vacatia

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some help or advice on planning what will likely be a two-week road trip in New England. I'm driving from Hamilton, Ontario. It will be me and my friend, both around age 40. We are very easy going and don't HAVE to see specific things, and we don't want to lounge around too much. I need help with timing and maybe choosing one place over another (for example, New Haven over Hartford, CT).

We like:
-historic buildings, old buildings, pretty buildings
-nice scenery
-bookstores, coffee shops, unique shopping (don't need chains)
-friend is into dinosaurs, we are both into home decor and pretty sights
-we are not huge foodies, I mean we like nice restaurants and bars but it's not our focus

I assume we would drive through New York state (any suggestions for a pit stop to stretch our legs for a couple hours? The drive from my house to Connecticut is about 7 hours). We would leave on a Saturday morning.
-for Connecticut, I'm thinking New Haven and Mystic. I don't know the timing of things, and I don't want to allocate more than two full days there (unless you think I really should)? We would arrive on a Saturday, so full day Sunday and full day Monday. Do you think I'd have time to stop anywhere else, or are these two days enough for both of those places?
-leave for Newport Rhode Island Tuesday morning. Spend whole day there. Is that enough? Too much? Wednesday morning head up to Providence, spend full day there. Too much? Not enough?
-Thursday morning head from Providence to Cape Cod. Full day in cape cod. Friday, go to Martha's Vineyard. Do I need a full day there?
-Saturday, head up to Boston. Spend Saturday and Sunday there. Too much? Not enough?
-Monday morning of week 2, stop by Salem. I'm assuming we don't need a full day there. This is where I'm a bit stumped on whether or not we need to stop in New Hampshire? If so, where should we go for two days max?
-assuming we skip New Hampshire and go straight to Portland Maine, we'd wind up there sometime on Monday. Spend all day Monday there? Then, head to Bar Harbor and spend all day Tuesday there. Is it worth visiting Bangor if you're a Stephen King fan, or nah?
-Wednesday (or Thursday?) morning drive to Burlington, Vermont. That's a pretty good drive. Any other suggestions for Vermont?
-drive back home on Saturday (a good 8 hour drive, any suggestions for pit stops along the way?)

I appreciate all and any advice or info - I've never been to this area of the States, and again, I'm not looking to lounge around and blob out, but I do want SOME chill time obviously. We like to walk and walk, not on cliffs per say but we can easily walk 20k steps a day to explore a town or city. I'll be using my car, very likely to go on this trip (renting seems too complicated).