Five Miles From Home ...and other exotic travel destinations

Drive to Caldwell NJ
Hoagies in Caldwell w/ Relatives
Drive to NYC
Check into Roosevelt Hotel (http://www.theroosevelthotel.com/)
Hike up and Down 5th Avenue
- Visit the American Girl Superstore (http://www.americangirlplace.com/agp_ny_splash.php)
- Visit St. Patrick's Cathedral (http://www.ny-archdiocese.org/pastoral/cathedral_about.html)
NBC Studios in Rockefeller Plaza
Perfect (Thin Limp and Greasy) Pizza at a hole in the wall pizzeria one block from Rockefeller Plaza.
Comments: Our room in the Roosevelt Hotel was small, dark, and had a view of the roof. The hotel is very posh with a very ornate lobby. Due to ants in our room, they switched us to a 15th floor room for the second night that was much more what we expected when paying over $280 per night for a hotel. The American Girl store seemed like it should be a parody, but it was real. A very bizarre place. St. Patrick's was stunning inside and out. It was odd to have a souvenir shop in the main hall. We didn't do the NBC tour just wandered about the gifts shop with a few thousand other people. Only buy pizza at hole-in-the-wall pizzerias. You'll never eat chain pizza again.

Visit Empire State Building (http://www.empirestatebuilding.com/index2.cfm)
Lunch at Pax Deli
Lion King at New Amsterdam Theatre (http://disney.go.com/DisneyTheatrical/NewAmsterdam/)
Dinner at Café Edison (http://www.edisonhotelnyc.com/)
Comments: Erin described the Empire State building best as, "Observatory Purgatory". We spent $48 to wait in line for an hour through endless sales pitches and gimmicks to spend 5 minutes on the roof of New York. Definitely the low point of NYC. Lion King was astounding. One of the extremely few shows actually worth the cost of the ticket. It was breathtaking. Edison Café is a little restaurant under the Edison Hotel near Times Square. Another outstanding hole-in-the-wall NYC treasure. We got moved to the 15th floor of the Roosevelt and were given a large fruit basket to make up for the ants in our previous room. If you stay in the Roosevelt and they try to give your room 323, leave and find a hotel 6.

Visit Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT (http://www.mysticseaport.org/nf-home.htm)
Buy enormous quantities of souvenir stuff
Check into Comfort Inn, Mystic, CT (http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/hotel/CT023)
Dinner at Steak Loft (http://www.steakloftofmystic.com/)
Comments: Mystic was rainy, but that seemed appropriate for the seafaring setting. For anyone who likes boats, this is paradise. The Comfort Inn was almost 1/3rd of the price of the Roosevelt. Unlike the Roosevelt, the room was clean, bright and immaculately maintained.

Visit Cliff Walk in Newport RI (http://www.cliffwalk.com/)
Drive to Plymouth, MA (http://www.visit-plymouth.com/)
Check into the Governor Bradford Inn (http://www.governorbradford.com/)
Eat Lobsters at Lobster Hut
Comments: Cliff walk is stunning, but so was the smell of rotting seaweed. We had a 3rd floor room at Governor Bradford. The pool and phones were broken but the view worked just as advertised. The only way to eat lobster is at Lobster Hut. You order at a counter and eat by the water on picnic tables.

Breakfast at the All American Diner (http://www.visit-plymouth.com/allamerican.htm)
Visit Plimoth Plantation (http://www.plimoth.org/)
Lunch at Carmens Café Nicole (http://www.visit-plymouth.com/carmens.asp)
Take a Harbor Cruise on the Pilgrim Belle (http://www.plymouthharborcruises.com/)
Eat More Lobsters at Lobster Hut
Comments: The diner was excellent and full of locals (a good sign). Plimoth Plantation (yes, that's the way it is spelled) is the great theatre. Unlike Williamsburg, all the interpreters stay in character and that makes for some very humorous conversations. My favorite part of the trip was the harbor cruise. A simple and tacky boat with an amazing view.

Drive to Quincy MA
Visit Adams National Historic Park (http://www.nps.gov/adam/)
Drive to Boston
Check into Radisson Boston (http://www.radisson.com/home.jsp)
Dinner at Legal Seafood (http://legalseafoods.com/locations_detail.asp?id=27)
Comments: For any fan of John Adams, the Adams National Park is not to be missed. It is also the best deal of any tour we found. It was $3 per person for a Trolley ride and long and excellent tours of the Adams homes. By the time we got to the Radisson we were fried. We ended up just swimming, eating and sleeping. Eating was very expensive, but excellent at Legal Seafood.

Drive to Derry NH
Visit Robert Frost Home (http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/FrostFarm/Frost.html)
Drive to Wallingford, VT (http://www.wallingfordvt.com/)
Visit Relatives and recuperate.
Comments: Frosts Farm was a little stop with a delightful walk through the woods. The home was closed, but the grounds were open and very pleasant. They provided a poetry guide to read at various stops along the trail. Bring mosquito repellant.

Drive home along the scenic NY State Thruway/New Jersey Turnpike/I-95 parking lot.
Comments: Don't do the I-95/NJ Turnpike without an EZPass (http://www.ezpassmd.com/). It is definitely worth the hassle of going to an EZPass location and getting the box because you want to spend as little time on NJ Turnpike as possible.