We were planning on heading to a beach for our next vacation but randomly decided to switch gears and head up to New England to catch the end of the fall foliage.  So we’ll be arriving just after peak tourist season ends (right after Columbus Day).  Our plan is to fly into Boston, MA because we can get a direct flight that will only be about two hours long.  Two thumbs way up for short, direct flights!  Our flight lands early so we are going to pick up a rental car and take our time making our way out of the city and up I-95 towards our final destination of Bar Harbor, ME and Acadia National Park.

We’ve decided that the best option for us is going to be to rent a cottage for a week near Acadia.  We haven’t selected the specific cottage just yet though so if anyone has a better idea please let me know!  With the cottage, we’ll have laundry facilities if we get too dirty or too wet while out exploring.  It will afford us more privacy than a hotel so we can kick back and relax as if we were in our own home.  The other benefit is that you can cook as many meals as you want instead of going out to eat for every meal (potential money saver AND calorie saver).  In many cases we’ve also found it to be less expensive than staying in a hotel, as with anything else though you have to make sure you do your homework.

What we are still researching are places to eat for when we don’t want to cook.  Our focus will of course be on locating good seafood restaurants.  We also need to figure out what activities to check out.  I think hiking and whale watching are currently ranking high on our list but we’d love some additional input and suggestions.  Please comment on any things to do or places to go along I-95!

Crossing our fingers that Hurricane Irene calms down and doesn’t make a mess of New England before we get there!