New England had me channelling my inner Gilmore Girl. This confused Aleks a lot.

We began with a pitstop at Yale University. Naturally, Aleks and I suddenly had massive flashbacks to Cambridge and Oxford as we ambled through the familiar quad structure of the old university, although somehow it was all tinged with a distinctively American style.

Connecticut Hall at Yale

Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Next up was the (intuitively spelt) town of Guilford, Connecticut, an inspiration for Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow – guess who suggested this stop on the route. It really was the quintessential New England town, from adorable shops and cafes lining the town square, to ribbons that were strewn around trees from a recent festival.

Guilford Town Green

Super cute shops!

That night we arrived at Aleks’ uncle’s house near Plymouth, Massachusetts, via Rhode Island which was an easy one to add to our state tally (20, at that point). Tony and his wife Ruki very kindly put us up for a few lovely days – thank you both so much, it was a wonderful stay!

While there, we visited the town of Plymouth itself, the landing place of the famous pilgrims that initially settled in the new world back in 1620. The town honestly felt like an outpost of England, in both its architecture and the higgledy-piggledy street layout which so clearly contrasts the grid-like structure of most other towns in the US.

Plymouth Harbour

The famous Plymouth Rock, where the settlers first landed

A nice spot for a breather

The National Monument to the Forefathers, Plymouth

Plimoth Plantation, a reconstruction of a 17th century colonial village, complete with villagers!

Boston had the same trait. We spent a day following the city’s Freedom Trail, as most tourists do, efficiently walking us from one historic building to the next. After so many weeks of travelling from skyscraper cities to towns with warehouses for churches, it was almost refreshing to be amongst the familiarly aged constructions of New England. Also, this time, it was Aleks’ turn to geek out: the setting for one of his favourite video games – Fallout 4 – was materialising before his eyes! Aleks has his games, and I have my TV shows 🙂

Quincy Market, from the outside…

… and from the inside

Heading ever northwards in pursuit of Canada, our route took us through the state of Vermont. Despite only staying there for one night, in the town of Burlington, Aleks and I were both immediately enamoured with the place… the rolling, lush mountains we passed through were calling our names, so this is one state to which we will definitely return to explore. Before crossing the border, we made an essential stop at the Ben and Jerry’s factory for a tour and of course a tasting sesh… including a visit to their “Flavor Graveyard” for ice cream varieties that have been given the chop after a lack of enthusiasm from the public. Quirky, a bit morbid and totally unexpected!

Happy as a clam

Where flavours go to die…

After a cheeky (and unsuccessful) attempt to sleep in the car park of one of Burlington’s famous microbreweries – they were sadly insusceptible to bribery in the form of beer purchases – we settled for the town’s North Beach campground… not bad for a plan B!