by Gerard Coulombe

Created on: July 04, 2009   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Each of the six New England States has brochures full of places that one must visit or where one can do things that cannot be done anywhere else. There are so many choices. Much depends on one's interests. A group of vacationers has to decide which to choose from the many offerings, from what there is to do, and then decide on what to put off doing and seeing until next year. This is true of visits to any of the 50 States that someone planning a vacation might consider with a knowledgeable vacation planner. No single trip can encompass all possibilities. As anyone who is a frequent cross-country traveler can attest to, it is impossible while on vacation to see and do everything.

A pick of ten summer vacation ideas for someone planning a vacation in any or all of the six New England States is a challenge. For example, based upon a vacation with a preference for appreciating Art and Culture, one has a choice to include the following: Maine: [1] The Portland Art Museum and [2] a Tuesday night at a Kotzschmar Organ Concert. New Hampshire: There are the vistas to appreciate. This could be a nature vacation. A drive through the [3] White Mountains with stops at scenic vistas for the view and quality photographs to fill a memory book and then [4] a drive up Mount Washington could cap a week of touring. Vermont: There is hiking for all levels of expertise in the Green Mountains, [4] and, for those who love Frost, a visit to Breadloaf [Writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry should apply to attend the Breadloaf Writers Conference next summer and perhaps join a hunt for the "swinger of birches." Massachusetts: It would not be Massachusetts without [5] a visit to Fenway Park and a Red Sox game. [6] A reader of Thoreau might want to see what Walden Pond is like today. But it would take a rained-out game to take a real Sox fan away from a week at Fenway Park [planning required].

Round out the search for ten summer vacation ideas for New England with Connecticut: [7] The Yale campus is an attraction along with the Yale Museum of Art and the famous Beinecke Library. And neither first nor last, Rhode Island: [8] The Plantation State awaits visitors at the Newport Mansions where one can appreciate elegance and extravagance in the same breath. Finish with [9] a round trip ride on the Ferry to Block Island, Rhode Island. If you can book a place to rent at Misquamicut Beach, Westerly RI, you have a short drive anywhere in the State to explore on a rainy day. [10] Nowhere has clam chowder been mentioned. Time to have a bowl: Rhode Island or Maine? And did we fail to mention fried clams or Lobster your way? If the reader does not like any of the recommendations, try reading the tourist brochures available on the Web from the State you promised yourself you would visit this summer, or next. It's never too early to start planning.

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