Anonymous wrote:We stopped at Albacore Park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire a few days ago. It was so cool. It’s a decommissioned submarine right off the highway that you can go through at your own pace. There are buttons you can press for an audio tour and we were the only people on there at the time. Five stars, loved it!

This is on our list if we ever do the drive again! That did look cool.

We stopped at Albacore Park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire a few days ago. It was so cool. It’s a decommissioned submarine right off the highway that you can go through at your own pace. There are buttons you can press for an audio tour and we were the only people on there at the time. Five stars, loved it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So glad you had a nice trip OP!

+1

And glad you stayed in places that didn't add to your travel time!

The Hartford area is not that special but there are plenty of hotels, supermarkets, easy restaurants, etc.

Agreed…Hartford wasn’t special (and we stayed in the suburbs) but had what we needed, which was a dog friendly safe hotel and a quick, good bite to eat nearby. The suburban Target was close by to grab the few things we forgot to pack! I wanted to get some good pizza in either NY or CT but it wasn’t meant to be this trip. We are going to plan another NYC trip now that the KIDDOS are older and can walk/hang with us. My youngest was in a stroller last time we went, and while some parts were fun, a lot of the trip was just a giant hassle (my sib lived there at the time, so we were just visiting them then). They love traveling and are so much more flexible than they used to be! We would not take the dog on that trip obvs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Slang and tacky to call children “kiddos”

Thank you for your contribution to the conversation. Very helpful.

Hubby, kiddos, doggo and I are too relaxed from our lovely vacation to have our feelings hurt. Thanks, anyway!

Anonymous wrote:Slang and tacky to call children “kiddos”

Is it tacky to tell you to go F ock yourself

Anonymous wrote:Slang and tacky to call children “kiddos”

Thank you for your contribution to the conversation. Very helpful.

Slang and tacky to call children “kiddos”

Anonymous wrote:So glad you had a nice trip OP!

+1

And glad you stayed in places that didn't add to your travel time!

The Hartford area is not that special but there are plenty of hotels, supermarkets, easy restaurants, etc.

So glad you had a nice trip OP!

Thanks for the update, OP. I always like when people check back in after their trip.

OP here—ended up stopping in Hartford just due to timing, and then all of our stops on the way were in Maine…York, Portland and Freeport/LLBean. We had a wonderful trip and saw no homeless in BH. Only saw like 1 busker…housing status unknown. The whole area is pretty pet friendly, and we took our dog with us a lot of places, including outdoors at many restaurants where explicitly allowed. One even had a dog menu! Highly recommend this trip for dog families if you can stomach the drive back. Some of the hiking trails would have been challenging for a dog/too much rock scrambling, but most we did were fine if not a touch crowded. Easy to find uncrowded trails as most places people didn’t venture far and just want the easy Instagram shot. We always tried to hike early to avoid parking challenges. Weather was amazing. Even the LL Bean shuttle is dog friendly, but it didn’t start running until this week. Sand Beach is not dog friendly, but the trail near there can be reached via another avenue.

Just wanted to update in case anyone found this post later! We loved it there and would definitely visit again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you do with the dog when you stop? One person doesn't go in?

We do not always travel with our dog but decided to this time (our dogs are family and we enjoy their presence!), so we will see how it goes. DH usually does not love shopping so he may hit up a a park while the kids run around at a playground and I go in a store, for example. If we can eat outside pup may sit with us if allowed. If we are outdoor sightseeing, and it is allowed, dog comes with. We usually try to get to the destination quickly so the pup can be wherever we are staying. This is just such a long drive I want to break it up. Often not everyone is into the same things too so maybe we can break up some.

Definitely look at google maps before getting too set on any suggestions here. Some are very off route and in places that are prone to awful traffic.

If there’s any interest in civil engineering, my kids (to my surprise) enjoyed the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, which has an observation deck.

Portland is a great day-visit city. It has a civil war era fort that may be of interest.

Belfast, ME has a great lunch restaurant, Chase’s Daily, at which we always stop.