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Any major differences in the weather/climate between any of them? subtle differences?
Once you get up to Portsmouth and Portland, it's quite a bit colder than where I live in the winter, enough that I wouldn't live there myself. But I was in Portland in late December, and it was a fairly moderate (and rainy) day, so that's not always true. I visited Cape Cod a week ago, and it was substantially colder than it was at home, but that may have been a fluke -- the Cape is pretty temperate, with a climate I think is similar to where I live. Boston is usually a little bit colder and snowier than it is at home. And it was really hot in Amherst the one time I went -- as a general rule in New England, the further you get from the coast, the more extreme the temperatures get. In the winter, you'd get more cold and snow there. The other locations are all similar in terms of weather.
Yep, I live 20 minutes south of downtown. In America's smallest state, I'm halfway between the Connecticut border and the Massachusetts border (30 minutes on both counts), which makes it easy to get away in either direction.
WINDSOR/ESSEX COUNTY, ON (10 minute drive) - yes across the border is a cool city with a great riverfront promenade, reviving downtown, and a couple trendy urban districts like Little Italy and Olde Walkerville. In addition, there are tours of the 1858 Canadian Club Whiskey Distillery (the tour finishes with a formal whiskey tasting), and Essex County has something like 15+ wineries. Lastly, Essex County contains a beautiful 3,860 acre park that juts out into Lake Erie and has several miles of beaches
Point Pelee
CEDAR POINT, Sandusky, Ohio (2 hours)
The best amusement park in America. It has 72 rides and 17 roller coasters, which is 2nd in the country
PORT HURON, MI/LAKEPORT STATE PARK (1 hour 15 minutes)
Port Huron is a cool border town with a charming downtown, awesome riverfront, and Lakeport State Park is 10 minutes to the north
Maritime watercraft in the St. Clair River, Port Huron
The beach at Lakeport State Park
ANN ARBOR, MI (45 minutes)
One of the great college towns in all of America
Artsy.Dynamic downtown with a vast food scene and an old-school retail arcade. The University of Michigan has its own recently-expanded art museum, Museum of Natural Resources, arboretum, and major college sports. The city has some beautiful parks and a cool district adjacent to its downtown, called Kerrytown, that has a large farmer's market and the iconic Zingerman's Deli
Last edited by usroute10; 04-05-2016 at 04:47 PM..
Reason: correction
Great idea for a thread. One of my favorite things about living in New England in general and the Providence area specifically is the wide range of day-trip possibilities.
Day trips I've enjoyed in the past couple of years, some more than once:
Boston (1 hour)
Mystic, Connecticut (40 minutes)
Cape Cod (1 hour to 2.5 hours)
Portsmouth, New Hampshire (2 hours)
Amherst, Massachusetts (2 hours)
Hartford, Connecticut (1.5 hours)
Portland, Maine (2.75 hours)
Stonington Borough, Connecticut (40 minutes)
South Coast, Massachusetts (40 minutes to 1 hour)
Watch Hill, Rhode Island (45 minutes)
I'm considering a "day trip" anything 40 minutes or more away, and I have a personal rule about no day trips longer than two hours (though rules are made to be broken, as I did when I went to Portland). Are others really taking four-hour day trips, where you wake up, drive four hours, spend some time there, then drive four hours back home? If I were willing to do that, there'd be a lot more options -- New York City is less than three hours away if traffic is perfect, which it rarely is.
On my day-trip to-do list for spring and summer 2016:
Block Island (1.5 hours, including ferry ride)
Cape Ann (1.75 hours)
Northampton, Massachusetts (2 hours)
Plymouth, Massachusetts (1.25 hours)
Essex, Connecticut (1 hour)
Hampton Beach, New Hampshire (2 hours)
great list.... from Providence I would add:
Newport, RI
Newburyport, MA
Salem, MA
Martha's Vineyard
Provincetown
and NYC!
From my home in Northeastern NJ: New York City (half hour-45 minutes normal traffic to Manhattan, about an hour by trains; other boroughs as little as 20 mins as much as nearly 2 hours), the beach (Jersey Shore - 30 mins to 2 hours depending on how far south you go), Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ - a little under an hour), Mountain Creek Skiing/Snowboarding and nearby water parks (Vernon, NJ - an hour and 10), Lake Hopatcong (NJ - 45 mins).
Philly (about an hour and a half maybe? Maybe a little less), Dorney Park PA (about an hour and a half), Delaware Water Gap NRA and Appalachian Trail (NJ and PA, about an hour and 15), Camelback Mountain Resort and water park (PA - an hour and a half). There are obviously a lot more but I think these are among the most common, especially among families.
IMO, I would not do a "day trip" that requires me to drive more than 2 hours. A weekend trip, yeah, but I will limit day trips to 2 hours tops.
Lake Superior. We toured a huge Victorian estate there when my girls were preteens. Also went to the Duluth Zoo.
Now we plan to visit Mall of America this summer. I have been there a couple times, but my girls, now late teens, have never been and it is really close and something we could do in a day.
Gosh, those of you who live in the northeast have it easy! You can travel to a lot a neat places in a short period of time.
The only places I can think of for strictly day trips:
1. Orlando: Very touristy, but there are a lot of shopping opportunities.
2. Gainesville: A College city. Nothing out of this world, but a cool place to check out once.
3. St Pete or Clearwater: Swimming at the beaches or just enjoying downtown.
4. Tarpon Springs: For the Greek food and culture. Yum.
5. Crystal River: Snorkeling with Manatees
Long weekend trips:
1. Miami. Beaches, nightlife
2. Key West. The experience and nightlife
3. Tallahassee. For the rolling hills and nightlife.
I'm really liking this thread because it's an opportunity to discuss places that aren't frequently mentioned in these things. For example, I just learned that Tarpon Springs, Florida, is the most Greek city in the United States. Never would have guessed!
WINDSOR/ESSEX COUNTY, ON (10 minute drive) - yes across the border is a cool city with a great riverfront promenade, reviving downtown, and a couple trendy urban districts like Little Italy and Olde Walkerville. In addition, there are tours of the 1858 Canadian Club Whiskey Distillery (the tour finishes with a formal whiskey tasting), and Essex County has something like 15+ wineries. Lastly, Essex County contains a beautiful 3,860 acre park that juts out into Lake Erie and has several miles of beaches
Point Pelee
CEDAR POINT, Sandusky, Ohio (2 hours)
The best amusement park in America. It has 72 rides and 17 roller coasters, which is 2nd in the country
PORT HURON, MI/LAKEPORT STATE PARK (1 hour 15 minutes)
Port Huron is a cool border town with a charming downtown, awesome riverfront, and Lakeport State Park is 10 minutes to the north
Maritime watercraft in the St. Clair River, Port Huron
The beach at Lakeport State Park
ANN ARBOR, MI (45 minutes)
One of the great college towns in all of America
Artsy.Dynamic downtown with a vast food scene and an old-school retail arcade. The University of Michigan has its own recently-expanded art museum, Museum of Natural Resources, arboretum, and major college sports. The city has some beautiful parks and a cool district adjacent to its downtown, called Kerrytown, that has a large farmer's market and the iconic Zingerman's Deli
Great pics. Some beautiful areas......Can I ask a dumb question? How are you posting these pictures? Copy/paste links? Something else? I've tried posting pictures as well but it's not working for me. Thanks in advance!
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