It is hard to believe, but Our Up Coming Road Trip to the USA and Canada will be our first time in these countries. We made a very conscious decision that we would be doing ourselves a disservice by not widening our travel scope from Europe, Asia, and the Oceania.

So yes, USA and Canada, Contented Traveller are hitting your shores for 2 months in November and December this year to bring you our experiences. Quite frankly, I have wanted a cold, and preferably white Christmas for a long time…and I want to see what all of the fuss about bacon is.

We were not sure where we wanted to actually go in the US, but as serendipity would have it, we found the Distinctive Inns of New England. These are 12 inns throughout the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Each of the inns is rich in history and brings us that personal experience that you get when you stay with local people. They all happen to be stunningly beautiful and in unique locations, as you will see later in this article.

This is what Gordon and I have planned to do so far. However, we do value those experiences that just ‘happen’, and knowing us, this will be the case.

Are you ready to see what two virgin Aussies are going to be doing in both the US and Canada?If you have any suggestions, want to invite us for dinner, meet us for coffee, show us how to eat bacon – then we would love to hear these.

 

Road Trip to the USA and Canada

San Francisco and the 49ers


This gave me the idea to write to the 49ers to ask if we could come and see the game live when we came to the States. We wanted to be representatives for Australia’s new found love of this sport. It was with great shock, and total delight when the 49ers invited us to see the game when we get to San Francisco, and to go to the Red Zone Rally, 49ers Museum, the 49ers Team Store, the Super Bowl 50 Experience Tour and Michael Mina’s Bourbon Pub.

Suffice to say our friends hate us, particularly since I don’t know anything about football in Australia, let alone America. Suffice to say we are rapt.

We can’t wait to go to the tailgate party, even though we don’t really know what this is. We are excited to see the crowds and to experience the game 1st hand. We want our Aussie boy to have a blinder of a game.

credit 49ers.com

September 14, 2014: The San Francisco 49ers vs Chicago Bears. The San Francisco 49ers 2014 season opening day at Levi’s Stadium. Selected view and Images from around the Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers Lost 28-20 to the Bears at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. (49ers Photo)

 

San Francisco to New York City.

After helping the 49ers to win against the Atlanta Falcons and spending the next day with them, we will fly to NYC. This is a one-night stopover but as this is the city that never sleeps, we will be hitting the town that night.

 new-york

NYC to Niagara Falls, Ontario

Don’t worry, we are coming back to NYC – how could I not have my Sex and the City moment there. We will be taking the train from Penn Station to Niagara Falls, Ontario. We/I considered flying but Gordon would like to see more of the countryside, and that seems fair enough.

penn-station

 

Niagara Falls, Ontario

We will have a couple of nights staying at the DoubleTree Fallsview Resort & Spa by Hilton and working with Niagara Tourism, which will be fun. We are looking to experience not just the falls but also some of the eateries, like Doc Magilligan’s on Lundy’s Lane, and the Old Stone Inn.

Niagara Falls at night

Montreal

We will travel to Montreal, and are working on a very interesting series, The Arts is Montreal. We are staying for 3 nights with Le Saint-Sulpice Hôtel Montréal, who epitomize art in the city. They have a permanent exhibition, Body and Soul, by Jean-Claude Poitras and held an innovative program where they bought together 14 Canadian and international writers in the creation of a book, in 2014.

montreal-canada

 

Quebec

From Montreal, we head to the city of Quebec for 3 days, and to HLDQ Hôtel Le Germain Québec. This will be a foodie-driven tour, as well as discovering the history, arts and culture of the city.

We think that as we are so sporty, that we will try and catch an ice hockey game here, or perhaps even one in Boston.

 quebec

New York, New York

 

5 glorious days and nights at the city that I have been wanting to visit forever. Serendipity again kicked in when we read about The Paul Hotel, New York City. This is going to be a match made in heaven.

This is what drew us to the hotel,

Are you named Paul, or Paula, or Paulo, or Paulie, or Jean-Paul, or Paulogrino, or some other amazing variation of the great name Paul? Well, today is your day, my friend.  The Paul Hotel would like to invite you to stay at our fine establishment in New York City at a discounted rate with a personalized care package.  Centrally located off Broadway just North of Madison Square Park, The Paul is in the middle of everything great and exciting about Manhattan.  Come celebrate having the greatest name in the greatest city in the world. See you soon!

(p.s.— we’ll totally throw in an extra bottle of water if you were in The Beatles….)

We are fortunate to be staying there the entire time, and with its enviable location on 32 West 29th Street, we know we will have fun. We will be sure to “Join Paul and other nomads at La Mesa de Paul, our new restaurant.”

We are also going to see a Broadway show or two, like Book of Mormon, and will use The Broadway Collection for this as they are the site to go to for all shows in New York.

As this is our first time here, we will definitely want to see everything iconic in New York City. Then we are going to walk, walk, walk and watch, watch, watch. I am looking forward to seeing everything frankly.

paul hotel NYC

Distinctive Inns of New England

We will then hire a car to start our exciting journey with Distinctive Inns of New England.

These are a collection of Luxury New England Bed & Breakfast and Country Inns, many with fascinating histories. There are 12 Inns in the Distinctive Inns of New England (DINE) covering the 5 states of New England. We will be visiting each for 2 nights. Have a look at each of them; they are so special, and we will get to learn so much more about the New England area by staying at such intimate and beautiful places.

I have included a map so that you can see that this is an excellent way to see a lot of this beautiful area of the United States.
[mappress mapid=”2″]

In Maine:  Captain Jefferds Inn in Kennebunkport & Camden Maine Stay Inn in Camden

In New Hampshire:  Manor on Golden Pond in Holderness & Chesterfield Inn in West Chesterfield

In Massachusetts:  Harbor Light Inn in Marblehead, Gateways Inn & Restaurant in Lenox, Deerfield Inn in Historic Deerfield and Captain’s House Inn in Chatham on Cape Cod.

In Vermont:  Rabbit Hill Inn in Lower Waterford & Grafton Inn in Grafton

In Rhode Island: Cliffside Inn in Newport

In Connecticut: Inn at Harbor Hill Marina in Niantic.

 

distinctive-inns-new-england

Mt. Washington Valley, NH

We will then go onto Mt Washington Valley, NH for 5 days, and weather permitting, we will be Skiing, or just chilling in the 780,000 acre White Mountain National Forest.

“Mount Washington Valley is made up of North Conway, NH, Centre Conway and its surrounding villages of Jackson, Bartlett, Intervale, Gorham, Shelburne, Fryeburg, Chocorua, Tamworth, Glen, Snowville and Eaton. Here you will find a plentiful supply of New England’s trademark white clapboard buildings, tall steepled churches, romantic covered bridges and good old general stores.”

There are 12 ski resorts and XC Center here, so this will be a unique experience for us, and one we will be sharing with all of our snow buddies. This looks just the place where we may well do some dog sledding, and some snow and outdoor activities, and we will need to after all of the amazing food we will be eating at the Distinctive Inns.

Mt. Washington Valley, NH

Stowe, Vermont

I have always wanted to go to Stowe, Vermont since seeing some show where it showed this magical winter wonderland. Since we are in the area, we will stay for 3 days at the gorgeous Green Mountain Inn. and get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy the pre-Christmas festivities. We will stay there until Christmas Eve, and then head to Boston.

 

stowe-vermont

Boston

Boston is where we will spend 4 days including Christmas Day, and we are still deciding what we are doing, and where we are staying. We probably should figure out something for Christmas Day itself, so any suggestions are welcome. Again, we want to see lots of things that are Bostonian and may drop into Cheers for a drink.

boston

Los Angeles

We have 1 night and most of the next day in LA, before we head back to Sydney. We won’t waste this time, but will choose one place to have a very quick look. Santa Monica or Venice Beach sound convenient to the airport.

venice-beach

It should be interesting to see what we discover and feel about the United States and Canada. While we might see lots of different things on TV, and in the movies, and while we might read about a lot of different things in the newspaper and online; meeting people who live and work and play here will be the defining moments for us.

Join a couple of Australian travel writers on Our Up Coming Road Trip to the USA and Canada. Subscribe to our newsletter and find out where we are, what we are doing and what we are experiencing, I think we will have a fantastic time.

road-trip

Images:

Niagara Falls Lois Elling, Montreal John Skodak Quebec David Ohmer NYC LWYang Stowe Peter Rintels Mt. Washington Valley, NH MWV Chamber of Commerce Boston WBUR Boston’s NPR News Station Venice Beach Chris Goldberg Penn Station Maciek Lulko

 

 

 

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