Snow in Western Massachusetts & New York City

The Volvo is yours?

I don't have a car... generally minimalistic with possessions :)

Just makeing wild guesses. Like, tell me what´s in your fridge and I´ll tell you who you are...

Not sure what's in the fridge... I work 12 to 16 hour days and eat out mostly :D

The plan is to go 6-8 weeks in September/October next year. I´d really like to go to Hawaii, but I fear that´ll be to expensive for now. So: my idea is to spend 2-3 weeks in New England, possibly a week or two in Canada and then another 2-3 weeks in Colorado + New Mexico + Arizona.

Hawaii can be expensive or moderate. If you self-cater or do what the locals do it's reasonable. I used to shop in Chinatown. Everything in Waikiki is expensive.

Hawaii is very far though.

Arizona is my favorite state.

Good plan? Any tips? Especially about a nice beach town in New England? Will the weather in September still be OK for a week on a beach? What´s a good website to look for self-catering cottages? Where are good hostels we shouldn´t miss?

September can be warm (or cold), but the ocean is probably very cold. If you get to New England in early- and mid-October you can catch the fall colors.

These aren't necessarily the best places on the coast to go -- only the ones I've been to.

Martha's Vineyard is off the coast of Massachusetts. Jaws was filmed there. Rich and famous people typically buy houses on the islands. (millionaires live in Martha's Vineyard; billionaires live on Nantucket)
There is a hostel there, but I stayed at another place when I was there.

I haven't been to Nantucket, but I think there is a hostel there too.

Cape Cod near Truro has some nice dunes (though I was only there as a 4 year old kid, so I'm not sure how fun it is for adults).

On the Maine coast I've been to Kennebunk Port area and Acadia National Park. There are cottages on the Maine coast too, but it might be a little colder.

If you're in Arizona, Sedona is an interesting landscape. There isn't a Sedona hostel

there anymore though. I also like Zion National Park, in Utah just north of the Grand Canyon.

On the map below I also marked Amherst and Northampton. They are in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. I'll be in Europe next fall otherwise I could give you a tour. It's not that touristed now, but it was popular in the 19th century (NYT article).

Amherst:

Northampton:

It depends on what you're interested in seeing/doing...

Here's a map -- zoom in on New England to see all the markers:

[umapper]16625[/umapper]

Hawaii is far and the flight will be too expensive IMHO, but I´ll check anyway.

Very long flight -- I think it's closer to Japan than New York.

The beach week isn´t supposed to be fun for adults. I will most certainly hate that part, but the Mrs insists on a beach week because she loves the beach and so do the kids. Cold ocean is very bad news though.

Maybe get a 2nd opinion about the ocean temperature. I was there a long time ago. :)

Maybe skip the northeast altogether in favor of the gulf coast? I don´t want to do more than two regions at once and I want to go as late as possible, too.

I've never been down there except passing through on a bus. The only thing I noticed was the food at the bus stations was very different than anywhere else. It was good...

Possible itinerary then: fly into Atlanta, head up to Tennessee, then down the Mississippi to New Orleans, then west to NM, CO ans AZ. Drive-in-marry in Las Vegas (the Mrs is not yet really the Mrs), fly back to Atlanta and homeward bound.

Obvious disadvantages:
- I´ll end up being married.

:D
Las Vegas is a bizarre place, but worth seeing just because of that. If you get overloaded with the insanity there are nice desert areas just outside of the city.

Possible alternative: sacrifice New England time and add California to the list. Start with beach week there (hence get the unpleasant thing done first), then AZ/NM/CO and do New England at the end in October. Those fall color pictures you posted up were really seductive!

California is probably warmer than New England.
This was actually a bad year for fall foliage -- sometimes it's better.

By the way, Martha´s Vineyard is also the place where the story of this book unfolds. A good read - it gives a plausible answer why Tony B.liar always did what GW told him to do! :eek:

I haven't read it but will check it out...