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(TGA) - My husband and I are planning our 2nd fall foliage trip and need some help. We are planning to stay 3 nights in Bar Harbor, Maine, and 2 nights in Woodstock, Vermont. We will be driving from Maine to VT and are looking for a place to stay one night. Any suggestions of a town in Maine, NH, or VT that would be different than the places we are already staying at? Any advice would be much appreciated!
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Jackson, New Hampshire. North Conway is more well known, but it appears that Jackson is preferred place within the same area, per forum discussions.
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Sounds like an interesting undertaking.

First a few suggestions for Mt Desert Island. Be sure to wander through the Park slowly doing the Loop Road and making sure to visit Jordan Pond House for either lunch or tea. Both are awesome in the summer so must be more beautiful during foliage. For lobser in the rough I'd suggest Thurston's in Bass Harbor. Great fresh steamers and lobsters with a view that can't be beat. (Pack a roll of wet ones to clean your hands off) Bar Harbor is pretty touristy (honkey tonk) but wandering around the island will reveal little towns with neat restaurants and shops.

Mapquest indicates that the trip to Woodstock will take you about 6.5 hours taking I-95 south to Portsmouth and then working your way up to Woodstock by connection into I-89. That leaves you as number of alternatives to stop off at along the way. Portlasnd's Old Port District might be a nice breaking point. Youcan wonder the art gallerys, jewelry stores and crafts store and enjoy a number of fine restaurants. For lodging I'd suggest the Regency Hotel (www.theregency.com) which is first class. For dinner try 666 Congress where the food and service are awesome. If you prefer to be in a quieter place, try the Bufflehead Cove Inn (buffleheadcove.com), and of course if youwant to go shopping at 2 am AT ll Bean, chose Freeport as your stopping point. There are a number of good Inns which you can access at tripadsvisor.com. I prefer the Harraskeet Inn. For lunch or dinner go down to the Town Dock and get some fresh steamers and lobster in the rough at Haraskeet Lobster.

If you want to press on further, you may want to stay in Southern Vermont and if so, I'd suggest that you deviate a bit from Mao Quest''s direction and from Concord NH go over to Brattleboro, VT and stay at the Old Tavern in Grafton, Vermont, from there you can either go back to I-91 to go up to US 4 to Woodstock or take Rt 100 up the center of the State to Woostock stopping along the way at the various crafts studios along the way. or Plymouth Notch which was the childhood home of Calvin Coolidge and is a historic site maintained by the State of Vermont. During foliage the area is beautiful and quaint. During your stay in Woodstock take the drive over to Simon Pearce in Queeche and treat yourselves to either lunch on the patio overlooking the Mill Pond or the George (first come first serve) or make reservations for dinner. Either way its a treat.

A few caveats about Maine. 1. As much as possible stay off US 1 after it becomes the costal route and goes two lanes through every little town. 2. Don't try and leave the State on a Sunday afternoon via the Maine Turnpike. It becomes a parking lot.

Hope you have a wonderful time

Second,
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