Cruise the Kanc
The Kancamagus Highway is a 26.5 mile scenic drive that runs through the White Mountain National Forest from Conway to Lincoln, New Hampshire. This drive is beautiful year-round, and is a particular draw during foliage season. In the summer, there are places to swim in the Swift River with natural water slides and pools. There is a small fee for parking along the Kanc, but all the money goes back into the maintenance of it. A particular favorite destination of mine is Sabbaday Falls. It’s a bit past Bear Notch Road on the left coming from Conway. A small hike in is rewarded with an incredible blue green pool and a beautiful small and accessible waterfall. Pack a lunch and picnic at any of the stops along the way. The whole drive, which climbs to just this side of a mile above sea level before descending back into Lincoln, takes a hour or so with no stops.
Be sure to bring a camera. There’s no end of photo ops.
Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik
Boston Travels: Enjoying Quincy Market
There is enough budget wise stuff to do in and around here to fill a day. Boutique window shopping, street performers, amazing food (or pack a lunch), and room for kids to leap and hop are just some of the attractions. Planning a trip to include Quincy Market (Faneuil Hall Marketplace)? Make it on a Saturday, bring shopping bags and include a trip to the nearby Farmer’s Market. There are good deals all day, but visiting at the end of the day is best for two reasons — you’re not toting fresh produce all day AND the vendors are more willing to deal, because they don’t want to tote that produce back home.
Also, the Freedom Trail passes by Quincy Market and the remarkably moving Holocaust Memorial is right there as well.
Photo credit: fuzzcat
Maine Wildlife Park
There is no one who comes to visit Maine for a week, a weekend or a summer that doesn’t aspire to see, at least, a moose. The intrepid wildlife seeker can find an alternative to driving the highways and byways in the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, Maine. Open from April to Veteran’s Day, the park is a self-sufficient facility under the auspices of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (IF&W).
Entrance fees are between $5-$7.00, but your money will be well spent as it goes back to the maintenance of the Park. Many of the animals at the Park were brought there because they were injured or orphaned or have become human dependent and cannot survive on their own in the wild.
A big ‘must see’ at the Park is the Dry Mills Fish Hatchery which raises thousands of Brook Trout annually.
Bring stuff to barbecue, pack a picnic lunch, or purchase lunch from the snack shack. Stop in at the Visitor’s Center or visit the Nature Store. Walk the tree trail or animal trail to learn more about the flora and fauna native to Maine. To locals, especially those with children, visits to this park are part and parcel of summer in Maine. Visitors to Maine should include it on their travel agenda, too.
Product Review: Eagle Creek’s Double-Sided Packing Cube
On a recent trip to South America, we needed something that would allow my husband and I to implement cross-packing with ease. Read more
Concord Coach Lines – Affordable and comfortable
When it comes to traveling to Boston from Maine or New Hampshire, one option stands head and shoulders above the others, in my humble opinion. That option is the highway coaches run by Concord Coach Lines.
Concord’s routes all end at either South Station or Logan Airport. The price is reasonable — $25.00 same-day round trip ticket through 3/31/10 — and the amenities are stellar. Some buses have power outlets in the seats, some have WiFi. Some offer water and a snack at the beginning of the trip. All have complimentary headsets for watching a movie or listening to one of four types of music. I have found these coaches always to be clean and comfortable, non-smoking, and equipped with bathroom.
Another point of note is that these coaches run on time! Portland, Maine, to walking around Boston in two hours. That is not going to happen with any other means of transport.
Boston, Mass, is not an easy city to navigate by car if one is not familiar with it. My suggestion? Make the most of your day by taking a Concord Trailways bus and walk it when you get there.
Need cheap travel gear? Consider these contractor’s bags!
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The Magic Lantern – Bridgton, Maine
The old-fashioned charm of a roomy, plush home town movie theatre with hundreds of seats is the stuff of nostalgia for a lot of people. Those theatres often have been restored and used for different purposes or have been replaced with sterile, non-descript multiplexes that are synonymous with cinema to at least one or two generations of movie goers.
On Route 302 in Bridgton, Maine, the best of both worlds exists in the Magic Lantern theatre. The original Magic Lantern, where Steven King’s “Carrie” premiered in 1976, was leveled in 2006, rebuilt and reopened in 2008. It contains 3 theatres. Each theatre includes a small balcony only accessible to adults age 21 and older. There is ample parking behind the theatre.
There is also a cinema pub on the premises, making dinner and a movie virtually seamless. Sometimes in the same room! Movies are always first-run, and the price of admission is unbelievable. Adults pay $6.50. Children, seniors and matinees are $5.00.
If you find yourself in Bridgton, Maine, with time to spare, consider a movie at the Magic Lantern. It’s an experience you’ll remember at a price you can’t forget.
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