The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (4 page)

enjoy a classic new england vacation

VERMONT

New England has a harsh climate, a barren soil, a rough and stormy coast, and yet we love it.

—
AMERICAN STATESMAN HENRY CABOT LODGE (1850–1924)

4 |
A New England vacation is an immersion in nature, history, arts, and neighborliness. Along with curling up with a good book and canoeing lazily on a lake, you’ll find plenty to tickle your brain and stretch your muscles. Then again, if you find yourself just standing in the general store chatting with someone you’ve never before met about nothing much at all, that’s OK too.

The northeastern states offer picturesque towns where you can stroll down a classic main street, take a walk in the mountains, catch a concert on the town green, and visit a historic statehouse. A favorite spot is the corner of Vermont edging Canada and New Hampshire, which is known as the Northeast Kingdom. The barns are red, the mountains high enough for sweeping views, and the land cheap enough that craftspeople from artisan cheesemakers to woodworkers call it home.

With a few days—or the better part of a summer—you can station yourself in the historic town of St. Johnsbury (pop. 7,400), the cozy hilltop village of Craftsbury Common (graves in the village cemetery date from the early 1800s), a breezy cottage on Caspian Lake in Greensboro (the town still has no cell service), or the state capital, Montpelier.

From any of these, you’re within a 30-to 45-minute drive of a dozen rural attractions. In the small town of Cabot, tours are offered daily in summer of the
Cabot Creamery
(2878 Main St., 800-837-4261,
www.cabotcheese.coop
, $2). In Danville, the
Great Corn Maze
(1404 Wheelock Rd., 802-748-1399,
www.vermontcornmaze.com
, $12) opens in late July. In Montpelier, you can tour the 1830s
Vermont State House
(115 State St., 802-828-2228,
www.vtstatehouse.org
) Monday through Saturday, July to October; audio or self-guided tours are available at other times of year when the legislature is not meeting. And you could easily spend an entire day in St. Johnsbury, visiting the
Athenaeum
(1171 Main St., 802-748-8291,
www.stjathenaeum.org
), an art gallery, museum, and library, and the
Fairbanks Museum
(1302 Main St., 802-748-2372,
www.fairbanksmuseum.org
, $8), an engaging yet anachronistic cabinet of curiosities and planetarium dating from 1891.

$PLURGE

A COZY COUNTRY INN

Visitors return year after year to Greensboro’s historic
Highland Lodge
(802-533-2647,
www.highlandlodge.com
), a country inn with wide porches, a main building, and self-contained cottages. Summer rates run $285 for a double room and include breakfast and dinner daily, gratuities, and some recreational gear; single rates start at $160 and include the same.

OTHER CLASSIC NORTHEAST VACATION SPOTS

 
Adirondack lakes region, New York.
New York isn’t technically part of New England, but we’re claiming it anyway. Fish-rich lakes, rolling mountains, and charming antler chandeliers: How can you pass it up?
Adirondack Regional Tourism Council, 518-846-8016,
www.visitadirondacks.com
.

 
Litchfield Hills, Connecticut.
Visiting the covered bridges, antiques shops, farmers markets, historic sites, and museums here can fill up a summer. From late August to mid-October, local fairs bring together racing pigs, country line dancing, fireworks, and quilt contests.
Western CT Visitors Bureau, 860-567-4506,
www.litchfieldhills.com
.

 
Moosehead Lake, Maine.
Moosehead Lake is about nature hikes, boat rides, and the region’s namesake antlered mammals, which outnumber humans three to one. Despite the odds, if you visit in late summer you may miss them altogether; they’re most visible in May and June.
Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce, 888-876-2778,
www.mooseheadlake.org
.

Looking for more? A few minutes in front of the bulletin boards at The Willey’s Store in Greensboro, the co-op in East Hardwick, or the town hall on Craftsbury Common will give you the update on local events. Young performers ages 10 through 18 tour the region as
Circus Smirkus
(802-533-7443,
www.smirkus.org
); most performances are in August but dates vary. Young thespians from
Get Thee to the Funnery camps
(www.vermontshakespeare.com) display their prowess with outdoor Shakespeare performances in Craftsbury Common, Hardwick, and St. Johnsbury—also in August. The
Bread and Puppet Theater
(802-525-3031,
www.breadandpuppet.org
) in Glover displays political satire with music, giant puppets, and street theater plays throughout the region. If that all seems too heady, there are always the cotton candy and greased pig races at the
Barton County Fair
(278 Roaring Brook Rd., 802-525-3555,
www.orleanscountyfair.org
), held in mid-August.

The mountains here are more enticing than daunting, which means outdoor activities are accessible to anyone who is reasonably fit. Cycling, golf, horse riding, llama trekking—even organized tree climbing—are on the options list. Hiking trails abound; if you’re with children or want an easy path, check out the
Barr Hill Nature Preserve
(802-229-4425,
www.nature.org
).

Some sports and performances like those presented by Circus Smirkus and the Shakespeare camp are offered in summer only, but fall and winter too bring their charms, including autumn leaf viewing, and in winter, snowshoeing, cross-country, sleigh riding, dogsledding, and maple sugaring.

Among the area’s least expensive lodging options are campsites in state parks (Vermont State Parks, 888-409-7579,
www.vtstateparks.com
) and at private campgrounds. Other value accommodations in the region include bed-and-breakfasts, mom-and-pop motels, and even chain outposts (these mostly are confined to the areas around I-91 and I-93). In addition, private owners often rent lakefront cottages suitable for families. The Northeast Kingdom Travel & Tourism Association can provide information on all of these options.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Northeast Kingdom Travel & Tourism Association,
446 Rte. 114, East Burke, VT 05832, 800-884-8001,
www.travelthekingdom.com
.

follow the barbecue trail

FROM NORTH CAROLINA TO TEXAS

Grilling, broiling, barbecuing—whatever you want to call it—is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.

—
CHEF AND AUTHOR JAMES BEARD,
BEARD ON FOOD
(1974)

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No food seems more quintessentially American than barbecue. But despite our prowess with burgers, chicken breasts, and hot dogs on the grill, barbecuing has been a common cooking method around the world pretty much since humans first figured out how to strike a fire.

In modern-day America, what is meant by “barbecue” is likely determined by locality, says Steven Raichlen, James Beard Award–winning author of
Planet Barbecue, The Barbecue Bible,
and other popular books on grilling. In the Deep South, barbecued food is the result of a slow, prolonged cooking method. In Texas, it’s smoked beef; in Kansas it’s ribs with a sweet barbecue sauce or a dry rub grilled till the meat drips off the bone. In North Carolina, barbecue is pulled pork—though the fierce, decades-old battle between eastern-style (vinegar, no tomatoes) and western-style (vinegar, but with tomatoes) rages on.

To fully immerse yourself in barbecue, sample the fare and flavors on offer at a few favorite towns and fests where grilled beast—be it smoked, rubbed, pulled, slathered in sauce, or massaged with spice—is the main draw. If you’re truly a ‘cue fan, string the recommendations into a road trip. But beware: After five barbecue feasts in as many days, you may be in need of a giant salad.

Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri.
If there is a center of the American barbecue universe, it may well be Kansas City, straddling the Kansas-Missouri state line. As a staging center for western exploration, Kansas City was home to early meatpacking operations and stockyards; barbecue naturally followed. But it wasn’t until the 1920s that a fellow named Henry Perry opened the first barbecue pit. Among the best loved of the city’s more than one hundred barbecue joints are
Gates
(800-662-7427,
www.gatesbbq.com
), where you’ll be greeted with a shouted “Hi, may I help you?”
Fiorella’s Jack Stack
(816-531-7427,
www.jackstackbbq.com
), for white tablecloth service; and the dignitary must-stop
Arthur Bryant’s
(816-231-1123,
www.arthurbryantsbbq.com
); all have several locations around town.

$PLURGE

BARBECUE UNIVERSITY

For a splurge, sign up for Raichlen’s Barbecue University, a three-day seminar held twice each summer at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The per person $2,000 price includes three nights accommodations and meals—despite the cost, the course fills up quickly.
Broadmoor Resort, 800-634-7711,
www.broadmoor.com
.

Now entering its fourth decade, the annual
American Royal Barbecue Festival
(816-569-4021,
www.arbbq.com
), held in late September/early October, features 500 contestants and 20 acres of gluttony. Word from the wise: Get your $13 tickets in advance; festival lines are nuts.

Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association,
800-767-7700,
www.visitkc.com
.

Lexington, North Carolina.
Lexington stakes its claim as “barbecue capital of the world” thanks to the 1919 establishment of the town’s first pit-cooked barbecue tent. The furniture-manufacturing operations that were once the centerpiece of Lexington’s economy have waned, but the town of 20,000 remains beloved for its coziness and two dozen barbecue restaurants, famed for pork—sliced, chopped, or pulled—served with coleslaw and hush puppies (beef and chicken dishes are also offered at some). Most are open any day you land there, though some are closed on Sunday. One of the largest and best known is
Lexington Barbecue No. 1
(10 Hwy. 29/70 S, 336-249-9814). For the full effect, come during the annual
Lexington Barbecue Festival
(www.barbecuefestival.com) in late October, held on Main Street near the historic county courthouse.