Top 7 Places to Travel in the Northeast United States

2013 it seems just wasn't my year. It started out rough, then just got progressively rougher and busier. With moving into Manhattan I just couldn't seem to get my act together in planning a proper trip, and just when I thought I might travel in the Fall I found myself leaving my job. Ce la vie, no?

So when it came time to plan the annual family summer holiday we decided to keep it local. Being a native New Yorker that usually means sticking to within a 4-hour drive of the city. What choices does that leave us? Let's take a look.

• Boston - a great city. Home to lots of American history, clam chowder, and beer. Lifetime visits: 6
• Philadelphia - can be a bit shady but also pretty. Tons of American history (again), philly cheesesteaks, interesting museums, Amish country, Hershey's Park. Lifetime visits: 10
• Washington, DC - the nation's capital. History (check), museums (check), nature, cherry blossoms. Lifetime visits: 12
• Colonial Williamsburg - a historic recreation of Virginia during colonial America (late 1700s-early 1800s). This is actually a family favorite. The gingerbread is amazing! Lifetime visits: 8
• Upstate NY - besides having gone to university here we've also travelled around the state quite a bit including Niagra (3 times), Buffalo (twice), Cooperstown, Albany, Monticello (more times then I can count), and of course Binghamton.
• Canada -  Montreal, Quebec City, Niagra, Toronto. I've been to three of them before. All have been amazing experiences, and Montreal is a fun treat to try and pick up some French!

And that's only a bit of the list! There are so many interesting places to see, and so many family roadtrips that it felt like we had exhausted everything the area had to offer. Our original intent was to go up to Canada and get our fill of maple treats and French foods in Montreal but there was a bit of a mix-up with the passports - and we only found out the day before we were suppose to leave!!

With only a few hours to come up with an amazing adventure, or call off our plans to take a vacation, I found myself staring at a map of the Northeast. Vermont was too far and Saratoga Springs had too much nature and not enough activity. Scanning the map I had hoped that some new city would appear before me and have everything that we were looking for in a trip - site-seeing, history, shopping, food, adventure.

Then I saw it. The winner....

Portland, Maine!! It had everything we were looking for, was a completely new city to us, and is the home to lobster. Seemed like a winning combination and in the end it was!

I honestly can't recommend Portland enough. It was like an entirely different world up there. People were so nice and friendly. Cars stopped completely on major roads for pedestrians to cross. The scenery was gorgeous but there was still tons to do. Lots of maritime history and lighthouses. Boat rides to the other smaller islands. I could definitely see why people who live there love it! Below are some of the highlights from the trip.

Food

Lobster at Jameson Tavern

Lobster! Oh the lobster! I had never been a huge fanatic for the fish before but having it in Maine made me realize why. Lobster never tasted so sweet and tender before in my life. Bite Into Maine had by far the best lobster roll I had on the trip. I also loved the lobster at Jameson Tavern which was right next to the L.L. Bean campus (literally the size of a college campus but filled with shopping). To be honest though, I'm not sure you could find bad lobster in Maine even if you tried.

Cycling

There were also bicycles everywhere! I even had a chance to go on a bike tour with SummerFeet Cycling where I saw 3 different lighthouses. The tour I took was for 5 but the directions weren't great, and it's not really guided, so when I got separated from the group I found myself lost in the suburbs of Maine.

Beer

Beer is by far one of my favorite beverages and I'm fairly sure that beer has no better advocate then the people of Portland. Every part of town seemed to have a micro-brewery. There were plenty of beers to taste and some were so good I couldn't help but bring them home. The folks at Shipyard Brewery were very friendly and the pours were very generous! I didn't enjoy Allagash Brewery as much. Some of the people who work there were so pretentious and the waitlist for the tour was poorly maintained. At least we got a tasting, but even that was a disappointment when the beer I wanted to purchase from the tasting was sold out (it was only 2pm!).