In July my cousin, his wife, me and my wife are flying to Newark and renting Limiteds for a New England trip. We take pictures of the bike in front of state capitals, so we will be going to the capitals of VT, NH, conn, NY, ME, RI and maybe Mass. We may skip Boston because of traffic.

We are planning on going to Nova Scotia and riding the Cabot Trail.

What else is a "must see or do" in the area? We're not too big on touristy stuff. Mainly ride and enjoy the scenery.

We also like to eat local cuisine. Lobster will be on the menu for sure. Any other unique local cuisine for the area?

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Too bad you couldn't arrive somewhere else. Newark? Do you have any idea what traffic is like anywhere within 50 miles of NYC? It'll be hours before you get out of it. You're nuts if you think you're going up 95 & across the GW Bridge, and then up to CT or Albany. There will be no scenery, and 95 is full of homicidal idiot drivers. I can almost guarantee one of the worst motorcycle-riding experiences of your life, if you've never been there. If that's your only option, ya gotta do it, I guess. (Just my opinion. I don't know your plans.) Would be nice if you could fly into Buffalo, because upstate NY is pretty nice (scenery-wise), and you could hit the Lake Placid area, and take a ferry across Lake Champlain, into VT. Otherwise, from Newark, if it were me & knowing what I know, I'd head west from Newark before going north. At least to Allentown PA. Then the Northeast extension of the PA Turnpike (476) won't be bad at all. It ends in upstate PA where you can pick up 81 to Binghamton NY, and 88 to Albany.

 

You might want to avoid the state capitols of NY,CT,RI due to traffic, confusing roads, to be honest people drive very aggressively and if you not used to it, it can be a dangerous ... Coastal area will be very crowded in July, going to those areas you need to be prepared to sit in traffic... The best riding that time of year is in the mountains, NY Adirondacks, mountains of VT,NH, and Maine....

 

I ride all these states-- give me a time frame/ 2 weeks--3 weeks--month? I can ride Maine for a week. --I,m sure you,ve seen how you can zig zag through the states to hit the capitols. Backroads or highways? I,ll give you a few roads near the capitols or leading to them and some dont miss points of interest---NY[Taconic parkway] Vt[rt 100/302 to NH] NH[ rt112 Kancamagus]Maine[rt2/rt302/rt 1 from Bar Harbor to Wells ] Mass[Rt116/112 /2 /8a] Conn[rt8/7/202/ 5/] In Maine--dont miss Cadilac mt--Bentleys Saloon- Mass-Fenway Park- the cape-- Nh--the roads--Vt Farm lands Ben and Jerrys----I can go on and on. When we travel on the bike I hit HD dealers ,great eateries, scenic views , and biker hangouts. Rocker NH

 

If they're going to Albany they'd most likely be taking 87 thereby advoiding the gw nightmare. I think 95 is a nightmare till you get past Portland me. Once you cross into Canada its like another world.

 

The airline tickets are already bought. Newark it is.

 

To be honest if I were going to visit various capitals in New England (especially in the summer) I’d do so in a luxury car and be well medicated on valium!

Nova Scotia is nice and riding up through New England can be very scenic and offers a lot of interesting places to see. I was up there last summer and (mostly) enjoyed myself riding through the Adirondics in NY, VT, NH, Maine. I say mostly because anytime I rode near larger cities, or tourist areas especially on weekends, it became a less than good experience. Let's face it heavy traffic and congestion can ruin a motorcycle ride, also just trying to find a pace to stay was often a challenge. I recommend booking lodging ahead and be prepared to pay dearly for it. California prices are cheap compared to much of New England.
Lake Champlain between NY and VT is pretty. Vermont and NH are mostly rural and remind me a lot of north western Arkansas. Naturally in N.H. you'll want to ride up Mt Washington. I really enjoyed the little towns on the Maine coast and Acadia N.P. is beautiful.

Mt Washington



Acadia NP




A Harbor Town in Maine





Bakery in small town, Blueberries were in season!

 

We rode the Cabot trail in 2012 then took the ferry over to Prince Edward for a few days. The Cabot trail is an incredible ride we did it counter clockwise so we were on the ocean side, I would like to go back again maybe in a couple years. Also spent a night in Alma New Bruswick the tide change is something to see, when it's out there is no water in the harbor, in the time it took to have dinner and a couple drinks the boats were floating. There is a park in that area called Rocks provincial park the tide change is something like 40 feet. The white mountains in NH are beautiful and a ride up mt Washington was worth the time it took. Plenty of good riding up that way, not sure about the cities usually try to avoid them.

 

We fly in July 7 and out July 15.

 

The Cabot Trail
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