EXPERIENCES

Even for travelers whose first priorities are relaxation and recreation, a vacation in New England offers many opportunities to reduce one’s impact on the region while still enjoying it to the fullest. You can buy locally crafted artwork and gifts, and savor food and drink that’s grown or made right here. Feel the power of wind on a sailboat cruise. Tackle a nature-made obstacle course by hiking through the mountains. With a little planning, however, you can discover even deeper experiences that connect you to New England— and the environment—in meaningful and memorable ways. You can leave the car behind and cover plenty of ground under your own power with a point-to-point walking or biking excursion. In western MAINE , for example, outdoor enthusiasts have access to a New England backwoods variation on the European “hut hiking” concept: Maine Huts & Trails, whose four off-the-grid eco-lodges are situated along an 80-mile (129km) trail system and offer rustic stopovers for hikers, bikers, skiers, and snowshoers as they pass through. (And, of course, there are the Appalachian Mountain Club’s

“high huts” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the oldest and best-known mountain hut system in the country.) Agritourism is another key part of the green travel scene, with farms across New England opening their doors to educate, feed, and even host travelers. While farm tours and overnight stays are plentiful across the region, the purest “eat local” experience may be had at farm-based restaurants, which surround diners with the landscape in which their meals’ ingredients were raised and harvested. A great example of this can be found in VERMONT, at the Woodstock Inn & Resort: Here, the bounty of the inn’s organic farm, Kelly Way Gardens, not only goes directly into the meals enjoyed by resort guests but also is featured in special reservation-only dinners hosted right on the farm. Called the Red Barn Dinner Series, these events celebrate the contributions of local cheesemakers, farmers, beekeepers, and dairymen for a true farm-to-fork experience.

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MASSACHUSETTS: Few sights are as majestic as a whale breaching the ocean’s surface, as shown by this humpback leaping in view of a tour boat in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.