A road trip of a life-time.

That’s how I would sum up this amazing 10-day adventure for our 12 year anniversary! For all who know me, know that I love me a far off tropical island beach vacation, white sand, crystal clear turquoise waters, with book in hand and sunblock on. So, when Isaac suggested we keep it in the U.S. this year, I wasn’t super excited about it. Truth is, there’s so much our country has to offer that we hadn’t seen yet, so we embarked on a journey across the east coast, starting in Boston, Massachusetts and literally ate our way through six different states! We drove over 1,500 miles: Portland, Maine; Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; Burlington, Vermont; New Haven, Connecticut; Newport, Rhode Island; Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and back to Boston. Below are some highlights of the trip, including where we stayed and other travel details in case you are looking to book your next East Coast adventure J

Boston Round 1

When we learned we’d be in town for game one of the Eastern NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers we HAD to buy tickets! Even though we are not huge basketball fans, it was nice to see a game live, and see LeBron James (in all his glory, lol) – even though his team got slaughtered by the Celtics. It really set the tone for the entire trip. We booked a room at the Battery Wharf Hotel, which was a great choice because it was an easy walk to the stadium and on the Boston Waterfront near the North End. We also made sure to fit a walk on the Harvard campus and check out Cambridge square.

Maine

From Boston we headed two hours up to Portland, Maine, making sure we stopped in famous Salem, MA to check it out. While we were in Salem we did the House of 7 Gables tour, which was interesting to learn about and fascinating that they’ve been able to preserve all that history. We walked where the witch trials happened and seen some super old graves. When we arrived in Portland, we stayed at The Press Hotel, Autograph Collection– which was one of my faves. In all but two locations, I selected hotel locations that were central to all the fun stuff we could walk to. For food, Yelp was my bestie and never let us down! Portland, Main has amazing food!!

New Hampshire

From Portland we headed two hours to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. We stayed at the historical Omni Mount Washington Resort. While I almost backed out of this location at the last minute, I’m so glad we stuck with it. The resort had the most beautiful views, and we splurged for a corner room so we could enjoy panoramic views of the White Mountains. While we were here we decided to take a cog wheelup Mount Washington, which is the highest peak on the East Coast – and we had the most perfect weather to do it!

Vermont

From Bretton Woods, we took the two hour drive to Burlington, Vermont.  Let me just say… WOW!!!! I mean the landscape and terrain were just breathtaking. Hands down Vermont is our favorite and that drive was the most beautiful we’ve ever seen. We picked Hotel Vermont for our stay because of its walking distance to Lake Champlain and downtown shops. My favorite of the whole trip was not only the drive to Burlington, but the sunset over Lake Champlain. Isaac and I found this lakeside eatery to hang out at, play monopoly cards, have a nice drink, and watch the sunset. I could literally move to Burlington Vermont – that says it all.

Connecticut

While I could have just stayed in Burlington and been a happy camper, we continued on the journey for the four-hour (longest of the whole trip) trip to New Haven, Connecticut. I actually selected the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale  as a surprise for Isaac. I thought it would be cool to be able to walk out of your hotel and on the Yale campus. This university definitely had a prestigious feel – from the school’s architecture to the ringing bell.

Rhode Island

From New Haven, we continued two hours to Newport, Rhode Island. This is when the rain began so it definitely affected our moods. Newport was super “ritzy” and way too expensive for us to stay in downtown – they wanted upwards of $800 per night! So, I opted for a less expensive option in a nearby town, Middletown – Courtyard by Marriott in Newport Middletown. From there we toured Newport Mansionsaka “summer cottages” of The Vanderbilt’s (railroad empire) and The Elm’s (coal empire). After that, well, it kinda went downhill, lol. Let’s just say Isaac and I were not in the best of moods, which resulted in silence for the rest of the day and dinner at the hotel via room service call in!

Cape Cod

By the morning we had called a truce and headed 1.5 hours to the Bayside Resortin Cape Cod. The rain finally stopped and it made for a very fun trip down to the tip of the cape – Provincetown! I finally got my beach here and witnessed the most beautiful rainbow I’d ever seen, seriously the picture I took doesn’t do justice JI also tried pan roasted lobster for the first time – not a fan! Lol. I like the boiled lobster with butter!!

Boston Round 2

Our last 1.5 hour leg of the trip was back to Boston for my Wedding Styled shoot at Glen Magna Farms, an historical landmark in Danvers, MA.  We also managed to fit a trip up the Boston Observatory (51^stfloor) to check out a 360-degree view of the city, as well as a pit stop to walk the halls of MIT.

While we had a blast, we are definitely glad to be home now! Below are some of my fave pics from the trip, enjoy!

With Love,

Tina

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