New England Travel and Vacation Gazette and Other Wicked Good Content

What a great introduction to Wolfeboro, N.H., when the Chamber of Commerce is located in an absolutely beautiful, historic building called Wolfeboro Station! We highly recommend visiting the nice folks at the Wolfeboro Chamber of Commerce before exploring Wolfeboro, N.H., and surrounding communities. Wolfeboro -- nestled on the eastern shores of Lake Winnipesaukee -- goes beyond just being a place with a lake and some cute, little shops, inns and restaurants. It is a classic New England small town with lots to do, but not in an overbearing programmed "Hey, everybody, look at how much fun I am having" kind of way. Museums, sightseeing tours, theater, concerts, arts and crafts shows, community dinners, hiking trails, scenic back roads drives and boating, fishing and swimming opportunities await you in a truly underrated area of New Hampshire. It just feels normal here, not some phony manufactured marketer's dream. Known as the "Oldest Summer Resort in America,...

Let's continue the ice cream blogging one more time by giving a shout-out to Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream in Mystic, Conn. Now, it's always good to find an ice cream place in a great travel destination like Mystic , and even nicer when the ice cream, atmosphere and service are outstanding. The ice cream is definitely more expensive, but it's well worth the slight increase in price. The reason: most ice cream has a higher volume of air, which means less taste. You'd be surprised how many well-known ice cream places employ this method. Creating one batch at a time of creamier, superior tasting ice cream with premium ingredients, as well as frozen yogurt and sorbet, really elevates this ice cream into our personal "Best of New England" category. When visiting here, I always get the "Lemon Chocolate Kiss," a mouthwatering combination of, surprise, lemon and chocolate! The atmosphere is bustling and the frequent lines move right along due to some skil...

We all love those classic New England ice cream stands -- rural ambiance and all -- but it does absolutely no good if the ice cream is lousy. Fortunately, Kimball's in Westford, Mass. (about an hour northwest of Boston), has kept its long-time quality tradition intact by serving what we feel is some of the best ice cream we've ever sampled in New England. Whether a traditional vanilla or a creative gingersnap molasses, the ice cream is always richly flavorful here -- and served in generous portions. Kimball's also has two state-of-the-art miniature golf courses, an outdoor grill and seafood shack a bumper boat area, an animal petting area, arcades, a golf putting area, driving range and batting cages. The setting is beautiful -- not touristy at all -- and the overall experience some of the most fun we had when traveling New England last summer. I remember when Kimball Farm was just an ice cream stand. Those were truly memorable times driving in my dad's wood pane...

Mario's Italian Restaurant in downtown Lexington, Mass., has been around, seemingly, forever. A small, slightly noisy and always crowded restaurant, Mario's makes some amazing homemade baked ziti with the right combination of layers of pasta, seasoned ground beef and tomato sauce, and a creamy cheese Bechamel sauce cooked to a golden brown. Mario's also makes some very good pizza and other pasta dishes, but I always make it a point to get the baked ziti here. There's nothing quite like it in my restaurant book -- and that includes those pricey, higher profile restaurants in the area. Hope you get to try some, whether as a local or a tourist visiting historic Lexington!   Mario's is located at 1733 Mass. Ave in Lexington, Mass. Tel. (781) 861-1182

Source: visitingnewengland.com via Visiting on Pinterest We were fishing for some new ideas for Pinterest pinboards and thought it would be a great idea to create a "Best Lobster in New England" pinboard . Highly visual and showcasing some of the best lobster shacks and full-service restaurants in New England that we and our friends embrace, these are definitely "go-to" dining spots for local lobster and lobster rolls. Some lobster dining destinations you'll see on this Pinterest pinboard: Barnacle Billy's in Ogunquit, Maine, Abbott's Lobster in the Rough, Noank, Conn., Woods Seafood in Plymouth, Mass., and Markey's Lobster Pool in Seabrook, N.H. That's just a sampling so for a full-course online tour of more incredible lobster destinations in New England, we recommend following this appetizing pinboard for current photos and descriptions and future updates! Related articles: The best lobster rolls in New England Maine lobster sala...

Source: blog.preservationnation.org via Preservation Nation on Pinterest Congratulations to Bath, Maine, for being chosen by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a 2012 Great American Main Street Awards winner . The National Trust chose only five communities in the United States "whose successes serve as a model for comprehensive commercial district revitalization." Other winners include Culpepper,Va., Jacksonville, Ill., Valley Junction/West Des Moines, Iowa, and Washington, Mo. I know it must have been a daunting task for the Preservation to choose towns and cities for this award, as so many communities in our great country have worked so hard to improve their downtown districts. Locally, I think of, in addition to Bath, Melrose, Mass., Wakefield, Mass., Bellows Falls, Vt., and Saco, Maine, as shining examples. That being said, I believe that Bath was a fine choice for this accolade. Last time, I visited in 2008, Bath really impressed me with its nic...