Our 2022 Travel Season: 5-Month Road Trip in Ontario and New England

Our 2022 Travel Season, lasting from June 3rd to November 6th, consisted of our longest road trip yet: a 5-month road trip through Ontario and New England.

We covered 13,365 miles, went on (at least) 41 hikes, explored 3 National Parks, and made 12 different towns and cities our home for anywhere from 2 to 30 days.

Why do we call it our travel season? At the end of 2020, we realized full-time travel wasn’t sustainable for us, and we designed our lives into two “seasons” instead: (1) The Basketball Season and (2) The Travel Season. Read more about that decision - and where we spend the basketball season - here!

What’s a 5-month road trip? We consider a road trip to be the time spent “on the road” without being at home. So, road trips can be day trips, weekend trips, week-long trips, or in this case: a 5-month trip. (We left our home in Dallas on June 3rd and didn’t arrive back until November 6th.)

Since we almost exclusively travel by car (or fly then rent a car once we land), we tend to plan one big road trip for the area we’d like to explore or theme we’d like to experience for the season (like New England or a New England Fall) then plan a bunch of smaller road trips (typically day trips) for each stay along the way.

For our 2022 Travel Season, we decided on a New England Road Trip, with a bonus stop in Ontario to visit Toronto, Niagara Falls, and ice wine country!

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The Planning: Our 2022 Travel Season

When planning our next travel season (something we usually do in January of that year), we start by thinking about places we have on our wish lists.

Last year, in 2021, we picked Colorado and Utah because both had been places we’d wanted to visit for a while, and we had previously booked but then had to cancel a trip to visit Utah’s Mighty 5. You can read more about our 2021 travels here.

This year, we had a few different places on our wish lists: New England (this one was mostly on my list because I’ve wanted to see and experience a New England Fall for a while), California and Arizona (California itself is home to 9 National Parks we’d love to visit), and the South of the US (including Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida… this one’s been on Jon’s list because he wants to visit the Louisiana swamps… and Harry Potter World in Florida 😅).

Since our travel season takes place over the summer months, it was relatively easy to rule out the South (at least for now, I’m not sure how long Jon is willing to delay his visit to Hogwarts!), and because we had two family weddings on the East Coast (one in June to start our travels and one in November at the end of our season), New England made the most sense.

We knew we wanted to plan our trip around the fall as much as possible (although we had a few months beforehand to plan for as well), and it was Jon who suggested we cross the border to Ontario to visit Niagara Falls and Toronto. (And to my delight, ice wine country!)

After deciding on when we’d be where, we packed up our car and started our road trip to New England, making stops in St. Louis, Ohio, Maryland, and Ontario, Canada as we went.

Where we spent our “off season” (basketball season), cheering on the MAVs to the Western Conference Finals!!

Us in the car, all packed up and ready to start our 5-month road trip!

Arriving to state of our first stop: St. Louis, MO to see Gateway Arch National Park

The Overview: What Went as Planned / What Didn’t

Once we settled on a 5-month road trip through New England, our plan was simple: to experience a New England fall 🍁🍂

We started traveling in June, so we’d also have a few months to fill beforehand, and our planning usually shifts once we sit down to actually look at rentals, our budget, and things we’d like to see... and this year was no different.

New England was the perfect pick for our 2022 Travel Season because we had even more friend and family events pop up on the East Coast (besides the two initial weddings), but we didn’t ultimately experience the exact New England Fall we (read: mostly me) were looking for.

I’d hoped that just being in New England during the months of September and October would lead to a perfect fall experience, but unfortunately, you’ve got to do a bit more planning to end up in the right spots at the right time.

Due to timing and rental availability, we missed peak fall in spots like the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire and Stowe, Vermont. But I’ve decided this just means we’ll have to take what we’ve learned from this season and plan a full-on Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip for some time in the future! (I’m thinking a one-month-long road trip during the month of October… heading all the way north to Maine first, then truly following the leaves south!)

A few more things that didn’t go quite as planned? We spent 12 hours on a Moose Stakeout in Moose Alley and didn’t come across any moose (and were frustrated enough to cross a moose tour off our list in Maine afterward, ha!). We also never went on a whale-watching tour (even though seeing whales was high on our list of want-to-dos).

Things that surprised and delighted us this season? I fell in love with Lake Placid and the Adirondack Mountains (the first place in 3 years of traveling that I really didn’t want to leave), we got to experience Halloween day/night in Salem, Massachusetts (INCREDIBLE!), and we successfully completed the “Edge Walk” at the CN Tower in Toronto (i.e. the world’s highest full circle hands-free walk). Plus, we randomly ran into friends on the top of Mount Washington, were able to surprise friends for their baby shower, and go camping with friends in Acadia National Park.

All in all, it was an amazing 2022 Travel Season… Here’s what it looked like and what we were able to explore!

Our 2022 Travel Season Itinerary: A 5-Month Road Trip Through Ontario & New England

Map created by Atlas.co

When I say we didn’t time the fall leaves right, I mean our rentals didn’t line up to put us in the right places at the right time for peak foliage. We were in New Hampshire, right near the Kancamagus Highway, about two weeks too early and we missed seeing any foliage in Vermont and New York at all (but thoroughly enjoyed summer activities there instead).

That said, we were in the right spot at the right time for amazing foliage in Maine and Acadia National Park (though possibly still one week too early), and we were in Massachusetts at the right time to visit Salem on Halloween.

Here’s what our itinerary ultimately looked like:

We spent one week in St. Louis • two weeks in Ohio • one week in Ocean City, MD • three weeks in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (between Toronto and Niagara Falls) • two weeks in Vermont • a long weekend camping on the Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park • three weeks near Lake Placid, New York • one month in Campton, New Hampshire • three weeks in Ellsworth, Maine • and three weeks in Attleboro, Massachusetts before a wedding in Baltimore and then driving back (in one, long 23-hour day) to Dallas.

With both Jon and I working full-time, we do the majority of our sightseeing in the evenings after work and on the weekends, but we did take a few days off for camping in Maine (just to give you more context of when/how we explored).

Stop #1: Weekend in St. Louis

Our first stop took place on our way from Dallas to visit family in Ohio. We spent a weekend in St. Louis, MO. We mostly planned this stop to visit Gateway Arch National Park, but then found so much to do in the city once we started researching. I can’t wait to recap with a St. Louis weekend itinerary!

In addition to visiting Gateway Arch National Park (twice), we explored Forest Park (a park in St. Louis that’s bigger than Central Park in New York), the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (and took part in the Clydesdale Experience so we could meet a few Clydesdales), took a short Riverboat Cruise along the Mississippi River, and walked around the St. Louis Zoo (admission is free, and the zoo is located inside Forest Park).

Gateway Arch National Park

Forest Park, St. Louis

Clydesdale Experience, Anheuser-Busch Brewery

Stop #2: Three weeks in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Since we aren’t exploring or sightseeing as much when soaking up time with family and friends, I’ll skip our stays in Ohio and Ocean City, MD. (Although, these stays were great and we have plenty of recommendations for Ocean City and Cuyahoga Valley National Park if you’re interested!)

Next, we traveled to our first international destination since we started traveling consistently in 2019: Ontario, Canada.

We spent three weeks in downtown Hamilton (about halfway between Niagara Falls and Toronto). While I think we’d stay in Toronto or Niagara-on-the-Lake if we were to visit again, the central location of Hamilton was perfect for getting to know the area during our stay. We were able to easily visit both Niagara Falls and Toronto twice, plus enjoy some amazing wineries between Niagara-on-the-Lake and Hamilton.

Recap posts coming eventually, but here’s a sneak peek: In Toronto, highly recommend the CN Tower and its “Edge Walk” if you’re not afraid of heights. This was AMAZING. Also recommend walking along Humber Bay Shores. For wineries, highly recommend the Greatest Winery Tour at Peller Estates - you complete your tour drinking ice wine in their 10Below Icewine Lounge - as well as the Vineyard Dome Experience at Konzelmann and visiting the winery + bakery at 13th Street Winery.

A few of our favorite things to do near Downtown Hamilton included Gage Park, breakfast at Tim Hortons (often on the way back from a morning stroll at Bayfront Park), Dundurn Stairs and Chedoke Radial Trail, Dundurn Castle, Sam Lawrence Park (for a great overlook of the city), Willard’s Ice Cream, Hess Village, and eating at Coop Wicked Chicken and Meltwich Restaurants.

We also found a ton to do outside of Hamilton, including the Belfountain Conservation Area (and swing bridge), Island Lake Conservation Area, Cheltenham Badlands, West Avenue Cider House, and a maple tasting at White Meadows Farms (highly recommend a maple charcuterie board!).

Stop #3: Two weeks in Topsham, Vermont

We didn’t so much as pick Topsham as it picked us based on rental availability. That was no problem though because we were close enough to get to our two main destinations in Vermont: Burlington and Stowe.

Check out our favorite foodie road trip with 8 fun things to do in Stowe, Vermont, or the best things to do with one day to visit Burlington, Vermont.

We were even able to take a fall-focused road trip to Woodstock, Vermont (despite being a few months early, ha!).

Staying near Topsham and looking for a short but challenging trail that’ll lead you to an amazing overlook? Check out Wright’s Mountain. Jon, Lincoln, and I got into trail running before work on this trail and it ended up becoming something we did in most stays for the rest of our season!

Stop #4: Camping on the Schoodic Peninsula, Maine

Two of our best friends are pro campers and showed us the ropes for a few days camping at Schoodic Point Campground in Acadia National Park.

Not only did we have the best time camping with them but it was great to explore a part of Acadia National Park we probably wouldn’t have otherwise. The Schoodic Peninsula makes up about 5% of Acadia National Park and is way less visited than the other 95% on Mount Desert Island (MDI).

After spending three weeks closer to Mount Desert Island later in our season, we understand why Schoodic is less visited… there’s just so much to do on Mount Desert Island that it can feel hard to prioritize driving the extra distance to Schoodic. But Schoodic is gorgeous too and I’m so glad we were able to experience it with friends. (Plus you can get to MDI from Schoodic and we spent one of our days at Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake.)

We highly recommend the hike to Blueberry Hill on the Schoodic Peninsula, and Schoodic Point has some of the best star gazing in Acadia National Park!

Camping was such a fun highlight of our trip, and I hope we’ll get to experience camping with friends all around the US from here on out.

Stop #5: Three Weeks in Au Sable Forks, NY (near Lake Placid)

The Lake Placid area was a last-minute addition to our travel season. Even though Lake Placid is just across the lake - Lake Champlain - from Burlington, Vermont (about two hours drive), we didn’t think about adding New York to our itinerary at first.

It wasn’t until we had a few weeks between camping with friends and our next stay in New Hampshire… and we actually opened Google Maps to see what’s nearby… that we realized how close we’d be to Lake Placid and how much fun that could be in the summer.

It was August when we visited Lake Placid and it was HOT. That’s one thing we probably should have been prepared for visiting New England (but weren’t): no AC in most units we rented. That’s okay though because there were tons of things to do to keep us busy during our stay.

You can read our pick for the 6 best things to do in Lake Placid here. And here’s (what I think is) a PERFECT weekend itinerary for Lake Placid! And here are 10 of the best hikes in the Adirondacks near Lake Placid.

All in all, I LOVED Lake Placid and its surrounding Adirondack Mountains. I already can’t wait to go back. This was the one stop along our road trip I found it really hard to leave. There’s just so much to do if you love sports and the outdoors!

On top of Whiteface Mountain with Lake Placid Lake in the background

Tons of Olympic legacy sites and activities to explore in Lake Placid

A gorgeous view from Mirror Lake (the lake the town of Lake Placid sits on)

We hiked most days after work and still couldn’t experience everything the ADKs had to offer!

Stop #6: One month in Campton, NH

New Hampshire hosted our first month-long stay of the season and WE. WERE. READY.

We were really looking forward to four weeks in the same rental because at this point of our travel season, we had packed and unpacked 10 times. (We had packed and unpacked 6 times before even arriving in Ontario because of our stops in St. Louis, Ohio, and MD.)

We love moving from place to place but tend to prefer month-long stays because we can settle into them a little bit more and feel less pressure to go and explore during all of our downtime. (In Lake Placid, we went out almost every night after work to do a hike, plus spent full days exploring on the weekend. During shorter stays, that tends to be the pace we keep because there’s so much we want to do and see.)

September also came while we were in Campton, New Hampshire so I was REALLY looking forward to colder temps (remember that no AC issue?) and fall foliage. The colder temps definitely came (yay!) but for the most part, we’d have to wait until October and our stay in Maine to see the leaves change.

While in New Hampshire, we road-tripped to Moose Alley, drove Mount Washington’s Auto Road, rock climbed at Mount Rumney, solved the Great Vermont Corn Maze, kayaked on Lake Winnipesaukee, drove the Kancamagus Highway and Currier & Ives Scenic Byway, and hiked through the White Mountains (including the Franconia Falls, Campton Falls, Artist's Bluff, Welch-Dickey Loop, Mount Morgan, Mount Prospect, Franconia Ridge, Flume Gorge, and Middle Sugarloaf Trails).

Here’s our pick for the 6 best things to do in New Hampshire. And here are 3 scenic road trips to take in New Hampshire, plus 7 fun hikes in the White Mountains!

Stop #7: Three Weeks in Ellsworth, Maine

We planned three weeks in Ellsworth, Maine for two reasons: to visit Acadia National Park and eat alllll the lobster rolls!

So, that’s exactly what we did, spending the majority of our time on Mount Desert Island to explore Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. (But if you’re staying in Ellsworth, I can’t recommend enough the hike on Blue Hill Mountain. It’s incredible and rivals the views you’ll get in Acadia, but with 1/100 of the traffic.)

Here are 6 of the best things to do near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Here are 10 of the best hikes in Acadia National Park. And here are 5 one-day itineraries for exploring Acadia.

Hiking the Beehive Trail

Sunrise hike on Gorham Mountain

Stop #8: Three Weeks in Attleboro, Massachusetts

This one’s different in that this was primarily a stop to visit friends and family (which makes it less of an “official” travel season stop than others on this list) but this was also a stop we picked to experience Salem on Halloween (which is VERY travel season).

So while we don’t have a ton of recommendations for Massachusetts yet, we do have one must-do: Halloween in Salem. It was an amazing way to cap off our New England Road Trip and something I could do every year… I’m hoping this is how we’ll end our ultimate fall road trip one day, too!

Also HIGHLY recommend the Jack O Lantern Spectacular in Providence if you’re visiting in the fall. It’s incredible!

The Jack O Lantern Spectacular

Halloween Day/Night in Salem

Also found the best hot apple cider and cider donuts of our trip here!

Can you guess who we’re dressed as?!

Where to next?

For 2023, we actually already have a few ideas up our sleeve, but we won’t be sharing where we’re headed officially until the new year 🚗 We’re busy in planning mode (note: that’s a hint! we usually plan in January and this year had to start in October). Feel free to leave your guesses of where we’re headed below and follow along on Instagram here for the official announcement!

You can read about our 2021 travels here.
You can read about our 2020 travels here.
And our 2019 travels here.

What about you? What’s the best road trip you’ve ever taken, or the next on your list?

We’re always looking for inspiration, and would love to hear about your adventures too! What’s the best road trip you’ve ever taken (and why), or what’s an upcoming trip you can’t wait to schedule? Please share with us in the comments below!

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