Canada

Deviating from the international flavor of the three long-duration trips we’ve embarked on since retirement (in Europe, the South Pacific, and South America), WolfeStreetTravel this summer chose a region closer to home for a 2.5-month-long road trip to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of Alexandria: New England and eastern Canada. We spent all of July and August and the first part of September on the road north of here and out of the heat (mostly).

In all, we visited 8 states and 4 Canadian provinces, staying in 28 locations, including 18 hotels, 6 AirB&Bs, and a few relatives’ places. Here’s a Google map of the entire road trip (with stops in order, if you can follow the letters):

Previously, during our 2-week-long road trip through England and Wales, we ate so many fish and chips lunches, for cod sake, that our consumption became a trip theme. In the truest form of homage to this tradition, we ate our way on this trip through more than 20 dozen oysters – almost daily during the second half of the trip when we were traveling exclusively in coastal areas – resulting in an undeniable oyster theme to the trip. Not since biking along the coast of Normandy with Thomas and Lisa had the world more been our oyster.

But the trip themes didn’t end with the bewitching bivalve – additional food- and non-food-related recurrences worked themselves unintentionally but inexorably into our travels. We checked out two dozen lighthouse, took eight ferries (from full-blown car ferries to little bike- and people-only ferries), drove over a half dozen covered bridges, and consumed almost a dozen lobster rolls. All distinctive features and foods that became the ongoing themes of our trip (and subjects of our real-time Instagram posts @WolfeStreetTravel).

Our trip route took the general form of an arc that slanted and slumped towards the northeast:

• We first headed north to the apex of the arc on the west side of the map, through New York and Vermont, into the province of Quebec
• We reached our northeast apex during a week-long stay in Prince Edward Island
• And then headed southwest to complete the arc, down the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

Since we went back and forth, east and west, a few times in the beginning of the trip to see friends and relatives when they were available, the arc concept doesn’t really apply to the first few weeks (but it’s still a great travel construct!).

We began on July 1 not in New England, but in Pennsylvania to spend a few days in what one of us thought was a very appealing lake house.

Appealing though it was, indeed, this was a mistake.

The lake was more of a pond, and, although we hiked and ran in the area, there wasn’t a lot around. The only really appealing aspect of this stop was the little cabin itself. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy a 3-day stay – which one of the WolfeStreetTravelers totally predicted and warned against, but the other ignored. Not an auspicious start.

The area did offer the first covered bridge, though – a theme unique to the first half of the trip. Other, more prevalent themes would emerge later in the journey.

From the little pond house, we headed east to visit our first targeted relative, but not directly. Since it was July 4, and since we had never been there before, we toured West Point:

And then spent a couple of days in the pretty cool town of Beacon, NY, on the Hudson, where even the churches prize efficiency:

And then on to Stamford, CT, and our first relative of the trip: KJQ, skipper of the Quick Getaway:

Plus, the Sprucks!

Then, back west, again, to the Adirondacks region of NY, to occupy a lake house (for real this time – not a pond house) for 5 days:

Pretty good digs.

Plus, a little pontoon boat action:

And some decent hikes:

And then back east – again!

First for a couple of days in “The Berkshires” in North Adams, which really did not feel like the Berkshires to us. Our stay straddled the Appalachian Trail, so, some decent hiking / running, but the place really was for shite, in our view.

The only redeeming quality presented itself in the form of an art museum: the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), which was pretty outstanding, actually. Plus, Laurie Anderson (an Avant Garde favorite of one of us since her release of “O Superman” in the early 80s.

Thence on to Boston, and the Boston Connells! Who treated us to a Red Socks game:

And amazing, authentic lobster rolls, which were to become another theme of the trip, as you’ll see; and it all started here:

A day exploring Boston with Dan, including the North Church:

And the very compelling JFK Museum with both of the Boston Connells:

Then, north(ish), first for a quick stop for lunch in Portsmouth, NH,

Then to Portland/Yarmouth/Freeport, Maine, and Bill! Our first stop was our must-visit oyster bar in Portland, EvenTide:

Portland Head Light, w Bill (and the first sighting of another trip theme):

The truly Rockwell-esque Clam Festival in Bill’s adopted hometown of Yarmouth, ME, featuring the LL Bean Bootmobile:

And, of course, Shucky the Clam!

And our second lobster rolls of the trip at Five Islands with Bill, Aine, and Kieran:

An obligatory stop the morning we headed out:

After the long-overdue visits to friends and family in Massachusetts and Maine, we headed west again. But, on the way: a stop for lunch in Kennebunkport. Home to the Bush family compound and, nearby, some Kellys, now in California.

Then, on to Vermont, and the true western arc northward on the trip, beginning with 2 nights based in the tiny hamlet of Grafton.

Which was home to two more covered bridges:

Good digs, in a 19th-century Air B&B:

A little day trip to Weston, home to the famous (and pretty interesting, actually) Vermont Country Store:

We engaged on a bunch of additional day trips to other allegedly charming towns that also were just tiny hamlets and a little underwhelming, so we’ll move on in this summary to our next destination: Woodstock, VT, home to yet another covered bridge and the only such bridge with a dedicated pedestrian section (visited at the end of a rainy run the morning we left):

And then, on to Middlebury for 2 nights. We held high hopes for this location, based on family recommendations. Not so. Not so at all.

But here’s an interesting (the only interesting?) item from this college town: a Union civil war memorial. One of many (many!) that we’d encounter up north, and distinctively different in appearance from the Confederate monuments that we both grew up around. Not just down the street from us in Alexandria, but all over Virginia and the South. We’ll discuss this in a future post, but the distinctive Union versus Confederate soldier image was striking to us.

Middlebury. Meh.

But a day trip away from Middlebury to a 18th-century fort? On a freaking cable ferry?! Hell yeah (and we love a cable ferry):

Fort Ticonderoga, site of French and Indian and Revolutionary War actions – pretty cool!

And across the lake, Mount Defiance:

And departing middling Middlebury via it’s unique two-lane covered bridge – crappy town, but great addition to the covered bridge theme!

En route to Burlington, we stopped over for a hike and lunch at Shelburne farms, at Caren’s suggestion. Cool experimental, sustainable farm initially owned by the Varnderbilts:

And then on to 3 days in Burlington, VT – good running each morning along Lake Champlain, great food and culture, but tons of homeless, pot-smoking douchebags shambling about the public spaces. But, you gotta take your good with your bad, right! Overall, a great location to visit.

The highlight of our stay was, without question, the totally impromptu, 26-mile round-trip, bike ride up Burlington’s bike causeway to Grande Isle for a maple creemee (Vermont parlance for a maple-flavored, soft serve ice cream cone):

And the causeway came with a dedicated bike ferry to bridge a cut for boats right before you reached Grand Isle – our second ferry!

Totally worth the ride.

Burlington was cool, but after 3 days, we were ready to move on.

Via yet ANOTHER ferry! This one once again across Lake Champlain to New York, but in a larger format than our first cable ferry.

We spent the next 3 days on Lake Placid in a classic Adirondack lodge.

The aesthetics were everything we had hoped – super cool.

Including our cabin:

Adirondack chairs in the Adirondacks:

And classic wood boats to watch, plying the lake:

We spent some time at the Olympic center, home to the Miracle on Ice – this was the US Hockey Team’s locker room during the 1980 Olympics:

And the Olympics ski jump – who knew you didn’t need snow?

And then north, across the frontier to Canada and Montreal, where we celebrated one of our birthdays:

Although we’d been to Quebec City before, that trip was 25 years ago, for our first anniversary, and we vaguely recall that the province was noticeably bilingual. Things have changed: Montreal is thoroughly and very intentionally Francophone, and we encountered plenty of residents who spoke only French. The English may have conquered New France in the 18th century, but the French culture is clearly victorious in Montreal in the 21st.

We’ll post details in a future post on how and why this happened over the past 40 years, but let these statues on Montreal’s main square provide some insight for now. On one side, an English man holding an English bulldog, turning up his nose at the French; on the other, a French woman holding a French poodle returning the gesture. There is no love lost between the two cultures in Montreal.

Because this was a domestic road trip unbroken by planes to and from home, we were able to pack a little more, including running gear (and a Nespresso machine). We successfully ran about two thirds of the mornings of our trip, including each of our three mornings here, along Montreal’s harbor, dominated on one end by the Molson beer building (there’s also a Molson bank in town).

More oysters! Although the best were yet to come (and in significant quantities), we experienced more consecutive outstanding dining experiences in Montreal than anywhere else (PEI was a close second, though).

We hadn’t planned on visiting giant Olmec heads on our trip, but there they were in Montreal’s Museum of Archeology. Only 23 have ever been discovered. And they are, indeed, giant.

Across the harbor from Montreal proper lies the wildly cubist Habitat ’67 residences. Initially created in advance of Montreal’s winter Olympics, they’re now high-priced condos very much in demand due to their city skyline view (and uniqueness).

From Montreal, we drove east, more specifically to North Hatley, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Nice place along Lac Massawippi to hang for a few days.

The town’s lobster shack:

More lobster rolls (and fried clams) in North Hatley – definitely a contender!

And also our first (and only) helping of Canada’s signature poutine – artery-clogging goodness!

And back across the border again, to Maine’s North Woods:

One of the two most spectacular sunsets of the trip (both conveniently during cocktail hour):

We awoke at 4:30 one morning to go on a moose safari deep in paper company forests. We only saw one moose, though, and a female without a rack, at that.

Great setting along Moosehead Lake, though!

Another ferry – this time pedestrian only – across Moosehead lake to climb the island of Mount Kineo:

Pretty great views!

Perhaps the most Maine Adirondack chair ever:

Another hike up Burnt Jacket Mountain. No charred outerwear at the top, but there was a surprise swing.

Vermont has creemees; Maine has dairy bars. Both offered delicious soft-serve – perfect for a post-ride or post-hike treat.

Last evening on Moosehead Lake before heading east and north, to Prince Edward Island.

By way of New Brunswick’s capital of Frederickton, which was dreary the evening and morning of our stopover.

Which did nothing but enhance the weather on PEI – spectacular! We would spend a full week on this Canadian island province at the apex of our trip’s arc.

And more oysters!

And PEI’s renowned mussels – the first of several orders during our week on the island.

More biking! This time a 26-mile trip, but on e-bikes, which we initially eschewed, even though we had a fun time riding them in San Antonio as part of Emma’s graduation celebration. We’re now totally converts for when we’re just traveling – e-bikes just make touring around tons more fun.

The first of PEI’s characteristic lighthouses along the bike ride – adding to one of our trip’s themes.

And the objective of the ride? We were on a roll with lobster rolls!

Another quintessential PEI lighthouse on our morning run along the harbor, which was so enjoyable that we ran all seven mornings of our stay.

The remarkably picturesque town of Victoria-by-the-Sea, which offered us a trifecta of trip themes during our midday field trip.

More oysters. . . .

More lobster rolls. . .

And the best PEI lighthouse yet!

More PEI mussels at the renowned Blue Mussel on the north coast, in the little fishing hamlet of North Rustico:

And more oysters, natch! With blueberry ale, a frequent offering that we’d been sampling (along with copious hazys) ever since our lunch in Portsmouth, NH.

Another PEI lighthouse encountered on a lunch excursion to Souris on the east side of the island.

Our home base of Charlottetown – very reminiscent of Old Town. Right on the water and tons of restaurants. It even sports a King Street, Queen Street, and Prince Street. Perfect home for WolfeStreetTravel for a week!

The town’s vibrant Victoria Row a few blocks from the water.

Good setting for some more oysters!

And our last PEI mussels on PEI. . .

Sunset on Victoria Row.

Our last lobster roll on PEI (and easily the greatest underperformer of the trip – look how thin that loser is!):

And our last oysters (these, on the other hand, were great) on the island during our final dinner before arcing southeast to begin our return leg.

We headed over the internal Canadian border to our fourth province: Nova Scotia, where we spent 2 days in Halifax, right on the water. Which was super cloudy our first morning in town:

But with oysters, hazys, and Aperols, no one’s complaining.

Halifax’s harbor and boardwalk, which was really scenic.

During both day and night.

Heading up to Halifax’s British fortress on the hill above town:

And a pretty awesome dinner our last night at Sea Smoke on the boardwalk,

where you could have fireside sushi while people watching. Perfect.

An addition to the lighthouse theme in Halifax harbor.

And then, across an actual border for the last time to drive down the coast of Maine, stopping first in Bar Harbor.

Pretty interesting town, albeit somewhat touristy.

And the weather wasn’t great.

Including on our hike up Cadillac Ridge in Acadia,

where we encountered zero visibility at the top, identical to our experience on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

But, the fog also led to a bumper crop of mushrooms on the trail, much to the delight of the WolfeStreetTraveler who took a full year of graduate-level mycology as an undergrad.

And, on our final morning, a whale watching cruise! Great, right?!

Nope! Also zero visibility, and with huge swells, leading to a third of the boat becoming seasick:

The cruise was cut short and refunds were issued to all due to both factors (we did see two whales off in the fog, though).

From Bar Harbor, we continued down the coast to the charming port town of Camden.

Home to a classic harbor inn.

And the iconic views from Mount Megunticook:

And, notwithstanding the three consecutive outstanding dinners in Montreal and tons of great dining on PEI, we actually experienced our best dining experience of the trip on our final night in Camden at Camden Harbor Inn’s Natalie’s.

Based on recommendations from a couple we met around a fire at Lake Placid, we stopped for lunch at Cliff House in Ogunquit on the way to Kara’s in New Hampshire. More oysters, natch.

And then to Bedford, NH, for Jen’s 60th birthday party and the Olympic Jentathalon, pitting two teams of family members against each other in contests of skill, determination, and an eclectic mix of life skills.

Thence, on to Cape Cod. First, to Chatham, a lovely town that was not part of our original itinerary. We left 2 days after Jen’s party unplanned, in case there were follow on activities. Seeing none, we followed the advice of the Spruck’s at KJQ’s back in July, and booked 2 nights in Chatham, located at the elbow of the flexed arm that is Cape Cod.

More oysters!

An evening at Chatham Bars Inn – we declined to stay there, but still took advantage of the setting for drinks and dinner our first night.

Atmospheric final morning during our run in Chatham. . .

We then headed up Cape Cod’s arm to Provincetown, stopping for lunch in Wellfleet, as famous for their oysters as PEI is for their mussels:

A well-deserved reputation!

While we were there, bottle-nosed dolphins got stranded in their harbor and a team of marine mammal specialists were trying to shoo them out.

And then – Provincetown. Super entertaining! Super fun! Super gay!

Definitely a cool place to visit for 3 days.

And, with super oysters (natch).

We grabbed our inn’s bikes one day and biked to Race Point Beach, on the other side of the peninsula.

Which was full of great white sharks.

Pilgrim Monument looming over town.

Drag queens at brunch.

And then, our next ferry, from Woods Hole, Cape Cod, to Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, our first of two towns on the island.

The big Victorians on Oak Bluffs:

And the tiny revival Victorian cottages:

And, of course, oysters, during lunch in Vineyard Haven down the road.

Dropping by Gay Head Light on the west end of the island during our migration from Oak Bluffs (not our favorite, frankly) to Edgartown (very, very good).

And ANOTHER bike ferry, this one across a cut to the fishing village of Chilmark for lunch:

Adding to one of the five themes of the trip, we present the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse:

(And more oysters.)

Yet another ferry from Edgartown to the island of Chappaquiddick to circumnavigate the island by bike.

Pretty good digs while in Edgartown.

And, after our final ferry from Martha’s Vineyard back to Woods Hole, our final lobster roll of the trip in Newport.

As an appropriate accompaniment to lobster, we visited three Gilded Age mansions in Newport, starting with The Breakers.

Followed by Marble House.

And ending with Rose Cliff.

Also pretty good digs at Castle Hill Inn’s beach house.

The final lighthouse of the trip: Castle Hill Lighthouse on Narragansett Bay, in Rhode Island.

Our last stop in Newport, RI, also was the location of the best sunset cocktail hour scene of the entire trip: Castle Hill Inn’s lawn of Adirondack chairs.

Accompanied one evening by a completely unexpected air show by, everyone assumed, the naval station up the bay. We still don’t know, but it was awesome:

And at Castle Hill Inn to end the trip: A. Final. Order. of. Oysters.

Pretty good trip. We’ll publish more detailed posts after we address our backlog. Likely in 2028 or something.