We’ve always escaped Chi for the craziness of July 4, mostly to take advantage of (what used to be?) a quiet work week.

This time, we traded our usual trip abroad for a patriotic get away to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, followed by Vermont’s Green ones. Work in a lil cheese, maple syrup, and adorable B&Bs, and wala! Europe and Asia were distant memories.

Doesn’t sound like us (me)? Yea, I def suggested we hit the Amazon for a jungle adventure, but Jon’s look of utter desperation at that suggestion led us elsewhere. Something about having internet access… minor details.

Joke’s on Jon. Service in these parts was not exactly… prevalent.

Bethelehem, NH & Woodstock, VT

How to get there.

Our beloved Southwest delivers when it comes to options for flying into the Northeast. We quickly found that we could swing our NH & VT destinations by easily flying into New Hampshire’s relatively small Manchester Boston airport (MHT).

Just 20k points/pp RT, and off we went! Just about 2 hours each way from Chi’s MDW, easy peazy all around.

Runabout tips:

Consider MHT to avoid traffic & big cities on this quaint voyage! Boston Logan may first come to mind, or even Portland, ME. With 2 nonstop options daily in & out of MHT tho, cake.

How to get around.

With our sights set on a mountaineering road adventure, a rental was a must. We of course compared options at Skyscanner & Costco Travel. This time, Costco for the win!

At $440 total for the 5-day stint through Budget, our mid-sized SUV was the perfect travel companion.

Runabout tip:

Particularly if you explore Skyscanner, pay close attention to the filters, and search for in-terminal rental options. On the obvious side, saves time on your way in & out of the airport. Trust us from experience tho, particularly for international travel, you can save yourself a phantom rental by booking something more legit. Read, avoid “meet & greet” options and little known companies. There’s a story there. Several. Too many.
Be sure to choose automatic transmission (unless you’re looking for a stick, obv). We mayyy have overlooked that upon reaching Cabo, and had a hell of a time getting around. Never seen Jon quite so white knuckled…

Where to stay.

Now for how we can landed on these destinations. We’re talking to those of you who looked at us sideways when we shared that we were taking it easy for the 4th and heading to… New Hampshire?

Several years ago, we traversed Maine, from Portland to Bar Harbor, and hit many absolutely delightful towns in between. We loved every minute of our first New England adventure and in the town of Camden, fortuitously stumbled upon the Captain Swift Inn, which quickly became my favorite B&B of all time. And continues to hold that title. We learned of Select Registry for the first time at the Inn, and vowed to visit another.

Unsurprisingly, a large concentration of this prestigious group of properties are in the NE, and neither of us had been to NH or VT. A trip is born!

I perused Select Registry properties for destinations within a few hours of an airport, within a few hours of one another, and with solid reviews of both the property and hiking nearby. Adair Country Inn in Bethlehem, NH & Jackson House Inn in Woodstock, VT stood out as front runners for an easy, drivable trip, with each leg being about an hour & a half stint.

Alas, we opted for 506 on the River in Woodstock for the gym, despite that this was not a Select Registry property. No regrets.

After that mouthful, briiiief review of each!

Adair Country Inn – $540/2 nights, breakfast included.

Pros: Location, Savannah the Innkeeper is super sweet, gorgeous grounds & mountain view, tea available at all hours.
Cons: While the property has a rich history, it needs updating and better maintenance. Service (other than Savannah) was less B&B like, with the place run more like a business than a quaint, homey inn. Breakfast was not substantial (for this girl) or that tasty. Come on people, that’s a signature item for a bed & breakfast.

Unfortunately, we would not recommend this spot. To stay at. But read on!

506 on the River – $720/2 nights, breakfast included.

Pros: Location was great, service was friendly, the property has an insane amount of amenities (bikes included!), and every part of it is maintained very well.
Cons: Breakfast was good, not great. If you stay at Captain Swift Inn in ME, you’ll stop wondering “why such a high bar, woman?!”

Awesome spot, esp for a group or family. Tons to do on site.

Runabout tip:

We highly, highly recommend visiting the Captain Swift Inn in Camden, ME. Just a few hours from Acadia National Park, we will absolutely return. And yea, there it is again.
Stay at the charming Rabbit Hill Inn in Lower Waterford, VT! Or at a minimum, visit for a meal and a Staves puzzle.
We stumbled upon (post-Google search, obv) the no-frills Fitness Authority gym that was perfect for each of our NH mornings! Of course an afternoon hike was in the stars as well, lucky Jon.
On that note, we bet the Jackson House Inn Select Registry property is lovely, and would recommend this for a more quaint B&B option in Woodstock.

How far does your mula go?

Obv, we were very much still in the US for this trip.

The patriotic NE is hoppin during the 4th of July, and the hotel prices were likely reflective of that. That said, hotels are just plain pricey these days.

Dinners in these small but touristy towns was near on par with Chi prices, likely for that latter fact (the many tourists). With farms all over, we did appreciate the freshness of the ingredients.

All in all, fair and unsurprising pricing all around. Slightly lower than Maine and other more well known NE destinations.

What to do.

Hike (& eat) your lil <3 out!

Bethlehem, NH

Hike!
- We loved Arethusa Falls & Frankenstein Cliff Trail in Hart’s Location, NH. Tallest falls in NH!
- For a shorter, less intense hike, you might try Lonesome Lake in Franconia, NH.
- On the way to Woodstock, we made a pit stop at Lost River Gorge. What an unexpected, cave-forward surprise. Honestly, I would never have expected an attraction like this to be featured on Alltrails. We were even more taken aback that the caves were so much fun! With a truly mind-boggling design throughout the gorge, this is worth every penny (of the $28/pp ticket price). Awesome stop along our drive.

Where to eat & drink!
- El Mirador is bomb. Run by a chef from Guatemala, the food at this joint was on point. We happened to be there for Tuesday’s ever popular Mexican night. The other nights’ menus looks tasty as well tho. The birria tacos & shrimp quesadillas both hit the spot for our first meal in NH. The view? Luxardo cherry on top.
- What Adair may lack as a B&B, it makes up for as a quaint dinner spot. With our love of bouncing around, we celebrated our post-hike survival with Adair’s Apres. For this HH loving girl, the ambiance, crisp red, and lil apps to wash it down could not have been more perfect. Gorgeous & delicious scene.
- Post-Apres, off we went to 24 Carrot at the lovely Rabbit Hill Inn! What a wonderful surprise. From the service to the food to the acclaimed Stave puzzles, this is a fave. Tequila to boot? Pry me out of here, why don’t you.
- Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, NH is a must. Everything is delish and homemade, so have at it. But you cannot leave without sampling some variety (and there are many) of Polly’s pancakes. To die for. The latte was such a treat for this non-coffee drinker.
- Reklis Brewing has a super cute ambiance with lights all around. We bet the brews are tasty too & will visit when back in town!
- The Bethlehem Village Store sign showcasing the store’s Indian food (on wknds only) is super intriguing. On that note, we were very pleasantly surprised by the diversity throughout this trip. Not at all what I had expected of small town NE.
- We heard a couple raving about The Yellow Deli. Looks super cute. Give it a go!

Woodstock, VT

Hike some more! Mount Tom is a must, and there are tons of variations you can do depending on your desired length, or simply whether you get lost. We dug the Pogue & Mount Tom trail. On a sunny summer day, great sweat but also not terribly long if you’re headed out on a day o fun like we were. Super accessible by parking at the Billings Farm & heading across the road.
Visit Sugarbrush Farm for awesome cheese & maple syrup tastings, a quaint lil store with tons of goodies to bring back, a nature walk, and farm animals. Doesn’t get much better than this.
The Woodstock Farmer’s Market screams quality and is so well laid out. You better believe we grabbed the essential fixins for a caute anniversary picnic!
We were lucky enough to have our 506 balcony perfectly perched for the July 5 fireworks show next door at the high school. Perfect rendezvous for our final night!
Speaking of the 506, play alllll the games. This place is decked out with foosball, pop a shot, air hockey, Pac Mac (among other arcade games), and pool, both to swim in and the billiards kind. Outdoor sports, you ask? Grab an on-site bicycle and tool around the property to play horshoes, badminton, and frisbee golf. A game of bags? I’m sure they’re around, guys. Yea, Jon lost most of these games. Shhh.

Where to eat & drink!
- Au Comptoir is oh so cute. Grab some bubbles & olives to kick off the evening at this adorable, cozy spot in downtown Woodstock. We were too thirsty to wait for intricate cocktails to be made, but they looked legit.
- We fortuitously visited Simon Pearce through a stranger and now friend we met at Polly’s. Donna not only shared all about the area and must visit spots, this being one, but gifted us her reso for the following day and even called the restaurant with the change. With resos getting booked up months in advance, this lucky duo was very grateful for our gorgeous and delish lunch date! From the food to the picturesque Quechee Gorge to the awesome glass blowing demonstrations, this is a must visit. Huge thank you, Donna!
- The Prince & the Pauper marked the first stop on our July 4 crawl. Highly recommended by many locals, the seafood (of all varieties) & beef skewers were melt in your mouth good. We suspect everything on the menu, creative cocktails included, is. Super cute ambiance to boot, this is a perfect date night spot. Yes, we love those.
- Ransom Tavern is set inside another cute Inn and boasts many pizza varieties in a very New England feeling, casual setting. Worth a pit stop but not our fave grub spot by far.
- Long Trail Brewing is a great outdoor (& indoor if you prefer) spot with awesome grounds, solid pub fare, and tasty brews. The super soft sweatshirts make for a perfect keepsake.
- Woodstock Inn & Resort seems to be the town’s premier accommodation. We grabbed a bite and many drinks at the bar. The company was solid (heyy Doug & Karen!) but we tend to prefer the smaller joints in quaint New England.
- A few locals recommended Melaza Bistro & Tapas, and we’ll give this a go on our next trip. Great location downtown.
- Cloudland Farm is impossible to get into without a reso. We’d recommend either making one far in advance, calling as soon as you’re able for the wait list if those are full, and if all else fails, there’s always visiting the farm shop for some take home goodies.
- Sante is another local-recommended spot that we didn’t have time for. Looks delish and creative.
- A final next time visit is Woodstock Scoops for a Vermont Maple Creemee!

Runabout tips:

Don’t stay at Adair, but definitely go for a stroll around the property while enjoying Apres @ Adair. Well worth the visit.
When visiting the Simon Pearce store connecting to the restaurant, have at it! These folks will ship your items in the US free of charge. No heavy glass transport for this light traveling duo, woo!
Resos are strongly encouraged for all meals, and honestly, it’s a good idea simply for confirmation that the spot you’re intending to visit is open. Many places are not on Mondays & Tuesdays in and near Bethlehem, for ex.
There is tons of golfing in the area if that’s your jam, and people seemed to be pleased with the courses.
You might skip a visit to Billings Farm and instead head to Sugarbrush for a low-key, admission-free alternative. Plus, you get to leave with cheese. Win win win, people. That said, very different visits, so have at it if you’re game for both.