Saturday July 18. We left at 8:30 and drove to Esker Hart Artisan Ales.

Next was Oakflower Brewing.

A few hours north of there is Timber Ales.

In the same building is Twelve Percent Beer Project.

Twelve Percent makes Skygazer Brewing beers.

A half hour later we were at Counter Weight Brewing.

Our final brewery of the day was New Park Brewing.

We spent the night at the Economy Inn in East Hartford CT.

Sunday July 19. We drove up to Trillium Brewing's location in Canton MA, which was the first of several breweries on this trip that I had visited during my 2019 New England trip. (Trillium has two more locations in Boston.)

Twenty minutes away is Vitamin Sea Brewing's taproom in Weymouth (they have another one in Plymouth).

Not far away is Widowmaker Brewing.

Next we visited the Arnold Arboretum, a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University.

We stopped at Larz Anderson Park, where I had gone sever times as a child.

Then we went to the neighborhood I grew up in, Oak Hill Park, and walked around. We saw the house that replaced the one I grew up in (many houses in Oak Hill Park have been razed and replaced with large, expensive homes)...

...and my old elementary school (formerly Memorial Elementary, now Solomon Shechter Day School).

We also walked to nearby Mount Ida College to see Longfellow Pond, where I used to go in my youth to catch catfish off the dock. In 1973 or 1974 I released a baby snapping turtle there; I had caught it at Easton Country Club (where my father played golf). In the early 1990s I was visiting my mom, who still lived in Oak Hill Park (my father was deceased by then). I jogged to the pond, stood on the dock, and saw a huge snapping turtle swimming under the water. To this day I wonder whether that was the one I had released more than a decade and a half earlier.

Next we drove to my old high school (Newton South)...

...as well as my old junior high school (formerly Meadowbrook, now Charles E. Brown Middle School)...

We drove over to Watertown, checked in at The Inn on Arsenal, and walked to Demos, a Greek restaurant that my family used to eat at more than 50 years earlier.

We walked back to the hotel and crashed.

Monday July 20. We drove to Riverside station and rode the MBTA (nicknamed "The T") to the Hynes Convention Center, then walked down to the Charles River Esplanade.

Then we walked to Public Garden...

...and Boston Common.

The Freedom Trail starts here, and we walked the length of it. Probably the most visited spot on the trail is Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market.

We walked through Little Italy.

We got on The T at North Station and rode back to our vehicle, then returned to the hotel.

Tuesday July 21. We drove up to my alma mater University of New Hampshire and walked around. A brief synopsis of my college career: I lived in Engelhardt Hall my first three years and at my fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha my senior year (it has moved from 10 Madbury Rd to 35 Madbury Rd). I was on the wrestling team, did a lot of partying/drinking, played arcade video games (mostly Asteroids, Missile Command, and Time Pilot), and graduated in 1984 with a Computer Science degree.

We drove an hour north to Portland ME and visited Bissell Brothers Brewing.

Modestman Brewing Lone Pine Brewing A few minutes away is Belleflower Brewing.

Then we drove up to Goodfire Brewing's location in Freeport (their Portland location is closed on Tuesdays) and met Melissa's friend Rachel.

We all went to Rachel's house in Sidney.

Wednesday July 22. We said good-bye and drove 2+ hours to Acadia National Park. We parked at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, took a shuttle down to Jordan Pond, and walked the 3.3 mile loop trail.

We shuttled back to our vehicle and drove to Blackwoods Campground, where we would camp for the next two nights. As you would expect, motels in the area cost $200 or even $300 per night during the summer when you include tax, while campsites are $30, and with my senior lifetime pass I get them half price, so it's only $15 per night.

Thursday July 23. I didn't book far enough in advance to find a campsite that was available for both nights, so we packed everything because we would be staying at a different site that night. We drove to the Fabbri picnic area and did most of the same hike I'd done on my 2019 trip. We went by Otter Cove, Otter Point Overlook, Boulder Beach, Monument Cove, Thunder Hole, and Sand Beach Overlook.

We walked across Sand Beach to the Great Head Trail and hiked up to Great Head.

We hiked back down, crossed Sand Beach, then took the Beehive Trail. There is a split where if you continue on the Beehive Trail, it is a steep, treacherous climb (I'd done it in 2019). Or you can instead take the Bowl Trail, which is what we did. Both trails go to a pond called The Bowl.

We backtracked a bet, then turned down the Gorham Mountain Trail to the trailhead, and from there it was about a quarter of a mile to our vehicle. We drove to Blackwoods Campground and set up camp at our new site.

Friday July 24. We drove about 6 hours to River Roost Brewery in White River Junction, VT.

We then drove to Tunbridge and checked into the one Airbnb we would stay at on this trip. It was out of our way but it was in a beautiful location and considerably cheaper than any hotel in Vermont during the summer.

Saturday July 25. We drove up to Ben & Jerry's and got the tour.

Next we went to Alchemist Brewery, which I had visited several times.

Then it was off to Waterbury to visit two breweries. The first was .

Next was freak folk bier, our first stop of the day that I'd never been to.

Twenty minutes away is Lawson's Finest Liquids.

Next we went to nearby Warren Falls.

Our final brewery of the day was Red Clover Ale Company.

A few minutes away is Smoke Rise Campground, where we would spend the night. This campground has coin-operated showers.

Sunday July 26. We drove down to Saratoga Springs to Tree House Brewing, which as of this writing has 7 locations throughout the northeast.

Next was Mixed Breed Brewing, which until early 2026 had been located in Guilderland. It then took over the former Unified Beerworks location in Malta and served its beers at Van Patten Golf Club in Clifton Park for several months. It opened a taproom at its Malta location in xxx, and that's where we went.

Then it was onward to Fidens Brewing, where we had been the previous September.

We drove an hour and a half to Bad Seed, which is a cidery. I'm not into cider but Melissa is into pinball and the place has several pinball machines.

Our final brewery of the trip was Equilibrium Brewery, which I'd been to in 2023 and 2025. I sampled beers while she went to nearby Rock Fantasy, which is a rock n' roll shop and arcade.

We spent the night at Sleep inn & Suites Middletown.

Monday July 27. On the way home we stopped at The Break Arcade, aka "8 on the Break".

We arrived home at xxx