<p>If you go to Cape Cod, drive as far out as you can – Wellfleet and Truro, for example. Anything near Hyannis is a zoo in the summer. </p>
<p>All of Vermont is beautiful (OK, maybe not Rutland or Springfield. But anywhere near the mountains). Manchester is touristy and pricey, with lots of outlet stores, although nearby Dorset is beautiful with some very nice B&Bs. The Equinox is a nice upscale resort, although it is rather large for Vermont hotels. I’m more familiar with central and northern Vermont, so can’t help too much in the south. If you take I-93 to 89, wave to Dartmouth and drive into Vermont, Woodstock is a nice place to visit.</p>
Alternatively you can save yourself hours of driving and stick to the armpit. We go to Cataumet. There’s absolutely nothing there, but three maiden aunts owned a boathouse on the water which now gets used by various decendents! Nice sailing and kayaking, good birding.</p>
<p>You can’t get on the cape on Friday afternoon or most of Saturday until late in the day without an hour or more wait at the bridge. We have often been stuck in traffic at 8:30 on Sat morning for as long as half hour to an hour. It just gets worse the later you go. The entire Cape can be a zoo, with terrible traffic up and down the main thoroughfares on the north and southern shores (rt 6 and rt 28). I don’t think people really realize how crowded the Cape is. At least the rotary should be gone this summer.</p>
<p>Driving to the north shore on Fri night or Saturday morning can also be very traffic-y. Beach parking lots are often full by noon and it costs a lot to park for the day ($20 on the weekend…less during the week). The beaches up north, and up to Maine are very different than the cape beaches.</p>
<p>Bottom line…best days to go to the beach are mid-week.</p>
<p>I live on the Cape and drive to Boston 2x a week. The flyover is finished so you shouldn’t have any problems with traffic. This was a big project that eliminated the rotary, now you can just sail over the bridge and onto the connecting highway on both sides. I have seen a difference. Have dinner in Boston if your planning to arrive on Friday and come to the Cape around 7pm. You should be fine.</p>
<p>If you give me an idea of what your family likes to do (beaches, minigolf, museums, whale/seal watch, what they like to eat I can give you lots of suggestions for the Cape and Boston. </p>
<p>Blucroo-- our s. is also heading to Tufts in August. He wants to do one of the pre-orientation programs, so we’re going to drop him off, spend 4 or 5 days visiting my mother on the Cape, then head back for the matriculation ceremony and final goodbye (followed by teary ride home), which I think is on the 29th. </p>
<p>Cape Cod would be close (an hour or so away) and easy. A lot of the worst traffic problems can be avoided by not travelling to/from on weekends. If you can avoid the bigger tourist areas (like Hyannis) there are some really beautiful small towns (Brewster, Wellfleet) and others like Chatham and Orleans that are still pretty but have more galleries and stores. We love the (north) bay side and walking the flats when the tide goes out, and evenings are always quiet and peaceful.</p>
<p>That said, I LOVE the mountains, and plan on combining a future Tufts trip with a visit to New Hampshire (willl scan these posts for recommendations). Good luck!</p>
<p>Wow! great suggestions. thanks all. I guess we need a family pow-wow to figure out what type of trip we want to make. Typically, we like to avoid touristy spots and big cities. Since we live at the beach, maybe mountains and small quaint towns and not the beach. I do prefer B and B’s to hotels/motels. Lots to think about, so thanks and keep sending your suggestions for favorite destinations.</p>
<p>blucroo, You might consider Williamstown, a lovely New England village in the Berkshires (home of Williams College). It’s about 3 hours from Logan.</p>
<p>There is a resident summer theater program that is one of the best in the country and several very fine museums in town and nearby by. It’s within a couple of hours (maybe less? ) of Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow and everything else that summer in the Berkshires offers.</p>
<p>Lots of B&Bs, restaurants, quaint shops in the area. And profoundly beautiful scenery, hiking trails, fresh air, star filled skies.</p>
<p>I’d guess that Williams is less than an hour from Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow and th eother attractions in the Berkshires (depending on traffic, of course). And the drive is lovely.</p>
<p>If you don’t like touristy skip the Cape until you can visit off season. Vermont, NH and Maine are all much less crowded. IMO though the water in Maine makes it useless as a beach vacation. Would love to go up and paint some time though.</p>
<p>Northern VT is beautiful but don’t know how far you’re willing to drive. Further south, the Manchester area seemed somewhat touristy, but there are some pretty smaller towns nearby (we stayed in Dorset), and lots of bed & breakfasts in the area.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve never been, but know people who love Squam Lake in NH.</p>
<p>I would not miss, amongst so many other things, “The Old Manse,” in Concord: Where the shot was fired that was heard 'round the world; where Emerson wrote “Nature”; where Nathaniel Hawthorn romanced Sophia Hawthorn before becoming one of the most significant writers of the 19th century.</p>