When you road trip, do you like to have all your stops planned out, or are you more of a “let’s stumble on something fun” type person? When I don’t plan, I worry that I’ll miss out on something great. But when you have limited time to see an entire state’s worth of goodness, how do you choose what to see and what to pass up?
We recently took a drive up the New England coast, and decided to play the itinerary by ear. Instead of planning everything out, we narrowed it down to 3 main goals: “See as much of the coast as we can within our time constraints, stop when we see something that looks good, and eat a lobster roll in Maine”.
Here are the goodies we stumbled upon. Hopefully they inspire you to take a road trip sometime soon!
Mad Martha’s Island Cafe: Plum Island, Massachusetts
This super cute cafe is right across the road from the beach, and you can tell it gets packed in the summer! Fortunately for us, it was still off season so we didn’t have to wait for a table. The omelet I had was delicious, and I must have had about 4 cups of their great coffee (including the cup the server packed for me as we were walking out the door).
Great Island Common: New Castle, New Hampshire
We stumbled onto the Great Island Common because it was the first park-type stop we saw, and it was right off the road. We knew we had to get out when we saw this piece of art.
See that lighthouse way out there? It was “investigated” for paranormal activity on an episode of “Ghost Hunters”, and it looks like the general public can take a ghost tour of the lighthouse! We didn’t have time to stop for a tour, but it was tempting.
Ogunquit Museum of American Art: Ogunquit, Maine
We saw a sign for the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and realized we’d been into a lot of museums, but we’d never been to a strictly American Art museum. SO glad we stopped – This turned out to be my favorite stop of the whole trip! The museum is located right on the coast, and they have some beautiful outdoor gardens/exhibits as well as very nice indoor exhibits.
It doesn’t take long to see everything in the museum because it isn’t that big, which makes it a great road trip stop (although I do suggest taking enough time to really immerse yourself in the beauty of the art and the views).
The Salem Witch Museum: Salem, Massachusetts
We were near Salem a few days before Halloween, so we didn’t really have the option to pass it up. We went through the Salem Witch Museum and did a ghost tour. Although we didn’t get to go in, there was also a carnival with cute kiddie rides and very cool looking booths set up across the street from the museum. I had no idea, but apparently the tourism industry here didn’t really start until the 1970’s (from what people at the museum and on the ghost tour said). Because it’s such a new industry to the area, there weren’t as many historical things to see as you’d expect from a town this steeped in history.
I’m glad I went, but I wouldn’t do it again. The museum is outdated and a little hokey (the highlight was the gift shop). The ghost tour was fun, but it didn’t have anything on the ghost tour we took in Boston a few days before.
Maine Diner: Wells, Maine
This is the “Dale Arnold”, which is a hot lobster roll with a whole bunch of melted butter – I don’t think I can have them any other way now. I’m sure the other food was great as well (sure smelled good!), but we couldn’t turn down the lobster roll. This place was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives and it was packed even in the off-season. Be prepared to wait a little while to be seated, but know it’s totally worth it. There’s also a cute gift shop next door that you can walk through while waiting for your table.
The East Coast turned out to be a great place to road trip through (even though ours only lasted a few hours!). Hope this inspires you to get out there and explore someplace new! And if you’re ever on the east coast, make a point of eating as much lobster as you can get your hands on and finding a few new places to discover.