Northeast Road Trip

October 8-16, 2021

We have always wanted to go to Boston in the fall, and with international travel still a little up in the air, we decided to plan a road trip up North! This trip revolved around sightseeing and food with stops in New York, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Pennsylvania!

We started our road trip off with about a 9-hour drive to New York, stopping for brunch, at Spoons, in Baltimore. The Huevos Verdes and Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Maple Coffee Glaze were so good, making this one of our top two favorite breakfasts of the trip!

We arrived in New York around dinner time, and thankfully the traffic was not as bad as I had feared, at least in lower Manhattan. Our first meal in New York was Joe's Pizza, followed by a long-awaited stop at Levain Bakery! At Levain, we ordered one of their classic chocolate chip walnut cookies and one dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookie to share. They were warm, crispy on the outside, and gooey on the inside, just like you would want! Our first day was the perfect start to our northeast food tour!

We only had one full day in New York, so we tried to make the most of it. We ate our Leo's Bagels at the Battery so we could see the Statue of Liberty. It turns out the Statue of Liberty is quite far from the Battery. (If we had more time, we would have taken a ferry to see it up close.) Next on our itinerary was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge followed by the 9/11 Memorial. (Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the museum.) After spending some time at both reflecting pools, we headed to our second cookie stop, Dominque Ansel's, for a cookie shot. (Dominque Ansel's, we found out while waiting in line, is most well known for the cronut, which it turns out Dominque Ansel invented!) The hour-long wait was worth it! The cookie cup is lined with chocolate and filled with the most delicious Madagascan vanilla milk! Of the three cookies we tried in New York, the cookie shot offered the best overall experience, with the tastiest milk! A must-try if you visit New York!

From Dominque Ansel's, we started on our way to Times Square, making a stop at Maman's for their nutty chocolate chip cookie (one of Oprah's favorite things in 2017) and Joe's pizza, again, for a quick lunch. We walked through Times Square and part of Central Park before starting the return walk back, feeling pretty tired from the 13 or so miles we had done thus far. (We ended up logging over 18 miles walking around the city.) Chad mentioned getting another cookie shot, so that got me through the next four or so miles. We got in line at Dominque Ansel's for a second time, and luckily the wait was much shorter, and the cookie shot just as delicious as the first time! Our stop here wasn't long because we had to get back for our dinner reservations at Eataly, La Pizza & La Pasta, for some delicious pasta!

New York Cookie Ranking:

1. Dominque Ansel - The cookie shot provided the best overall experience. The Madagascan vanilla milk was amazing!

2. Levain Bakery - If you're looking for a more classic chocolate chip cookie, this is it, just a bit bigger and better! Crispy on the outside and ooey-gooey on the inside! And served warm!

3. Maman - We wouldn't turn this cookie down, but it wasn't warm or served with milk.

(Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to try Jacque Torres chocolate chip cookies to see where they ranked among the other three.)

The next day, we got on the road around 7 AM for our four-and-a-half-hour drive to Boston. Along the way, we considered (mostly me) stopping at Elm Street Diner in Connecticut for breakfast. They take breakfast and milkshakes, among other things, to a whole new level. We ended up deciding we would be far too full if we ate one of their elaborate creations and that we needed to wait so we could try some things on our list in Boston. Kane's donuts was first up when we arrived in Boston around noon, and we snagged their last honey-dipped and maple bacon donuts. And like our trip had gone the previous day, we went from eating one thing to the next. We ended up at Provisions thinking this could be a good place for Chad to try a good, fresh Lobster Roll. Unfortunately, not having researched beforehand like many of our other food stops, this was our least favorite meal of the trip. We also learned that a Maine lobster roll is served cold and not warm (Connecticut style).

After lunch, we did a self-guided Freedom Trail audio tour, making it to all but a few of the 16 sites. It was a bit of a bummer that the Old Corner Bookstore, one of the 16 sites, is now a Chipolte. But I guess it is better that a piece of history is still standing, even as a Chipotle since it was almost demolished in 1960 to put in a parking garage.

Having our fill of walking and history lessons for the day, we decided to get an early dinner in the Italian district at Carmelina's. The wait for a table was about an hour, so we got in line at Mike's Pastry's, across the street, to try some cannolis. Our eyes were a little bigger than our stomachs, especially getting these before dinner. We ended up with a chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, and Nutella cannoli. After a very filling meal at Carmelina's, I managed to eat the Nutella one, and Chad took a few bites of the others, but it turns out we aren't big cannoli fans. The rest, unfortunately, got thrown out. (And full, or not, if you know me, it is a rare occasion that I will turn down sweets or let them go to waste.)

After a short stop in Boston, we were off to New Hampshire for our first hike at Mount Major. We got lucky, and a spot opened up in the parking lot when we arrived, so we didn't have to park along the side of the road as 20 or so other people had. The Mount Major hike via Brooke and Main Trail Loop is considered a moderate 3.7-mile hike. We went up the blue path, which has the steepest rocky areas, and stopped multiple times along the way to take in the views overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee. The view at the summit was the most stunning and open, though a little crowded. We went down the yellow path, which was more gradual and a little more traveled by others, completing the hike in about an hour and a half.

Our next destination was Portland, just 2 hours away, for lunch and to see the Portland Head Light. We planned to eat at Duckfat, but at 2 PM, they had an hour and a half wait. We ended up at the Honey Paw, across the street, which only had a 15-minute wait, and surprisingly it was one of our favorite meals of the trip!

The Portland Head Light was 20 minutes in the wrong direction (south), with our final destination of the night being Acadia (north). However, the 40-minute detour (plus time for pictures) ended up being well worth it! We had about a 3-hour drive to Acadia from here, and not being very hungry, we grabbed a salad and some snacks from Walmart for dinner, along with a headlamp for a sunrise hike in the morning.

Our alarms went off at 4:30 AM our first morning in Acadia for our sunrise hike to Cadillac Mountain. Parking for this hike is extremely minimal, so if you see cars parked down the side of the road before the trailhead, it's probably best to go ahead and park, or you'll end up having to drive part of the one-way loop again like we did (which we thought was going to make us miss the sunrise). The North Ridge Trail to the Cadillac Mountain summit is 2.2 miles one way and considered moderate. We booked it without taking any breaks except to get a picture or two and made it with 10 minutes to scout out a spot, among all the other people already there. Watching the sunrise here was one of, if not our favorite part, of the whole trip.

Currently, you can purchase sunrise tickets to park at the top of Cadillac Mountain for $6 a car if you don't want to hike. According to the park service website, 30% of these tickets become available 90 days out from your desired date, and the other 70%, two days ahead at 10 AM. We missed the tickets 90 days out and attempted, for two days, to get tickets two days out, but we were unsuccessful. Daytime tickets are much easier to get. We purchased tickets around sunset for two of the days we would be in Acadia, about a month before our trip, not necessarily planning to go both evenings, but giving ourselves flexibility in case of weather.

After our sunrise hike, we got breakfast at Jordan's Restaurant so we could get blueberry pancakes. We got everything blueberry, including syrup and a muffin, since Maine is known for its blueberries! Refueled, we hiked Beehive, Bowl, and Gorham Mountain Trails, which, done all together, make a big loop. Beehive is considered hard due to the metal ladders to get up some of the steep rock walls, while the other trails are considered moderate. We would not consider Beehive difficult for the average hiker but questionable for those with fears of heights or lacking full mobility.

We ended our hike sitting on the rocks at Thunder Hole, watching the water shoot up and soaking those on the walkout. (The best time to go is 1-2 hours before high tide.) We thought we had time to run over to the Jordan Pond House for a popover before Thunder Hole would be at its peak, but it turns out the Jordan Pond House is very popular. Finding parking can be difficult, and then the wait to get in is often an hour and a half, and they don't offer to-go orders. So, unfortunately, we did not get a popover, and by the time we got back to Thunder Hole, there wasn't much to see. We decided to shower and head back to Cadillac Mountain for sunset before dinner. The sunsets on Cadillac Mountain are just as beautiful as the sunrises. (Just off the west side parking lot offers the best view for sunset, rather than going all the way to the top, where it is best to watch the sunrise.) We ate dinner at The Chart Room, where Chad had his first whole Lobster experience, and I ordered a seafood medley that included haddock, shrimp, and scallops. We split a slice of warmed blueberry pie served a la mode for dessert!

On our second and last day in Acadia, we had planned to go to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse for sunrise. However, when we looked it up the night before, it appeared the only parking lot did not open until 9 AM, so we decided to skip it and start the day at Cafe this Way. Their blueberry pancakes were the best ones yet!

After breakfast, we walked around downtown Bar Harbor before heading to the Jordan Pond House, determined to try a popover! We got there a little after they opened at 11 AM, and the parking lot and overflow lot were already full. We went to Otter Cliffs to allow time for some spots to open up, and when we returned about an hour later, we were able to get the closest parking spot! At 12:30, the wait was again an hour and a half, which we knew to expect this time.

Just past the restaurant is Jordan Pond that has a 3.1-mile trail that goes along the shore, so we spent about an hour down there. Not knowing how far our buzzer would reach, we waited near the restaurant for the remainder of the time. We were seated on the back lawn with views of the pond and mountains beyond. We, of course, ordered popovers along with a cup of lobster stew, vegetable stew, and a blueberry crisp. The popovers were good, with butter and jelly, but we wouldn't say they are THE thing to come for at the Jordan Pond House. We would say the views while you eat make the whole experience worth the wait. The blueberry crisp did not hurt either!

After the Jordan Pond House, we went to Thunder Hole again, 2 hours before high tide, but the waves were barely rolling in for the hour we were there. We left for Cadillac Mountain again since we had 4 PM reservations, and the sunset there is hard to beat. It was pretty cloudy, so we weren’t sure if we would see anything, but it ended up being a gorgeous sunset!

We had dinner at West Street Cafe, where Chad hoped to redeem the lobster roll he got in Boston. Luckily, this one was a success! I got the baked stuffed haddock with a double portion of broccoli (trying to get a few veggies in on this trip), and we again shared a slice of warmed blueberry pie a la mode!

Day 7 of our trip started early with a 4-hour drive to Dixville, Notch, to hike Table Rock, a moderate 1.5-mile hike. It was cloudy and rainy on our way there, and unfortunately remained that way when we arrived. One perk was that what could have been a somewhat crowded hike, with only a small summit area, we had all to ourselves! It was very muddy, which made some of the steep inclines a little sketchy and made us question if it would be worth it to keep going. We pushed on, and when we first got to the top, the clouds completely obstructed the view. But after 10 minutes, the quick-moving clouds started to separate a bit giving us glimpses of Lake Gloriette and the Balsams below! (Unfortunately, you can not currently stay at the Balsams, it closed in 2011, but there are plans to expand and reopen the resort to the public one day! It did reopen for weddings this summer.)

We may not have had the bright clear view we had hoped for, but the wispy clouds made it a unique experience that did not leave us disappointed. We could have stayed up there for hours waiting for the quick breaks in the cloud to take in the view below, but we had another hike planned at Mt. Pisgah, an hour away. The hike at Mt. Pisgah was a moderate 4.8-miles. On a clear day, the overlooks look out over Lake Willoughby. Unfortunately, all we saw at the top was a wall of white clouds. We considered the day a success though still excited with how our Table Rock hike turned out. We drove an hour and a half to Stowe, Vermont, and brought take-out back to our hotel, finding it more appealing than going out to eat after a long day.

We had planned to do a sunrise hike to Stowe Pinnacle, but with the weather calling for more cloud cover, we opted to nix the 3.7-mile hike and enjoy the town of Stowe. We started at Maxi’s, which was one of the best breakfasts of the trip! We are still debating if it beat Spoons, but I think it did for sure! We ordered Chloe’s Breakfast pancakes at the recommendation of a Yelp reviewer that said they were to die for! She was not wrong. These pancakes come with eggs and bacon cooked in the middle and topped with Vermont cheddar. It seemed a little odd, but it tasted amazing! Especially with real Vermont Maple syrup! We also ordered the banana bread french toast, which was just as tasty! We would go back to Vermont just for this breakfast!

Our next stop was Stowe Maple Products, where we drank freshly made hot maple syrup from a cup (it was a little cup, but still, neither of us would have ever thought we would be drinking syrup)! After trying Vermont maple syrup at breakfast and now here, we would be crazy if we did not bring some home with us! Vermont maple syrup is hands down the best syrup we have ever had! We then made a stop at Cold Hollow Cider Mill to try fresh apple cider and apple cider donuts.

We had about a 7-hour drive to our next destination, so we left Stowe a little before noon, stopping in Manchester for a quick delicious lunch break at Zoey’s Double Hex and made it to Wilkes Barre that evening for a hike in the morning.

Tank Hollow, our last hike of the trip, was an easy 3.4-mile hike that starts on a gravel road through game lands (so you are supposed to wear orange) before veering off through the woods. We decided not to do a sunrise hike here since we would be walking where people were hunting, people had reported seeing bears, and it was again calling for cloud cover. At the top, people had also warned that there could be rattlesnakes sunbathing on the rocks, but luckily it was cool enough we did not see any. We again had this hike and summit all to ourselves, which seems rare these days! The view is best if you can make it to the furthest left rock, which Chad did. The gap was a little too big for me to feel comfortable with, so I enjoyed the view from the main landing. Though the colors would have popped more had it been sunny, we agreed this was a great hike to end our trip on!

The original plan was to go to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to do a few more hikes, but we ended up deciding that morning to drive straight home after our Tank Hollow Hike. We only made two quick stops on the 8-hour drive, hoping to get a Covid test at a center near our house before they closed. The rain and traffic slowed us down so much we were not going to make it in time. Luckily, we found a location in Zebulon and were able to get tested. We had no symptoms or reason to believe we would have Covid but just wanted to feel better about joining Chad’s family in the NC Mountains the next day after having traveled the past week.

I had already done most of the laundry and repacked when we found out, a few hours after being tested, that Chad’s results came back positive, and mine was negative. We were in complete shock that his results were positive. And that our results would be different. We had been around each other and breathing the same air for the past 8 hours. We really believed his had to be a false positive. As ridiculous as it seemed because we had just spent the last week together doing all the same things and driving for hours each day, again, breathing the same air, we stayed in separate rooms until we got more test results. We kept our Walgreens appointments for the next day that we had made, in case we did not make it home in time to get tested that night. And Chad made another one at CVS. It again felt ridiculous after being in the car together the day before, but we went in separate cars to our appointments.

Our second morning home, around 5 AM, Chad received two negative results, and my test also came back negative, so we immediately gave up staying in separate rooms. And to try to be extra sure, we went and got tested one more time that morning. That evening we again got two negative results! So that was three negatives for Chad after his one positive and three negatives for me. Seven tests later, we were bummed not to get to go to the mountains, but more excited that not only did we not have Covid, but that we would not have to stay separated for two weeks! Especially on our anniversary, which we always celebrate at the Angus Barn!

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Drive to Baltimore, MD (~5 hrs) / Brunch at Spoons / Drive to New York (~4 hrs) / Joe’s Pizza / Levain Bakery

Day 2 - Leo’s Bagels / The Battery to see the Statue of Liberty / Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge / 9/11 Memorial / Dominique Ansel / Maman / Joe’s Pizza / Times Square / Central Park / Dominique Ansel / Eataly

Day 3 - Drive to Boston, MA (~4 hrs 30 min) / Kane’s Donuts / Provisions / The Freedom Trail / Mike’s Pastry / Carmelina’s

Day 4 - Drive to Mount Major via Brook and Main Trail Loop (~2 hrs) / Drive to Portland, ME (~2 hrs) / Honey Paw / Portland Head Lighthouse / Drive to Acadia National Park (~3 hrs)

Day 5 - Cadillac Mountain Sunrise Hike / Jordan’s Restaurant / Beehive, Bowl, Gorham Hike / Thunder Hole / Cadillac Mountain Sunset / The Chart Room

Day 6 - Cafe This Way / Downtown Bar Harbor Shops / Otter Cliffs / Jordan Pond House / Thunder Hole / Cadillac Mountain Sunset / West Street Cafe

Day 7 - Drive to Dixville Notch, NH (~4hrs) / Table Rock Hike / Subway / Drive to Mount Pisgah via North Trail/Lake Willoughby (~1 hr) / Drive to Stowe, VT (~1 hr 20min) / Thai Smile Restaurant

Day 8 - Maxi’s / Stowe Maple Products / Cold Hollow Cider Mill / White Stowe Church / Drive to Manchester, VT (~2 hrs) / Zoey’s Double Hex / Drive to Wilkes Barre, PA (~4 hrs 30 min)

Day 9 - Tank Hollow Hike / Drive Home (~ 8 hrs)

Food Recommendations:

Spoons (Baltimore, MD)

Joe's Pizza (NY)

Levain Bakery (NY)

Leo's Bagels (NY)

Dominique Ansel (NY) - The Cookie Shot!

Eataly (NY)

Carmelina's (Boston, MA)

The Honey Paw (Portland, ME)

The Chart Room (Bar Harbor, ME)

Cafe This Way (Bar Harbor, ME)

West Street Cafe (Bar Harbor, ME)

Maxi's (Waterbury, VT)

Zoey's Double Hex (Manchester, VT)

Accommodations:

Artezen Hotel (New York, NY)

Battery Wharf Hotel Boston Waterfront (Boston, MA)

Best Western Acadia Park Inn (Bar Harbor, ME)

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott (Waterbury, VT)

Holiday Inn East Mountain (Wilkes Barre, PA) - not our favorite

Notes:

-We highly recommend having an E-ZPass. There are lots of toll roads.

-Parking in NY cost us $50 a night.

-At Etaly you are required to show your vaccine card to dine in. We were not asked anywhere else on the trip.

-You can find audio tours online for the Freedom Trail.

-You need a park pass in Acadia. Passes can be purchased at the park or online.

-Cadillac Mountain Vehicle Reservations can only be purchased online, not at the park. Reservations are only required May 26-October 19 for 2021. Sunrise Tickets open 90 days before your desired date, and more open up two days before, at 10 AM. Sunrise tickets go fast, so you have to be ready when they become available. Daytime tickets are much easier to get.

-Cell service is spotty in Acadia. There was no service at the Jordan Pond House, so we found it helpful to download google maps of the area and screenshot our Cadillac Mountain Vehicle Reservation (they scan it to let you in).