• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Cool Places for a small road trip

S

S2Knott

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
1,020
Location
Sandwich, Massachusetts
so im already planning this out, in a few weeks ill have a 3L with new clutch and flywheel (headers also) so i figured why not go on a road trip and help break in the clutch, ive never really been on one before, so i dont know where i want to go, someone help me!

maybe cruise to Rhode Island or something... im open to suggestions.
 
Are you planning a day trip or overnight? If you're only going for the day I'd head to the cape. Oh wait you're already there:). No seriously you could drive though RI and then head across the top of CT on rte. 190 a nice winding road then take the MA pike back. For and overnight trip you might want to drive up to the White Mtns in NH and see Mount Washington.
 
Take a stop at Misquamicut beach, it's loads of fun there. I also recommend Newport. That's also a really cool place. Northampton, MA is wicked interesting. There are some really cool shops and some great places to eat. If you decide to go up towards the mountains, there's a few nice marinas you can stop at along the Connecticut River up along the Vermont/NH border.

EDIT: Maybe you would wanna catch the ferry out to Block Island! I almost forgot about that :)
 
Last edited:
ive been to block island its nice.

i think newport would be nice, and id definetly like to hit some sweet roads, i just wish there were some mountains around the cape cod area haha.
 
Couple of suggestions -- I'd run I-93 North up to the Kancamangus Hwy. (Rte. 112). Run the Kancamangus east through the mountains (lots of great vistas and sweeping bends) to Rte. 16. in Conway. Head north for 20 minutes to Glen, NH, and have dinner at the Red Parka Pub. Try the steak marinade, cooked rare, and have a beer or a cocktail in a Mason jar.

Alternatively, you could cruise up I-93 to I-89 to I-91, and run along the Connecticut River to state road 5. This meanders along the Vermont side of the river and will lead you up into a small town called Bradford. On the right hand side is a restaurant / pizzeria called The Colatina Exit. They open at about 4. Head up to the second floor and take a seat at the bar or a nearby table. A wall of windows on the back wall overlooks an excellent golf course and lets in the afternoon light, so no electric lights are necessary until later in the evening. The dark wood of the bar and trim contrasts with light walls -- it's a very comfortable place -- I always enjoyed hanging out up there.
 
the Kanc is the best road to drive on! its like 32 miles long and its the best, i took my '67 mustang up there when i was like 17 and it was so fun, ive had the svt there numerous times as well, theres also a nice place to stop called the "ledges" i believe, its all natural bedrock waterslides...damn good time
 
Take a drive out to North Adams. Take Rte 2. west as far it'll take you in this state. It's a 3 hour drive from Boston, so, 4.5 or 5 for you. No tolls, not a lot of traffic when you get outside of Concord. Go into town, go to Eagle Street, get a few hot dogs at Jack's. It's a cute little town, fairly sleepy. But the drive out is GREAT. Just be careful on the hairpin turn.
 
bishop375 said:
Take a drive out to North Adams. Take Rte 2. west as far it'll take you in this state. It's a 3 hour drive from Boston, so, 4.5 or 5 for you. No tolls, not a lot of traffic when you get outside of Concord. Go into town, go to Eagle Street, get a few hot dogs at Jack's. It's a cute little town, fairly sleepy. But the drive out is GREAT. Just be careful on the hairpin turn.
Click to expand...

Meh, I've been to North Adams. My ex-gf goes to college up there, and it's becoming a run-down trashy town to be honest. It's not the same as it used to be and the small businesses just plain suck now. The Moulton family owns a bunch of the businesses in town and they definitely aren't run properly. I personally don't think it is worth the drive, although I DO think it is more appopriate to take the Pike to exit 2 and drive up Rt. 7 to Rt. 8 up throught Cheshire and Lanesborough, past the Berkshire mall, to get to North Adams. It's really easy to get lost going up along Rt. 2 and is rather dangerous. Just my $.02
 
The Kanc is my second favorite. Hurricane Mountain Road is awsome, but not so much for cars as Mirko's would get trashed. Its not that its bumpy, but just so twisty and hilly and only about 1-1/2 car widths wide. Better off taking a motorcycle, but be careful of getting too much air!! It runs east off of Rt16 / 302 in Intervale, NH.
 
I'd say the only confusing part of Route 2 is that it joins 91 for short stretch, other than that it is porbably the most "dragonesque" road in MA. I know Sue and I have run the Miata there several times. We even slid the Miata around the hairpin when no one was looking.
 
Make it a w/n trip and come up to VT and we can cruise through Smuggler's Notch and the Appalachain Gap, two of the twistiest roads in VT!!!
 
MAZDASPEED said:
I'd say the only confusing part of Route 2 is that it joins 91 for short stretch, other than that it is porbably the most "dragonesque" road in MA. I know Sue and I have run the Miata there several times. We even slid the Miata around the hairpin when no one was looking.
Click to expand...


you don't happen to have video of that do you?
:)
 
Last edited:
i remember about 3 years ago my dad had a 03 honda s2k and we went to a weekend meet in vermont is was the best there were like 40 of us, blocking traffic getting sideways ect, the best part was this rt. 17 that we hit somewhere in vermont it was mountain road with tons of hairpins and 2 bikes and 1 s2k crashed that day on it. it was nuts. incredible slopy hairpins.

its crazy driving hard on slopy terrain, i was much more comfortable driving uphill for some reason, maybe it was the feeling that you would slow down more if you lost control or something i dunno, it ruled though.
 
ElKy said:
you don't happen to have video of that do you?
:)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not....Would have been cool as hell! I had the camera with us that takes a rapid series of photos and was going to have Sue stand in the corner but I was worried that I wouldn't hit it right and Sue would be left with only pictures of my death.
 
S2Knott said:
i remember about 3 years ago my dad had a 03 honda s2k and we went to a weekend meet in vermont is was the best there were like 40 of us, blocking traffic getting sideways ect, the best part was this rt. 17 that we hit somewhere in vermont it was mountain road with tons of hairpins and 2 bikes and 1 s2k crashed that day on it. it was nuts. incredible slopy hairpins.

its crazy driving hard on slopy terrain, i was much more comfortable driving uphill for some reason, maybe it was the feeling that you would slow down more if you lost control or something i dunno, it ruled though.
Click to expand...

That's the Appalachian Gap that I mentioned above. It is by-far my favorite drive that I've found to date!
 
hmmm i would love to organize (well not organize it myself but help put together) and vermont weekend meet, and hit some sweet twisties and scenic locations.

like i said i did one with the honda s2000 group and it was the most fun ive ever had! loved vermonts roads.
 
We haven't done VT yet for our annual fall meet/cruise. ;)
If someone has the time to plan it, I am all for driving it!
There's plenty of time between now and Sept/Oct for someone to plan a good route.
 
frenchblueC2 said:
We haven't done VT yet for our annual fall meet/cruise. ;)
If someone has the time to plan it, I am all for driving it!
There's plenty of time between now and Sept/Oct for someone to plan a good route.
Click to expand...

We talked about doing that last year, but I was too busy to plan anything. I don't think I'll be that busy again this year and will volunteer to plan out an exciting route to drive and sites to see (dinner in Stowe and Ben & Jerry's factory tour?). The Smuggler's Notch and Appalachain Gap cruise can be done in one big loop (takes about 2 hours from start to finish) but doesn't hit Lake Champlain. There's a nice road up through the islands of Lake Champlain, which could be another cruise. That road isn't twisty, but the scenery is beautiful!

If that sounds good, I'll get working on some potential cruises!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top