New England Mamas

Sightseeing in New England

With gas prices at these astronomical and unbelievable levels, it seems like folks are planning to stay closer to home for vacation this summer. Here are some of my favorite places to go with kids in New England. Most are within an hour of Boston, but the farthest are no more than three hours away and near great long weekend destinations for the family. Most of these attractions are seasonal.

Boston-area: The New England Aquarium, the USS Constitution and the boat cruise from the Aquarium dock to the Constitution. We go to the Aquarium fairly often but last summer Douglas and I did the boat cruise as well.

We had a great time and wrapped up our day  with an early dinner at Legal Seafoods, where Doug has his first lobster of his very own. A few years ago, we did a boat cruise in the harbor to view the USS Constitution turnaround, but they are not doing the full turnaround cruise this year. More pictures on Flickr.

Portsmouth, NH: Historical village Strawbery Banke offers a similar experience to other historical recreations like Sturbridge Village and Williamsburg, but with the added bonus of the ocean within spitting distance and the beaches of Rye NH within a few minutes drive. While in Portsmouth, don't miss the USS Albacore submarine.

Woodstock, VT: We have a second home in Barnard, VT, a small town just outside of Woodstock. This is a great area for kids. Mount Tom is a great place to hike, and not far from town, you have Silver Lake State Park for swimming. Quechee Gorge, often called the Grand Canyon of the East is about 30 minutes away on Route 4 East, and in the other direction, about 45 minutes from Woodstock, you'll find the Alpine Slide at Pico Mountain.

Mount Tom is part of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park, which also includes the Rockefeller Mansion. The mansion is well worth the tour, and you should check if there are any special tours available on the park website.  I do recommend the tour for older kids, not toddlers. It is guided by a Ranger and is just a bit long for short attention spans.

Our favorite places are Billings Farm and VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science.) We are members of both, and go at least once or twice per month during the summer. Doug is also enrolled in day camp at VINS for three weeks this August.

Billings Farm is a working farm, and has special activities pretty much every weekend --crafts, ice cream making, hay rides etc -- so it works as a repeat, familiar destination.

The public displays at VINS focus on raptors and their rehabilitation. There are two live shows daily in season as well as nature trails and exhibits featuring rehabilitated raptors who were so severely injured or compromised that they cannot be released into the wild.

Here are some of our latest pictures from Billings Farm, from Memorial Day Weekend.

You'll have a great time if you go to any of these places with your kids.

Tags: New England Aquarium, USS Constitution, Strawbery Banke, USS Albacore, Silver Lake, Quechee Gorge, Billings Farm, VINS

New England - A safe place to raise kids

Today, I came across an article by Parents Magazine and the results of their study on the safest place in America to raise children.  I am happy to see that four out of the top 10 safest states are from New England.  And the other two states round out number 11 and 12.

I'm even happier, to see that my home state of Connecticut is ranked the #1 safest state.  This is due mainly to their booster seat and bike helmet laws.  We've got some work to do to improve especially in the way of water safety, but it's great to know that overall, our kids are in safe hands.  I like knowing that our lawmakers have our children's safety in their minds.  When Connecticut first passed their upgraded child seat laws, I scoffed.  Really, what first grader (and above) is going to want to sit in a booster seat?  And how will I navigate the car line at school if I have to strap a child into a car seat/booster seat?  You know what, it doesn't take any more time.  Einey, my first grader, just hit 40 pounds, the minimum state weight to go from a car seat to a booster seat (even though I switched her earlier).  To graduate from a booster seat to a car seat, she has to have reached 60 pounds and her seventh birthday (the law is a bit ambiguous on this, but talking to seat inspectors, they all have that in agreement).  I don't see her miraculously gaining 20 pounds in the next ten months, so we'll be holding onto the booster seat for a few more years. 

How did the rest of the New England States rank?  Rhode Island, our neighboring state, comes in at #2.  Their main focus is on combating violent crimes involving children.  Their weakness is at school-bus crossing zones.  The next New England state on the list was Maine coming in at #6.  They rank high when it comes to teen drivers, but low with leaving children unattended in vehicles.  Massachusetts rounds out the top ten at #8.  They have great emergency care set up for children, but allow children as young as four to buckle up without a booster seat.  I found this surprising with their proximity to CT which has much stricter laws. Vermont just misses the top ten at #11 and New Hampshire comes in at #12.  Overall, New England seems to be a very safe place t olive.  To find out where your states ranks and some quick stats, visit Parents.com.