Touring Upper New England

I've visited Cape Cod a few times through work for my South Harwich based company, but I always find the most ill-timed weekends to go.  The first two trips were in January, and this time I was going up to attend our Christmas party in December.  I made a weekend out of it, planning one night on the Cape, one night in Boston and then driving back to Connecticut for the next work week.

I've been to most states in the US, but upper New England has eluded me up to this point.  My parents made the trip after I was in college, so I didn't get a chance to see it with them.  I left Connecticut on Friday morning, driving up I-95.  I planned to have lunch somewhere in Rhode Island.  I actually had to turn around because I got through the state so quickly that I wouldn't have actually touched the ground in the state (and made a credit card transaction at Subway for proof).

A few hours later I checked into the Chatham Bars Inn, which was also where our Christmas party was being held.  It was a really nice, old, established hotel.  The rooms were a bit small, but modern and cozy.  The lobby has great views of the water and the service was very good.  And being in the middle of winter, it wasn't very crowded.

Not many consultants make it up to the Christmas party because we are spread out all over the country.  I got a chance to see a lot of people from our home office that I usually only know through email.  They work in billing, deployment, travel, payroll - all of the people that make my job easier.  There was dinner and drinks and a few speeches about the year, then we headed to a local bar to continue after the hotel party shut down.

On Saturday I planned to meet up with friends in Boston, although I wasn't planning to go all out like I did last time.  Until then, I had a whole day to waste.  I had a conversation the night before about a coworker's trip up the Cape to Provincetown at the very tip.  So that's what I decided to do.

Cape Cod Bay with Provincetown in the distance

The town is known for its gay friendly population, stores, bars and vacationers.  Why, I haven't quite figured it out.  It takes sooooo long to drive up the Cape.  I can only imagine the traffic nightmares in the summer.  When I got there, it was cold and windy on the water and there were very few people out.  Not to mention, most of the stores were closed with 'See you next summer' signs on the door.  I found a restaurant that was open and got a hot drink and a lobster roll - crucial for a trip here.

Lobster cage Christmas tree

I browsed around the shops that were open to look for Christmas presents, but only succeeded in finding a surf shop with a sale going on (score!).  I got a few shirts and called it a day.  There were a few monuments to the pilgrims and founders of Massachusetts, so I snapped a few pictures as I tried to stay warm.

After seeing all I could see, I wove my way back down the skinny arm of the Cape and tried to find all of the lighthouses.  I think I missed one or two but here's what I have:

I stopped in a parking lot to see a surfer getting out of the water - it looked frigid, and I've been surfing in water in the mid-50s lately.  The waves were obviously bad from the onshore wind, but he told me that there were good spots if you knew when to come out.  I probably won't get that lucky, or have the thick wetsuit needed to brave the waters.

After that I headed to Boston for dinner and a decently late night on the town.  I knew I had to get up for the long trip back in the morning, and I had this idea forming in my head.  Since New Hampshire was only about 45 minutes from Boston, and Maine was only another hour, why not just make a mad dash to go there?  Then I could cut back across New Hampshire to Vermont and head south back to Connecticut.

I mapped it out on Google and it looked like a 6 hour trip.  Not bad, and I didn't have anything to get back to in Connecticut anyway.  I left Boston at noon just for flurries to start to appear.  I stopped in upper New Hampshire for lunch and snow was sticking to the ground.  Not too long after that, I pulled off the first exit in Maine to buy a candy bar (transaction complete!) and the snow was a good inch or two thick.  This should make the ride back entertaining!

I started to creep as I got stuck behind slow moving trucks on two-lane roads.  You'll notice there are no pictures in this section - I was 100% concentrating on the road.  By the time I got to Vermont I wondered if I was going to make it back.  Traffic was inching along and the snow was really coming down.  I stopped for gas in Brattleboro, a town in the corner of the state, and then got back in the car for the last 1.5 hours (hopefully).

Massachusetts still sat between me and my destination, but luckily the further I moved south, the less it snowed.  Then it turned to mush and finally rain.  By the time I got back to my hotel in Stamford it was clear.  I finished the trip in 7 hours and made it back unscathed.  I Xed off all of my remaining states in New England, bringing my US total to 40/50.  I know it's kind of cheating to make a run like this to cross them off the list.  I'd love to ski Vermont and drive up there to see the leaves change in the fall, and I haven't ruled that out.  But for now, I've been there done that and it's off to the next place!