Parent's visit, things to do, help! (Boston, Salem: houses, landscaping, live in)

[jdinma]

My parents are due for their annual visit in 2 days time and I am at a loss on what to do/where to go and looking for some ideas. They don't like busy, big cities and have already done the big touristy visits in the area like Salem, downtown Boston, Bunker Hill, etc. and "they just want to visit with their daughter really, you don't need to entertain us.." (which means we'll be at each other's throats in 72 hrs guaranteed).

Since we live in Metro West was looking to take things a little further afield like maybe day trips into southern NH or RI or CT??? My DH has to work so we'll only be able to do things really during the day, we're trying to get to Fire/Water in Providence this weekend, depending on the weather, of course. Any fav'es on coastal towns, good deals on antique shopping or historical lighthouses, etc. I'm at aloss here..please help!

Thank you,
JD.

[CaseyB]

Have they been to the Cape yet? How about a day trip to Newport - maybe your Mom would like to see the mansions?

[ChunkyMonkey]

I have some Northshore suggestions. Have you been to the Cape Ann area? Rockport is quite nice. Halibut Point state park is wonderful, you can see all the way to Maine from there. I would also recommend Crane's Beach where you can go dune hiking. (Note: there is a fee to enter the beach). On the way to Crane's Beach there is a great farm for apple picking called Russell Orchards. Or if they are more adventurous, nearby you can go canoeing on the Ipswich River.

Further afield, I would recommend going up to the White Mountains to Franconia Notch and do some hiking. Maybe you will get some fall colors up there. It is also fun to visit Newport, RI to see the mansions if they are into that sort of thing. Good luck!

[CityGirl52]

You could drive over to Ipswich & also see the Crane Estate & take a tour of it. It closes up in October with the tours, so now is a good time to see it. I did this last year and absolutely loved hearing the story on it. It was so neat!
It's also quite a tour of the "house" & if you get the chance? Take the landscaping tour, it was really quite good seeing it this way! May be you'll get to peek in to the garage on this landscaping tour & see the very first automatic car wash that was invented by this gentleman & it was right in one of his garages and it's still there. I guess this particular house tour ends October 13th for the season, so this is a great time of year to check it out....

http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/287_castle_hill.cfm

From there you could head further down Rte 1-B and check out lunch at the "Village" or Farnham's for their famous seafood which is right in the fishing town of Essex? Then you could head north or south afterwards, it's up to you. You
could jaunt down to Gloucester along this same route, whatever suits your fancy! If you have time you could head in the opposite direction? You could go north again on Rte 1-B for more antiquing along the way and just browse thru them. If you do the Crane Estate tour early enough you will still have time to head up to Kittery Maine & the Outlets for shopping! Trust me you can do it all, we've done it many times! You could head further up Rte 1 past the shops where all the outlet shops are along here & just as you turn for York Village Rd., on that very corner is this really funky antique vintage cottage style shop, called "Fiona's Porch" that you could end your day with. It's up to you & where you want to go with them! Actually the coast from Boston up to Portland, Maine has an abundance of possibilities for day trips....

Another thing that you could do is head right up to Portland, Maine. I was there last week. It was GREAT. We had lunch at DiMillo's along their beautiful harbor then we strolled thru their neat shops along the waterfront up there. We were up there to also see the East & West Promenade, it was awesome! We also wanted to check out the Portland Light House, it's called the Portland Headlight. It was SO neat up thru there, I think I liked it better than the York Lighthouse, at least you could walk right up to it and walk behind it and all that. Then later on, we followed Rte 1 instead of the highway back down to the Boston area to get home. We were on a mission to see the chocolate moose, Lenny @ Len Libby's candy/ice cream shop....the only part of Rte 1 that is kind of crappy is Biddeford, but once you get thru that part of Rte 1 it's clear sailing all the way, in fact, it was a breeze, we did this later on in the day during the week around 5PM so it was right before it got dark as we were heading back. I think we're going to do that the next time we're up in that neck of the woods. That Maine Turnpike is for the birds, I can't stand driving on it, it really is pretty gross, I mean whoever designed it needs their head examined! SO this Rte 1 heading back down was so much better as we wound down from that day trip!

Have a wonderful time. Hey, just make the best of it, I'm sure you'll get other suggestions and ideas here too, so keep checking back. There's still a lot to see & do in New England, things that I haven't even seen and I'm a native, born & raised all my life. SO many places to go, in such little time...

[jdinma]

Thank you, gracias, namaste, etc....All are GREAT ideas and since the weekend looks to be a wash, a trip to Newport Mansions or up the North Coast sounds like just the thing! Thanks again and look fwd to getting more input from the forum!
Best,
JD.

[maggiekate]

What about a trip to uperstate New York, the leaves should be nice to see.