

After the drive to Bucksport and viewing the spooky grave, it'll be about time for lunch, the fort is a great place for a picnic. To make it easy, pick up a couple of sandwiches, or (lobster rolls) across the river in Bucksport and bring them over to the fort. Explore for a half hour until you find a picnic spot and then let the kids loose.

If you're a photography freak, bring a tripod for interior shots (it's dark in there and flash doesn't always do justice to what you're looking at). Which reminds me, bring a flashlight. Or two or one for each of you. If the kids each have a flashlight, they'll be busy running around the dark spots and it'll be easier to scare the pants off them in the dark, dark prisoner cells...

Top off the day way up over the bay (well, river to be exact)
One of three bridge observatories in the world, the Penobscott Narrows Observatory has one of the the best views in the state (world?). The other two are in Thailand and Bankok. This 420 foot tall observation tower is part of the new bridge that runs next to the old bridge offering a structural contrast of 20th and 21st century bridge building. Open and accessible to all from May through October, you buy a ticket at Fort Knox, across the river.

Tip: Good place for Leaf-peeping!

Upper Penobscott Bay: Belfast and Bayside, Maine

Belfast and Bayside have everything except crowds.

Camden, Rockport, and Rockland area are nice, but let's face it -- they're crowded. Sometimes they're very crowded (usually). Among the best sailing, but also great places to explore, eat, shop, and drive around. There is even a lighthouse to visit.



As a kid, I spent summers in the cottage we bought from my great Aunt Alice in Northport. In a community called Temple Heights Spiritualist Camp (there are Spiritualist meetings each night during the summer). We weren't Spiritualists, and there weren't many kids in Temple Heights, just a bunch of old people going to Spiritualist meetings.

Up the dirt road three miles was a community called Bayside, which is another settlement of Victorian cottages, but with many more kids. And a playground. And we spent a lot of time there each summer. A dock with both a swimming float and a boating float, a playground, basketball court, beach, and big grassy hill provided almost more entertainment options that a bunch of kids could exhaust. Nowadays, the dirt road is asphalt and not nearly as desolate. But it's still a pretty drive (or bike ride).

Further up the road maybe 10 miles is Belfast, the city of this section of Maine Coast. Belfast has had a bit of a renaissance in the past couple of decades. But the Gothic Revival buildings downtown and Greek Revival sea captain's houses have always been classic. The working waterfront (lead photo) has a couple of tugboats, a breakwater, a long grassy park for goofing around in, and a seafood restaurant.

There are also plenty of opportunities for shopping with art galleries, gift stores, clothing and the oldest shoe store in America, Colburn's Shoe Store, where I used to buy my shoes as a kid. Come to think of it, I suppose I ought to stop in and buy a pair of Hush Puppies next time I'm in town.

Keep rambling up the road to Searsport, an old fishing town with some of the most beautiful houses you'll see along the Maine coast. Before you make it to Searsport though, stop in to Perry's Nut House across the river in Belfast. The kids will love it. If you like looking at architecture, spend a little time tooling around Searsport. You can also stop in to Treasures and Trash, an antique/junk store in a big red barn.

More Leaf-Peeper Drives in New England

New England's fall foliage is the best in the country. And it's just starting to pop. Usually the peak is around early to mid October, but if you miss it in one area, just drive a bit south and look there.

Try this 85 mile loop beginning in Torrington, CT:
Don't miss the covered bridge in Cornwall.


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And a 185 mile loop in northern Maine, beginning and ending in Skowhegan (You'll probably want to stop over at Moosehead lake for a night or two):


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There are many web sites for tracking the progress, here are a few of them:
www.yankeefoliage.com
www.maine.gov/doc/foliage
www.foliagenetwork.com

Fall Foliage Drives in Vermont

From Yankee Magazine. here are a couple of American Backroads that offer nice foliage. Both up in the north west corner.
a southern loop, about 42 miles, which takes you through Smuggler's Notch:


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and a connected northern loop, about 46 miles:


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Yankee Magazines suggests these places to stay:
Edson Hill Manor, Stowe, VT
From $199 including breakfast

The Governor's House, Hyde Park, VT
From $95 including breakfast

The Green Mountain Inn, Stowe, VT
From $169
800- 253-7302

The Smuggler's Notch Inn & Village Tavern, Jeffersonville, VT
From $89
802-644-6607

Smuggler's Notch Resort, Jeffersonville, VT
From $154
800-451-8752


Sterling Ridge Log Cabin Resort, Jeffersonville, VT
Lodge from $180, cabins from $99
800-347-8266

Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, VT
From $105
800-826-7000

American Backroads: Bridgeport, CT to Camden ME

Back roads through Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. During the summer, it's almost always wise to avoid Interstate 95 in New England. The Maine Turnpike, the Mass Pike are two more to skip. These back roads may take longer if there's no traffic on the interstates, but they'll be quicker on the week ends during summer. And there are more hometown places to stop for a bite to eat and sights to see.


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Weekend Philly Trip

Philly is a very walkable city with great architecture, food, and nice folks. In short, Philly is Phantastic!
(sorry, I couldn't resist)



I wanted to drop in on the Congress for New Urbanism conference in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to meet some of people who were speaking there, so I really only needed to take a couple of hours on Saturday and again on Sunday to listen to their presentation and then schmooze afterward. As a roadtrip-addicted family, we used the opportunity to have another FamilyRoadtripper weekend adventure.

We had never really been to Philly before and we were happily surprised at how cool it is. We'll be back, early and often!

As usual, we took back roads
We try to avoid interstates unless we're truly in a hurry, or if it's night time and there is nothing but dark to see out the windows. We took 84 west to Port Jervis, and then hopped onto the back roads whittling our way to Route 611 along the Delaware River (a great American back road) and right into the heart of Philly (see the map below). The road ended three blocks from our hotel, so in addition to being a scenic route, it was a direct route too.

Before going, I went to Fodor's forum to ask advice about kid-friendly places and activities. As usual, the Fodorites had a handful of tips and tactical advice.

At the top of the list was the Reading Terminal Market
What a great place. Almost everything you need under one roof. I say almost because we didn't actually explore the whole place enough to be sure that something was missing, but just about everything I need was there: Mexican food, sushi, Greek food, Philly Cheese Steaks, jalepeno hummus (!), beer garden, wine store, bakery, ice cream restaurant, bee store (bees wax, honey, etc), toys, post cards, beer garden, fresh fruit, vegetables, seafood, meats, flowers, coffee, did I say beer garden?

Needless to say, we started the days at the public market, and ended them there as well. We went to the Liberty Bell and the Independence Mall, taking the advice of PaulRabe not to stand in line to see the Liberty Bell because you can see it through the window, and the kids can play on the mall.

China town was right there by our hotel, and Tinsley found herself in seventh heaven when she noticed a Chinese dollar store. All of the kitchy little Chinese lanterns and budahs and dragons that you see in Chinese restaraunts for a buck. It so happened that this weekend was Lilly's second birthday, so Tinsley bought a bunch of party supplies (noisemakers, silly hats, a mask for lilly...) and we had a birthday party up in the hotel room, then Lilly got a birthday bath and went to bed!

Below is a little map with our stops: