Northeast winter road trip ideas?

hey everyone, I'm looking to do a few day road trip (4-7 days) heading northeast. I've been living in Baltimore for a couple years now but feel like I've barely seen anything up there.

Does anyone have any recommendations for must see places/events/foods/hikes etc? I'm equipped for anything except winter camping. I was planning on skipping NY and Philly since I've already been.

Right now the only things on my list are ski at Stowe (epic pass) and eat a lobster roll in maine. I saw there is 1 hot spring in NY (Lebanon Spring) and 1 in Massachusetts (Sand Spring), are these accessible in winter? This is a sadly short list but I honestly don't know much about the region.

I'd really appreciate any ideas!

Posted Jan 10, 2018, 9:18 PM UTC · edited

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[deleted]•

Drink heady topper in Burlington, VT. Drive up Mt. Washington in NH. You can’t go wrong with any hikes in either state. Go for a 4000 footer.

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BmoreInterestedWyman Park•

With the fastest recorded wind speeds on Earth, I don't think you want to (or are allowed to) drive up My Washington in the winter.

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[deleted]•

Woops, didn’t notice they were going in winter. Thought the not equipped to winter camp meant they were going later.

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steinauf85Elkridge•

or in Stowe where the actual Alchemist Brewery is now located

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[deleted]•

Eh, I assume he doesn’t want to wait in a 2hr line at precisely the right time and day on a road trip.

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steinauf85Elkridge•

It's not that bad. Just go when they open. If he likes IPA it'll be worth it

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

cool i will check it out! maybe i can stop by for a break while I'm skiing if the line isn't too bad

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steinauf85Elkridge•

parking lot opens at 10. doors at 11 (though they opened at 1030 when i went). they have tastings but its primarily for people picking up cans and leaving at that time, which is a perfectly fine thing to do. just bring a cooler since these NEIPAs are best kept cold (but not frozen)

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

Awesome thanks I'll check out the beer, and I'll do a little more research to make sure that I don't blown off the mountain :)

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honest2gawd•

White Mountains, New Hampshire! Check out the winter equipment rentals at Bartlett, NH.

Edit: The pantomimes and museums at Boston. Heck, the entire Boston area - such beautiful unplanned city, it's a exhibition of urban evolution.

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

awesome thank you! any particular hikes that you'd recommend? It'd need to be a day hike because I'd probably freeze to death overnight

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oryholes•

Stowe would be great, along with the famed breweries and great restaurants thereabouts.

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IndeterminableFjordPatterson Park•

Make sure you get a real lobster roll, that lobster salad and celery bullshit is blasphemy

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threedaysatseaHampden•

Had a great roll at Js Oyster when I was in Portland.

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

what should i look for?

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IndeterminableFjordPatterson Park•

Lobster, brioche bun, drawn butter. If you start seeing mayo run the other way

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

That sounds like all you need!

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PoopIsAlwaysSunny•

Eat a lobster roll at the Thames St Oyster House. Don’t have to drive a thousand miles, still awesome.

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

haha good to know, i guess the lobster roll is an excuse to drive to Maine

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HiImBrianFellow•

A few years ago I did a New England road trip over a 4 day weekend. I was able to hit NYC, Boston, and Buffalo. I would recommend driving up thru PA it's a beautiful drive and you avoid a lot of toll roads that way. I would definitely recommend checking out the Sam Adams brewery as well as Two Roads Brewery in CT (it's amazing)

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

Cool thanks for the suggestions! I've driven through a lot of rural northwestern PA for work, I was not prepared for how awesome it was.

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chasmd•

Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, De. is close by. Huge collection ( 119 rooms ) of American furniture.

Mystic Seaport in Ct. Home of the last wooden whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan. Plus the town of Mystic, home of the 1st Julia Roberts movie, Mystic Pizza.

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

Nice sounds like a lot of history for a town I've never heard of!

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chasmd•

I've been there 6 or 7 times. The Seaport Museum is wonderful & the town of Mystic is very nice. Plus the Mystic Pizza restaurant actually exists and has very good pizza.

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steinauf85Elkridge•

Before I get into a long post about good beer places to visit, are you interested in that?

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

Absolutely. I was planning on trying the local brews around Stowe, as well as the other breweries recommended above(below?). Is there a town where I can spend the day drunkenly stumbling from bar to bar? Or a brewery where they have enough beers to try that its worth it to stay put for the day? I'll be around Stowe for 3 days and then I'm off to the next best suggestions posted here

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steinauf85Elkridge•

Burlington is going to have the densest bar scene, and is definitely worth a visit. Otherwise most places are kind of spread out. Below is a list of the places with the best reputation for quality of food and drinks:

VERMONT

Burlington:

  • Foam Brewery (best brewery in Burlington)
  • Hen of the Wood (awesome bar/restaurant)
  • The Farmhouse Tap & Grill (awesome bar/restaurant)

Waterbury:

  • Prohibition Pig (awesome bar/restaurant)
  • Hen of the Wood (other location)

Stowe:

  • Alchemist Brewery (you'll be able to find Heady at bars if you don't feel like visiting here directly).

Greensboro (about 45 min away from Stowe):

  • Hill Farmstead Brewery (this place is very remote, but is one of the best breweries in country. Definitely worth a visit

MASSACHUSETTS:

Charlton:

  • Tree House Brewing Co - Another one of the best breweries in the country. This is their brand new giant facility. Expect lines to wrap around the parking lot, but the beer is damn good.

Boston:

  • Trillium Brewery (if you had to pick one brewery to visit in Boston, it's got to be Trillium. They have two locations.

MAINE:

Portland

  • Bissell Brothers - If you decide to go this far, make sure you stop here
  • Maine Beer Co - A bit north of Portland actually but close enough.
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lilmissstarlyte•

Seconding all of these, esp Foam, Hill, and Hen of the Wood.

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jeebintreesOPCanton•

hey sorry for the delay but thank you for the list! I'll be stopping at foam, alchemist, prohibition, and possibly hill farmstead and hen of the wood while in Vermont.

Might skip Boston since I'm not too into history, do you think its worth a visit?

and then Bissell Brothers and a lobster roll somewhere in Maine.

thanks again for the recommendations!

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steinauf85Elkridge•

I don't think you give Boston, one of the coolest and most fun cities on the East coat, enough credit.

Also, if you're going to hit up all of those spots and you enjoy those beers, I feel like you'd owe it to yourself to also go to Treehouse.

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chasmd•

Newport, Rhode Island. The mansions tours, the cliffwalk, or just downtown .Lots of history.

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lilmissstarlyte•

If you can make it all of the way up, Acadia is where you want to go for hiking. It's 3ish hours north of Portland, though, which is already a decent drive.

Vermont is beautiful. You can drive or hike Mt Mansfield, though since it's during skiing season I'd check accessibility. This time of year, you can also probably drive a short distance and hang out in a maple shack.

The best lobster rolls I have found has been in Freeport, Maine (just north of Portlan). I'm not sure it would be fun in the winter, but Portland's mail boat is a unique experience.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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