New England Mod & Meetup Thread:

Hey y’all - so the 12th, I wanted to get that hammered out so that @mach1man001 can join us this time

Selfishly - if the dog can come, it would be easier for me. That said, she’s been at home for several hours alone before, so if she can’t come, she’ll be fine.

I was thinking somewhere along the 495 stretch near Marlborough?

Here’s a place I’ve NEVER heard of:
https://g.page/lostshoebrews?share

But they got some IPAs, ales, I won’t lie I see a milkshake IPA that I am at minimum, intrigued by. And they make coffee too I guess, if you’re into that sort of thing

I do NOT see anything about food though.

Edit: NOPE, found the food menu, I am just technologically inept. They have a few things like bagels, brekafast burritos, etc but then also have a whole section of the menu that is Order In which are other restaurants in the area, so it might be a brnig your own food sort of deal?

Edit 2: So I’ll own this one - turns out I actually have been here before. I asked my friend if she knew it and she told me “Yeah, you met us there for my birthday one year” SO IT TURNS OUT, I have been here before Now that I know this, I can update the recommendation: YES it is BYOF, and yeah the beer is pretty good overall. No idea on the coffee.

 

I'm down for a change of location especially if it means that more people are able to join!

 

wait did we have a location? God, I am so bad at this.

 

Yeah my dog will probably stay home, I should be free. What time did you guys think?

 

I thought we were still spitballing lol

 

Don’t know, treehouse was good in that we can drive up, kip up in the back and bring food or whatever. This place is in a busier section of the town, less easy to park ~5-7 trucks and figure that out.

 

I guess we're still spit balling with Treehouse as the default.

You're great at this... you should do the planning stuff

 

Ok new Englanders. Here's a tentative plan. 8 days. Day 1 we can't leave till after lunch, so driving to Rhode Island. Staying the night Warren possibly. Day 2 Newport walk and morning in RH. Afternoon we split, half go to Boston, half go to Rockport. Dinner in Salem. Spend the night in portsmouth NH. Day 3 make our way up the coast to Maine. Stay in Belfast or Camden (been there once). Day 4 continue up to bar harbor and spend the night there. Day 5 Acadia and spend another night there. Day 6 drive down to nh in the morning and spend the afternoon and evening at lake winnepaski (sp?). Day 7 drive to ny (possibly old forge) and stay overnight. Day 8 drive home to md.

We have some activities written down and a few towns along the drive to stop in for walks, shopping or eating.

Thoughts?

 

That’s one busy itinerary. Only part I’m not sure I get is the stay in Belfast but like your trip, you should really enjoy it your way. Sounds like a lovely time. It’s 3.5 hours from Portsmouth to Acadia so you can definitely get it in one shot.

for food Rec, I would suggest perhaps considering breaking up the endless seafood with something different in Portsmouth. Durbar Square is Nepalese food. Kind of unique. I recommend the basil chicken, level 3 spiciness

 

The overnight in Belfast/camden is just to be able to explore the southern part. I made an error. There will be 2 days in Acadia. We'll drive up from Belfast in the morning and spend the day in Acadia.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll share it with the group.

 

If you want any recs for any of your stays, lmk. Other than Belfast/Camden, I spend a lot of time in all these areas.

Also, depending on when you pass through, Portland, ME is great. The giant LL Bean is kind of neat in Freeport, ME. Between there and Acadia, I am not sure of what to go see lol

 

Staying in Warren RI? There ain't much here haha. Not sure how you landed on Warren.

When is this trip? I can check on waterfire in Providence see if they're doing one.

Warren food there isn't much. There's a good vegan place in Barrington if that's you're thing. Otherwise id say hit fed hill in Prov for good Italia good. Massimo is my go to rec, but they're all good there. Just run the name by me first - I'm not a know all be all but I can let you know if that one is a dud. Hard to miss the mark though. Napolitanos is great, low key BYOB pizza joint though. But good NY pizza. You're closer to bristol, but I don't know that area much to be honest.

Check out fort Adams in newport, should be free to park and explore the outside.

Let me know if you're in Newport for a dinner and I can look at some restaurants, otherwise it's kind of wherever you can get a table. There's a Mexican place called Diego's we landed at after fleeing folk fest from a pseudo thunderstorm. We nailed the last table outside and the rain didn't happen. Otherwise would have been a 90 minute wait anywhere else.

Portsmouth - like merling said break up the seafood. Agave Mexican is really good.

Old orchard beach - skip it. I'm from there. Meh. But if you are going through in the morning, beach bagel does a good breakfast. Might be busy on weekends.

Portland Maine is cool, but busy. Food is okay, nothing I've had that I'm like "I'd go all the way to Portland for XYZ".

Other than Kennebunk/port, don't bother with seafood and lobster shenanigans south of Portland. It's hit and miss. North of Portland is where it gets better.

You have to go up to Bangor then back down to MDI to get to Acadia. Don't worry about missing Bangor. Some good apple orchards in the fall, a couple decent places for a bite to eat but otherwise - run away.

There's a river walk in Augusta. If you're trying to break up the day. There's a rental SUP place there.

"Winny" - don't bother with saying the lake part, then you're good. Go watch What about Bob, it's set there. Awesome movie.

I grew up between NH and ME and have almost zero experience with the Winny area. Couldn't tell you what's there. Genuinely I'm not sure now that I think of it - if I've ever even been there.

Desert of Maine. Otherwise - it's all kitschy tourist traps and some decent seafood restaurants and ice cream joints.

 

Sooooo, 6/12 brew meet

Lost Shoe Brewery sounds good. I'll do a recon on my way home today. They open much earlier also.

@GarlicFarts, timing ideas for this one?

Anyone else please chime in on times would work best for you.

 

@Gen1TacoLady
Not much to do around Lake Winnipesaukee, few nice little places to eat, I have spent a bunch of time up at Weirs Beach (20 years ago), played lots of pinball in the arcade.

I would drive across Maine from Bangor and go up into the White Mountains and then down to the lake.

I really like the Harpswell area and a place called Lands end. Nice coastal type drive out to the ocean.

I agree stay away from OOB, nothing worth it. In fact, I would avoid route 1 south of Brunswick, then I would take that up for a nice (might be lots of traffic depending on time) drive up the coast. You don't see much on I-95.

 

Haven't a clue. I don't have kids and am flexible. But it's a Sunday so probably not late.

 

Yeah, I remember those days.

I was also thinking earlier but really don't care. I'm also flexible.

Doesn't seem to be much for parking at this brewery. It's on my way home so I'm gonna go by and see what I can.

 

Yeah, once my friend reminded me that I had been there - I remembered.

There is a parking lot, and I THINK a parking garage nearby, but I saw a picture of a road closed for tables so I really don’t know what’s what. I went on like a Tuesday after work, so wasn’t a big deal.

I can look for other places, that’s one I threw out to my old high school friends that’s kinda central to all of us anyway, it also kinda looked like it was central to this group too. I have zero attachment to the place haha

 

And what about BBQ!!? Maybe we stay at Treehouse?

 

Fair point

This place has PBR but I think they're indoors so it would take some coordination

https://www.fireflysbbq.com/beverage-menu

I'm good with treehouse again though.

 

I also looked at firefly. Looks good. Might be a great rain location but you're right on timing and coordination on that.

If we do Treehouse we should start a bit earlier. Have to check hours. Lot was almost full at noon for those that weren't there Saturday.