Maine/Vermont/Upstate NY

[Coastal Fever]

Planning a 2 night road trip from Nova Scotia to Southern Ontario at the beginning of August.  Want to drive through the States because I’ve never been.  Will likely be staying at campgrounds because I want to keep it reasonably cheap and safe.  So my initial plan was to stay at KOA or somewhere similar in Bangor the first night and Burlington the second, as that gives me a little time outside of driving to explore.  But I’m open to other, more interesting options.

Would love to hear any recommendations on places to stay, explore, eat, avoid, things to prepare for, whatever.  Haven’t even crossed the border before, do they get pretty backed up?  If I bring the passport and leave the weed at home will I be good to go?

[steezenking]

Burlington's skatepark is pretty fun and its right on the lake so its a nice area to just hang out and relax. Church street is kinda the central focus of the downtown area, its a long pedestrian only street basically. If Nepalese and Himalayan food sound appealing, place called Sherpa kitchen. Mr. Mikes Pizza has really good buffalo chicken pizza.

[GumOnMyGrip]

Saranac Lake has a little park and cool little town to grab a beer.

[Allez_Jambon]

In Albany, check out the plaza, the banks park, and Seasons for gear. I love that scene there. You can make it up to Burlington, VT the same day in about 3 hours heading north by I-87, Rt 4, Rt 22, Rt 7. Around 1:30 or so through the trip, there's a park in Lake George. It's okay but I have friends in both Albany and Burlington so I skip it.

The Burlington, Vermont area has a few parks to check out, notably the concrete one on the waterfront. It's nice to take some laps and hang out by the lake. I prefer Winooski about 10 minutes away. It's sort of like Great Barrington in Mass or Cherry Park in Long Beach with small boxes and some quarter pipes. I lived in Burlington for 10 years and loved summers there. Swim in the rivers or hike in the day, skate in the late afternoon, then have a few beers or grill food in the evening.

I'm less familiar with Maine, but I assume you'd head east towards Montpelier. There's a fun mini ramp with a spine in the middle in Waterbury, VT at the fire house or whatever. I'd also recommend Warren, VT skatepark, but that seems out of the way for Maine, but it's a concrete DIY that's shaped up pretty well over the past few years. I have no clue what is in Montpelier aside from Mad Taco. Further east around the St. Johnsbury area are a few parks a little out of the way in Lyndonville.

Vermont has a lot of little parks sprinkled in between towns. Southern VT has a good selection too like Manchester, Ludlow, and Rutland. I'm less familiar with that area.

No clue what happens in NH. I just pass through.

I hit Bethel, Paris, Lewiston, and Portland in a single day but it took the entire day. I don't remember much. Lewiston was awesome and Portland was fun too.

I just read your post again. This is too much for 2 days I realize. Leave the weed at home, ask skaters for a plug. From my experiences, it takes longer to enter the US than it does to enter Canada but it was never a huge wait. The experience seemed more friendly entering Canada as well.

Do whatever, make friends, have fun.

[bartlaser]

Maine - Lobster
Vermont - Maple Cremee
Upstate NY - Hot Italian Sausage  ??

[Allez_Jambon]

Maine - Lobster
Vermont - Maple Cremee
Upstate NY - Hot Italian Sausage  ??

Upstate NY - Steamed Hams

[cky enthusiast]

i did a 2 month tripper in new england a few years ago and my wifes family is from upstate NY heres what i got on ur route- im not gonna repeat any info anyone else gave u tho

maine- augusta has an okay park and i think bangor just got a park (they had a sick DIY that the locals told me was gonna get dozed after they built it) although i havent skated it. there's a weird park in bethel (NH/ME border) and theres apparently a few really sick parks in NH. i only hiked in NH. the towns around mt washington kind of suck

vt- there's a mini behind burton snowboards HQ and there's a cool DIY spot not far from there.

ny- rochester has my fav skateshop and a lot of cool street stuff downtown. the city park is kinda geeked but its down the bike path from a cool bank to ledge.

[wax poetic]

Expand Quote

Maine - Lobster
Vermont - Maple Cremee
Upstate NY - Hot Italian Sausage  ??

[close]

Upstate NY - Steamed Hams

Upstate Upstate NY (Plattsburgh area) - Michigans

Also in Burlington head out to Burton - they have a crazy bowl, small mini, I believe Talent is right next door now (I Haven't lived in the NE for a while now) and the diy Jersey barrier spot is right behind it

[cherry]

i did a 2 month tripper in new england a few years ago and my wifes family is from upstate NY heres what i got on ur route- im not gonna repeat any info anyone else gave u tho

maine- augusta has an okay park and i think bangor just got a park (they had a sick DIY that the locals told me was gonna get dozed after they built it) although i havent skated it. there's a weird park in bethel (NH/ME border) and theres apparently a few really sick parks in NH. i only hiked in NH. the towns around mt washington kind of suck

vt- there's a mini behind burton snowboards HQ and there's a cool DIY spot not far from there.

ny- rochester has my fav skateshop and a lot of cool street stuff downtown. the city park is kinda geeked but its down the bike path from a cool bank to ledge.

Krudco? Pasttime? Old skull?

[cky enthusiast]

krudco.

[TheLurper]

Upstate NY is rough. Albany and Syracuse (and Rochester and Buffalo) can be fun, but a lot of the small towns look like they were hit by a bomb. If you coming down from Burlington towards Albany the first house after you cross into NY has a confederate flag.

Seasons is a good shop, the blue banks in Albany are fun, the DIY spot in Syracuse is fun, the Everson Museum Of Art Plaza is worth stopping at, and so is one of the parks (I forget which one), and if you decide make the trek it is fun to skate the Ithaca park and Homegrown is a pretty good local shop.

[Jim and Dan]

Used to live outside of Bangor but couldn't for the life of me direct you to any spots, it's been far too long.

You won't see anything in that part of New Hampshire except for trees, mountains and a lack of sales tax.

Burlington is nice, good spots here and there, I know they built a huge new(ish) outdoor park to replace the old one or if the weather is bad you could go to Talent, the home park of Chris Colbourn, Jordan Maxham, Marshall Heath etc...

My pick for Vermont is always Brattleboro, fairly small with some really unique spots there, plus some decent food but I doubt you'll go that far down in the state.

Always psyched to hear of people coming through the areas I grew up in, as I'm very nostalgic for those places when compared to the shithole of a state I live in now (sorry Rhode Island, it's just not for me). I hope you have a wonderful trip!

[TheLurper]

Burlington: The Monarch is a nice cafe for a chill couples coffee date, the flatbread pizza place near the Burton store is pretty good, and the outdoor "main street" shopping mall that Maven is in is decent.

Albany: Lark Street, where Seasons is, is the cool part of town. But Tanpopo Ramen is about 15 minutes away and it is pretty good. The only problem is the hot and cold water come out of different faucets in the bathroom. It looks cool, but is completely impractical. You have the choice of washing your hands with fire or ice. Also, there are a few nice places in Troy, which is the "cool" suburb. 

Syracuse: Dinosaur BBQ can be pretty good. Don't bother with the one in Troy (near Albany) it is far far worse than the original location.

Saratoga Springs: Uncommon Grounds is a great place for coffee/lunch.

Utica: I think the Mediterranean place is pretty good, but the city is dead and not worth stopping in unless you really really want to see where Paul Krugman lived as a child.

Cooperstown: Not worth the stop, unless you are some sort of super baseball fan.

The rest of Upstate NY: Beautiful nature, lots of mediocre universities, lots of prisons, lots of hard drugs, and lots rednecks of who wave the confederate flag in their decaying rust belt towns.

[Coastal Fever]

So it’s been a sick trip, I’ve done a bunch of fun stuff and eaten tons of good food. 

The only question I have now is, who’s the bigger hero in the VT skate scene, Cookie.. or the guy who runs Ridin’ High?  THAT is a core shop if I’ve ever seen one.

[bartlaser]

So it’s been a sick trip, I’ve done a bunch of fun stuff and eaten tons of good food. 

The only question I have now is, who’s the bigger hero in the VT skate scene, Cookie.. or the guy who runs Ridin’ High?  THAT is a core shop if I’ve ever seen one.

Collin Hale